TW Interview with Benoit Lambert, Game Director for Assassin's Creed II

[2 Comment(s)]

By David Bates

Tiger Weekly: Why can't I skip the cutscenes?
Benoit Lambert: Because they're better (laughs). They are better than what you had in Assassin's Creed I (AC I). We spent a lot of energy on making the characters look better with special animation and expressions, and I think the story also is more interesting. I agree with what you're saying and I would have preferred to have this option, but we had to make choices through the production, we can't do everything. In the end, I think it's not an issue because people will appreciate the cutscenes and the cinematics and the characters far more than in AC I.

TW: On that same point - are you exploring a way to add full DVD controls to the cutscenes? I'd read Ubisoft was making a move toward convergence.
BL: Technically it's far more complex to do this. I think convergence is more related to the content and the character.

TW: Desmond is both an Assassin and a bartender. When are we going to see poisoned drinks?
BL: The Assassins like to meet their victims face to face, rather than through a glass of water or wine. Maybe with the people in the present we could make some jokes with him serving laxatives (laughs).

TW: Will PS3 owners be able to install Assassin's Creed II to the hard drive?
BL: Not that I'm aware.

TW: When will the pre-order maps, like the Palazzo de Medicci, be available to the public?
BL: I'm not really sure. I think it is three months after the release.

TW: What's Ezio's greatest character flaw?
BL: He's a bit of a womanizer. He likes a woman who likes him and he cannot stop. Is it a flaw? I dunno. (Laughs) We don't really emphasize his flaws. He likes people and sometimes he gets in their house. His main flaw is not about himself but about the story I would say: Dedicating his life to becoming an assassin. He dedicated himself to a cause that in the end he will finish.

TW: Will Ezio ever be able to tie someone to a horse and drag them through the street?
BL: My God you're perverse. (laughter) What for?

TW: They'll be chasing him in one direction and you can run in the other. (laughs)
BL: So sweet. (laughs)

TW: Near the end of AC I, we saw some fantasy elements bleed into the series. Are we going to see more of these in AC II?
BL: The pieces of Eden come from an ancient civilization and they have specific powers. Ezio finds a piece of Eden. It's possible. Assassin's Creed is more about the past and the present and the technology.

TW: Has Australia ever threatened to ban Assassin's Creed II? (NOTE: Australia has refused a rating classification to Left 4 Dead II, a game that has the same North American release date as Assassin's Creed II.)
BL: Not that I'm aware.

TW: How much work does it take to make a single building in Assassin's Creed II?
BL: We make the buildings from multiple blocks. Once it's done, we have to put in what we call a navigation mesh, which is something that the AI sees. If you have a building and you don't tell the AI that it's there, he's going to walk right into it. So on the ground there's a mesh that tells the NPCs to walk forward.

TW: Are there going to be poor people in Assassin's Creed II?
BL: Yes. For example in Tuscan, there will be poor people. Why do you want to see poor people?

TW: Any message for the fans?
BL: We really worked a lot on this game. We paid real close attention to the fans of AC I. There are a lot of things about the story that we improved. There are a lot of things that we improved mechanically. People liked the free running. We improved it. We improved the fighting. And above all, we tried to take the experience and make sure it's not repetitive. I really hope people will like it. Because I think it's fun. I think it's nice. We'll see.

Check out next week's issue for a preview of Assassin's Creed II.

Originally Published: Issue 822 - November 4, 2009

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