Assassins Creed 2 details are set to be announced next week. Why should I care? The last game was fun, but only for a few hours. Then I fell asleep.

When I first saw Assassins Creed it was at the Penny Arcade Expo in 2007 when Patrice Desilet played through a mission for almost 45 minutes. It took a few hours for my friends and I to pick our jaws off the floor after what we had just seen. The climbing mechanic looked fluid and forgiving. The combat looked like some of the best sword combat I’ve seen in a 3rd person action/adventure. Needless to say it looked promising.

I bought the game the day it came out. For about two days I went through the tutorials and missions. Then I found the downfall of Assassins Creed; replaying those God Damn assassin intelligence gathering missions. There were only 3 types: killing two people and stealing their info, eavesdropping on a conversation and chasing someone down until they subdued to you. Do that over and over again and you’ll want to shove a controller in your ass because it would be more satisfying than those investigation missions.

That’s not the point of this. The point of this is that Ubisoft and the Assassins Creed teams know how to make a franchise. They built a solid foundation for a game and Assassins Creed 2 looks to further improve on almost everything. Shacknews reported about some of the different things you’ll be able to do in AC2. New weapon types, new mission types, etc… this is how you build a franchise. Some publishers do this, some don’t *cough cough*. Even if the first game has flaws, spend the money and make a sequel. Invest in a good franchise, not in a good game.