See this beautiful Assassin's Creed 2 trailer, hear the inappropriate music

11:00 AM on 09.03.2009   |   Nick Chester

74 comments

The history of Assassin's Creed trailers features music by Massive Attack ("Tear Drop") and DJ Shadow ("Lonely Soul"). Despite the stark contrast to the game's setting, both pieces worked.

But to me, the music in this latest Assassin's Creed 2 trailer simply does not mesh with the game's 15th Century Italian setting. According to "Shazam," the music tagging program on my phone (journalism!), the track is a little dance number called "Genesis" by the French electronic group Justice. At any point during the trailer, I expect Ezio to bust out the electric slide, the mashed potato, or whatever the kids are doing these days. Thankfully, that doesn't happen.

Instead, he stabs some people. He knees a dude in the face. He climbs and hops from building to building. He rides a cart pulled by horses. He soars across the night sky on da Vinci's flying apparatus. He swings a hammer at an attacker's grill. 

Despite the odd music choice (feel free to disagree with me there), Assassin's Creed 2 looks stunning. I don't know what kind of magic Ubisoft is using to make the game look so good, but I ain't complaining. Let's just hope the gameplay -- the focus of this trailer -- delivers.