The UK branch of OXM had posted this today. 
 

OXM's Mike Channell was the first non-Ubisoft person in the world to complete the game, the company tells us, and he was impressed. It addresses nearly all the gripes we had with the original game, including all that artificial flag-collecting nonsense, and delivers a brilliant single-player experience that's built around a cracking story.

We can't say any more 'cos it's all embargoed, so pick up the new issue for all the juicy details. it's in stores now, or you can buy a single issue online.

I have the first for ps3 and I can tell you honestly that I didn't face one problem like you said you heard of. Only problem I had with it was that they couldn't implement trophies in time. It sucks that I'm apparently one of the few that agrees with you that the first game was good.

I really liked the first AC but yea, those flag collecting missions were indeed bullshit. I dunno why anyone would do those, except maybe if you're a crazy completionist who absolutely has to get 1000/1000 achievements on every game you own. 
 
And I dunno if I even rescued every citizen by the end of the game. It's kinda foggy, but I'm pretty sure I didn't. By the end, I'd gotten kinda sick of rescuing those poor innocents from the bullying of the city guards. The apathy had just started to set in, I think. Didn't really care about their woes anymore. I'm not sure how Batman does it, night after night. He's a better guy then me, cause yea... I just couldn't get interested in exacting justice anymore. The drive just wasn't there. It'd been bled out of me. Very uh, very nonchalant about the bullying. Just found the cries annoying. That's me, I'm not a messiah. I'm not Batman. I can't stand to fly. It's not easy. Wait, that's a song about Superman. Oh well.

First game was fantastic, i enjoyed it far more than i expected to after all the mixed reviews. My main complaint was that the game was too easy, i'm hoping they have ramped up the difficulty a little.

All I got out of that was "the grievances have been attended to".   Wish I could hear more. I'm pretty psyched for AC2. Loved the first one. All of it.

I hope this game meets my expectations. Loved the first game, but for some reason I'm getting turned off by the marketing direction. We'll see, I suppose.

I played Assassin's Creed in June of this year on my 360. It turned out to be a wonderful June. I liked it a lot. I could see where the criticism came from, but for me, I loved it.
 
I'm so hyped for Assassin's Creed II. I'm going to buy it day one. Now where's my wallet?

 I'm going to buy it day one. Now where's my wallet? "

" I played Assassin's Creed in June of this year on my 360. It turned out to be a wonderful June. I liked it a lot. I could see where the criticism came from, but for me, I loved it.  I'm so hyped for Assassin's Creed II. I'm going to buy it day one. Now where's my wallet? "

The first game was pretty impressive, though I found it to be pretty darn repetitive, so I gave up on it. It looks like I'll have to try the sequel, however.

" @FunExplosions: From what I heard the PS3 version of this game had suffered from Frame Rate Drops and the graphics did not look quite as good as the 360 version.  "

" @Rowr: so you enjoyed the retarded ai, the repetitive missions, riding that horse for miles, collecting flags etc etc etc!?!?!?! the first game fucking sucked!!! "

Can't wait for this game. Only three more weeks or so, right?

Cool.

I enjoyed the first, and I hope their work on fixing it's problems pays off; if it does this could end up being extremely impressive. The repetive side missions and rather underdeveloped story were the only large complaints I had with it.
 
That said, AC2 isn't really on my 'must buy' list, but I'll get to it eventually.

" @Rowr: so you enjoyed the retarded ai, the repetitive missions, riding that horse for miles, collecting flags etc etc etc!?!?!?! the first game fucking sucked!!! "

hey guys, i just bought a copy of the AC 2 preview OXM issue. I think you should know before you buy the issue, that the 4 page article contains SPOILERS of the first 3 hours. i was excited to see assassins creed 2 all over the cover of the latest oxm, but once i opened up my copy, there is a big spoiler warning at the start of the article. OXM needs to put spoiler warnings on the cover so we don't buy issues for a specific article and then don't even read it. But of course they wont, because it means less money in their pockets.

I am definitely excited for this game and I am glad the first, though exclusive, coverage is positive. I will wait to hear what more reviews say to get a good feeling of it.

I really enjoyed the first game despite it's faults, honestly the thing I found most annoying was the last boss....I just thought it was a lame fight.  But I thought the first deserved an 8.5 or so, maybe a 9.   
 
I think this game or Modern Warfare 2 will be Game of the Year.  I'm betting it gets 5/5 from Giant Bomb, 9.5 from Gamespot.

The original was a good first step. Here's hoping the sequel really brings the house down.

Too bad I won't play this game until December.  Damn you MW2!

Its pretty retarded for them to hold off the reviews like that, especially when they burned players with the last game and it turned out to be less than promised. Gamers are not so forgiving and trusting, so reviews are important.

  I would say that the first review will most probably come a few days before the release.    

Well this may only be marketing but it's at least a little bit promising. Thank god they've got rid of those damn flags.

"@Rowr: so you enjoyed the retarded ai, the repetitive missions, riding that horse for miles, collecting flags etc etc etc!?!?!?! the first game fucking sucked!!! "

Wow, I had no idea a review was out already. Nice to know it's on the right track, but I will be looking  for more credible reviews.

i didn't really like the first game. but this one seems to have fixed all my problems with it so, ill keep it on watch

Yeah, the first game was a mixed bag for me. I agree with all of the criticisms and also found the games combat, parkour, and look to be top-notch. The ending was awful, and the story sucks. I am supposed to believe that this Desmond Miles character was related to a Jewish Assassin during the Crusades, and got whatever the shady organization needed from him with the Animus.  Fast forward to Assassin's Creed 2 and Desmond is miraculously related to an Italian Assassin during the Renaissance?  I am all for creative license, but don't you have to draw the line somewhere? I know that Leonardo DaVinci got his first job in real life designing siege weapons, so I think it is cool that they incorporated that.

Awesome, he says the story is good and that's the main thing I'm looking for in AC2.

I loved the first one actually.  So much so that I jumped on message boards that talked about the symbols right at the end of the game.

  
Less repetition, no flags, better story, sure that's all great...but will it have an ending this time?

I'm way more hyped for this game than L4D2.

The first one was good, so I can't wait until GB reviews the sequel. It looks amazing from what I've seen of it so far.

Just got my copy of Official PlayStation Magazine yesterday and they gave it their Eds. Choice.

 If you want to read a full article review go here and click on the ps3. They gave it a 92%.
 
 http://www.gamerzines.com/

i loved the first game, finished it, enjoyed it, but whoever says it didnt have problems, especially the repetition (all 9 assassinations or how many there were were all exactly the same set of 5 little pre-missions that you didnt even have to do most of them, goes to show how much i loved the look and gameplay of the game that I did them all everytime) is just being blind. Its fine to say you liked it DESPITE the issues, theres nothing wrong with liking a flawed game, but to say that it wasnt flawed.... damn.
 
In fact, this is a huge pet peeve of mine, people unable to say a game is bad or mediocre or whatever, but like it. Or the opposite, where you dont like a game so its automatically shit. It seems for 90% of the people, if you like it it must be good, if you dont like it, it must be bad.

" Too bad I won't play this game until December.  Damn you MW2! "

It's good that they have fixed the repetitive gameplay, or so they claim at least. But i really hope they also did something about the dialog, The first game only had a handful of voice actors for the not so important characters and nearly even less lines of dialog. It made the world seem so Oblivion-ish.
 
Theif, i'll have your hand for that!

 It is rumored that the publisher brokered with the reviewers for guaranteed favorable reviews in exchange of early release of reviews. Is the OXM review credible?

I liked the first game despite it's problems. I suppose that's a testament to how fun the game play was, major flaws aside. 
P.S-where did you hear this nonsense about the PS3 version? I'm pretty sure AC1 was developed on the PS3. Many reviews actually mention how it even runs and looks slightly better on the PS3 so I doubt they would do it any different this time around.