Infinity Blade II Previews

With the game’s release only a week away, Epic and ChAIR ratcheted up their Infinity Blade II PR blitz by letting several sites go hands-on with the action RPG sequel. And that means we have some new previews for you.

TouchArcade:

Infinity Blade 2 feels like it has an actual story, and this time it’s told through actual voiceovers. It picks up where the first left off, and you’ve got the God King’s Infinity Blade in your hands, and are off to find “The Worker of Secrets” now that every deathless in the world is interested in taking the Infinity Blade from you. The initial hook involves searching for Saydhi, an information dealer. Thankfully, Saydhi seems to love duels, and offers up prizes for winning. I won’t spoil more than that (and this hardly counts as spoilers since it all transpires in the first cut scene) but the way things branch out from there is substantially more interesting than the original even though you’ll be doing a similar series of loops through the game.

Slide to Play:

If you’ve played the original, you’ll find a number of new tweaks to the gameplay and inventory system that add a surprising amount of depth to the game. For instance, you’ll discover gems that you can insert in specially-shaped slots in your equipment. Early on you’ll receive a water gem that you can place in your sword to imbue your attacks with a magical boost. Bags of gold are placed throughout the environment much more generously this time around, so you’ll always want to keep your eyes open between fights.

Mashable:

Infinity Blade 2 picks up with you in possession of the Infinity Blade. Don’t get too excited, though, you lose that weapon in short order and then assume a game path quite similar to the original game. There are new weapons, more intense opponents and even a place where you forge your own weapons mostly with gems you acquire along the way. The branching is more extensive and this version even leverages iCloud and adds new multi-player modes like a (massively social) group-based challenges (not available yet for testing). The big and we mean big difference, though, is the game graphics. They are, in a word, spectacular.