Whether it's sending a $200 check, firing people for bad review scores, giving exclusives in return for a good score, or offering swanky "goodies," all sorts of questionable tactics are being used to sway writers into giving favorable reviews, so is sending people on a 10-day overseas trip to Italy going too far?

How long does it take to review a game? That is a question that plenty of reviewers have to deal with on a daily basis. It is also something that PR teams have to calculate when dealing with high-profile titles, as security concerns sometimes prevent them from sending out review code in advance. In these cases, "review events" are common.

Most review events are 2-3 days long and located in San Francisco or New York, where the majority of gaming press is located. Developers will set up at a local hotel, and press will show up and play through all hours of the night until the game is completed. These sorts of events also provide a convenient way to experience multiplayer modes.

For Assassin's Creed II, Ubisoft is redefining the review event. The San Francisco-based company is flying a select number of journalists to Italy for a full 10 days to play the game. It makes us wonder if Assassin's Creed II is simply a really long game or if 10 days in Italy is a bit excessive.

What do you think? Let us know here, and we'll publish some of your responses this weekend.

Assassin's Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence's most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin.

In a vast open world environment, the game invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio's subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into a captivating and epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new gameplay elements, diverse weapons and a profound character progression that will appeal to fans of the original Assassin's Creed as well as entice players new to the brand.

Assassin's Creed 2 retains the core gameplay experience that made the first opus a resounding success and features new experiences that will surprise and challenge players.

Key Features

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a young Italian noble who will learn the ways of the assassins after his family was betrayed and he looks to seek vengeance. He is a lady's man, a free soul with panache yet has a very human side to his personality. Through him, you become a master assassin.
• Italy in the 15th century was less a country and more a collection of city-states where families with political and economic strength began to take leadership roles in cities like Florence and Venice. This journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world takes place in a time in history where culture and art were born alongside some of the most auspicious stories of corruption, greed and murder.
• You will be able to perform missions when you want and how you want in this open-ended world that brings back free-running and adds elements such as swimming and even flying to the adventure. The variety in gameplay adds another layer for you to truly play through the game any way you choose.
• Discover a living, breathing world where every character is an opportunity for the player. Blending in with the crowd is easier, working with in-game characters provide ample rewards but can also lead to surprising consequences.
• Perfect your skills to become a master assassin where you brandish new weapons, learn to disarm enemies then use their weapons against them and assassinate enemies using both hidden blades.