The Verge goes hands-on with Infinity Blade 2

The Verge has been hands-on with Infinity Blade 2 and has provided a first look at Chair's upcoming sequel to its blockbuster iOS game. The site's review can essentially be boiled down to this: Infinity Blade 2 is exactly the same as the original Infinity Blade, but with some added features and improvements.

Gameplay in Infinity Blade 2 will be mostly unchanged compared to the original. You still can't freely roam through the environments, combat is still kind of rock-paper-scissors, and if you didn't like grinding for three hours to afford that $2,500,000 sword in the first game, things are apparently worse in Infinity Blade 2: "the sequel is a little stingier with doling out cash," according to The Verge. On the other hand, weapon customization options have been expanded, and you'll now have the opportunity to dual-wield swords, which should help spice up the gameplay a bit.

Chair has amped up the graphics in Infinity Blade 2, and it's easier than ever to mistake screenshots of the game as coming from a full-fledged HD console like the PlayStation 3. That extra graphical detail will only be available on the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, as they're the only iOS devices with the graphical horsepower necessary to push the game to its limits.

Infinity Blade 2 will hit the App Store on December 1 and will cost US$6.99. We'll have a review of the game when it comes out; meanwhile, you can check out The Verge's first look at the link above or watch the video embedded below.