Assassin’s Creed II is a game that dots all the ‘i’s, crosses the ‘t’s and basically ticks all the boxes of what a good sequel should do. It certainly lives up to, and exceeds the expectations set by the original by eliminating all of the minor flaws. If you thought the first Assassin’s Creed was a treat then you will definitely not want to miss out on the franchise’s second installment.

Providing you have already played the first game, you will be familiar with the 2-part story structure where you are jumping from one time period to another. In this new adventure you go deep into the mind of Desmond Miles and uncover another chapter of his ancestry. Unlike the original, you play a more significant part in the 21st century scenario than before. However, the bulk of the story takes place in 15h century Renaissance Italy. You will spend most of your time playing as Ezio Auditore di Firenze, a young Italian lad with a rather impulsive and impetuous streak about him. He is great fun to play as and is a more engaging character than Altair as well as being equally adept with a blade. After his father is executed, his mind is set on the bringing down the Templars.

Once again, there is a great deal of travelling to do around Italy and the story takes place in a number of cities scattered around the map such as Venice and Tuscany and Florence. Like before, the game’s to main focuses are on exploring and combat. Almost everything you can see is climbable and getting around is one of the great pleasures of the game, as it was in the first. Since the jumping and climbing is fairly automated you won’t really have any problems although occasionally if you get the timing wrong you will miss a ledge and fall.  In yet another huge virtual game world, transport, of any kind, is greatly welcomed. You will be on horseback or in small gondolas for some parts of the game but later on you will eventually be able yo use a truly magnificent contraption, built specially for you by Leonardo Da Vinchi. A pair of hand-crafted wings will take you to new heights across the city and offer a new perspective of seeing the world below as well as doing their job of getting you from A to B. However, if you’re after true high speed performance then your best option is to fast travel.

Combat has gone from good to better in Assassin’s Creed II. There is a general improvement of AI, more combos and and counter move and a greater variety of weapons for you to slice up your foes with. Agility plays a major part in dodging and countering your opponents slashes but you can now disarm them and use their weapons against them, be it a spear or a mace. One slight flaw that makes a reappearance is that soldiers will often stand still for some time before they actually try and attack you. This makes group battles a sort of continuous 1 on 1 rather than a large scale brawl. Guards are more aware of your presence than before and remain in constant suspicion. In contrast to this, the blending option allows you to mix in with civillians just as it did in the original if you want to sneak past the guards unnoticed. You can still hide in a haystack on perch youself on a bench but a new way of evading detection or to escape is to dive into the water and go for a swim. There is even greater flexibility now than before as you can get prostitutes to distract the guards for you or even get thieves to start a riot leading to larger combat sequences. A neat addition is the introduction of wanted posters which are littered around the cities if you catchtoo much of the guard’s attention.

One of the downsides of the original was that there was little variety in mission structure. Kill an enemy, report back, kill another enemy and report back and so on was the traditional approach of the first game. There were a few other features such as listening in on conversations and iterrogation tasks. In Assassin’s Creed II, there is yet more diversity and the new types of mission objectives such as pursuing your target over the roof-tops and rescuing prisoners whilst avoidng the guards offer a more satisfying experience. 

One of the biggest additions of all to Assassin’s Creed II is the economy. You can buy weapons, armour, clothing and medicine from merchants around the cities and customise your appearance and weapon choice. As your health bar no longer fills up automatically its best to keep in good relations with the town’s doctors and pharmacists. The other way of getting hold of shiny new weaponry is to earn reward points by collecting items such as feathers and codex pages from hidden areas of the map. If you’re ever short on cash, you do a few missions, pinch a couple of florins out of someones back pocket and loot some treasure chests. It will come to a point where money isn’t an issue anymore and you will just want to purchase all your upgrades rather than collecting items for them. Your profits really start to saw once you inherit your Uncle’s villa. By investing in upgrades such as churches and brothels and offering services, you will attract more visitors and work your way up the ladder to being, essentially,  a 5 start tourist resort. You can even charge taxes on the residents living in your town district.

  

Assassin’s Creed II is one of the most visually appealing games ever made. Buildings and architecture look completely life like and every nook and cranny has been designed with meticulous detail. Like before, the architecture looks so natural that you would hardly expect their to be much scope for all the free-running that you do. Ezio’s movement is also very fluid and there very few awkward scenes. Character animation is good overall but seeing them up close reveals a slight lack in texture. As in the original, one of the most rewarding experience is climbing to the top of look-out towers and admiring the fantastic view from up there. This also clears the fog from your map giving you even more room to explore. In addition, the music score and voice acting are spot on. Phrases are not repeated excessively and the dialogue sequences are filled with emotion and are excellent for conveying the plot.

 

At the end of the day, Assassin’s Creed II brings a range of new feaures to the table and significantly polishes up and expands upon the limitations of its predecessor. This is definitely a creed that you will enjoy.

+ Huge authentic game world.

+ Great variety of mission types.

+ Ezio is great fun and emotionally engaging

+ Comnbat has added depth.  

+ Theme of making money feels very rewarding.

- Minor visual hick-ups

- Combat still has room for improvement.

9.5/10

By Ian Ratledge Posted Thursday, November 19th, 2009 5:22 pm