Assassin’s Creed II improves the original in every way

I’ll be the first to admit that the first Assassin’s Creed had it’s faults. However, I did enjoy it quite a bit. Although I was pretty sure I would enjoy Assassin’s Creed II, I had no idea exactly how much I would love it. Read on for the full review, or skip to the BOTTOM LINE for the short and to the point recommendation.

GAMEPLAY
Admittedly, I haven’t finished the game yet. However, I can tell you that the structure is greatly improved from the first one. Gone are the rigidly structured assassinations where you must complete a certain amount of the same sidequests. Now, you can see the sidequests on your map (including race, beat-up random guy, etc.) but they are completely optional. Another part of the first Assassin’s Creed that I didn’t like was the insane amount of collectibles placed in the various cities in the form of flags. These are gone as well. There are still things to collect (statues in the home city and codex pages), but they are a lot more fun to find and, in the case of the codex pages, are marked on your map. In addition, there are secret glyph puzzles and crypts to find and explore, but these are revealed to be near when you get close to the buildings that house them. The combat system has remained largely the same, but you get many of your abilities much faster. You can also customize Ezio with various types or armor and weapons. But by far the most fun is the hidden blade, which has been improved for the sequel. How, you ask? Well they just gave us another one to play with. This leads to some truly spectacular assassinations, as Ezio leaps from a roof to take down two guards at once. If you invest the time and effort to remain undetected, you feel truly powerful as you pick off guard after guard, then leap from the shadows to quickly eliminate your target. You truly feel like an assassin. And further into the game, I am told that you can acquire even more toys to kill your foes in even more inventive and, most importantly, fun ways.

Assassins Creed II Reviews

STORY
This is another area that the first game fell short, in my opinion. Half way through I just got bored and had to take a few weeks off to play other things. This game has succeeded in completely drawing me in. You truly care about Ezio, and, without revealing any major events, his motivations make him a very realistic character. As he is ripped from his youthful shenanigans into a plot bigger than himself, he grows into that assassin’s cloak in ways that Altair never did. Simple gestures like sometimes removing his hood when talking to friends and allies make him seem more real, like there’s a real person under that getup that I’m actually interested in seeing through to the story’s end. As I mentioned before, I haven’t completed the game, but it looks as though Ubisoft has succeeded in making me feel emotionally invested in the story and the characters in a way that the first Assassin’s Creed never came close to.

GRAPHICS
Some people have said that the game’s graphic engine is beginning to show it’s age. Maybe in some ways that’s true, but in others ways this game is truly beautiful. The cities have a busy feel to them, much like the first game, and when perched high above the ground in one of the many viewpoints, the scenery can truly take your breath away. To be fair, there are some clipping issues with Ezio’s clothes and weapons, but that’s true of most any game. And the characters themselves could look a little better, but that would be nitpicking. Overall, this game has a beautiful environment that represents classic Italian cities very well.

More screenshots and video: Assassins Creed II

SOUND
Sound is usually one element of games that I don’t notice as much. But I found myself noticing subtle touches added in to enhance the experience that really work well. Like the best game music, it’s unintrusive, but enhances what you’re seeing if you pay attention to it. No complaints here.

BOTTOM LINE
This game is excellent. It takes elements of sandbox games, stealth games, action games, and even a few quicktime events (but undressing your lover is an acceptable use of this often overused mechanic) and turns them into a game that exceeded my admittedly high expectations. It’s attention to detail is impressive, and it strives to be historically accurate where it can be. The voicework is good, and I like that they included some Italian to be true to their setting. The story is good, and does its job in making the characters interesting and three-dimensional. It’s even quite funny at times. And if you’re interested, there are a lot of very interesting lore-type bits of items to find and obsess over that really develop the already interesting Assassin’s Creed world. So, if you liked the first game you should get this. If you found the first game too boring, you should get this. If you like Italy, you should get this. If you are even remotely interested in the premise, you should get this. In short, this game is excellent and should be on your list of must-haves for either console.

A note on the rating:
This game is rated M for a reason. While the aforementioned “undressing your lover” scene is quite tame compared to other love scenes in video games (or virtually every prime-time tv show) it could be a little much for the munchkins. Also, there is a lot of blood. You are an assassin, after all. Particularly brutal murders are shown, like stabbing people through the face. This is not overdone, and all you see is blood spray, but this is not a game for the kiddies. In addition, there are several cases of harsh language, including some uses of the f-word. You have been warned.

A note on religion:
The game opens with a screen explaining that it was developed by a multicultural team of various faiths. This is because, to put it simply, the story of this game may be offensive to those of religious faith. It is not truly hostile toward religion, and I would compare it to Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” in terms of offensiveness. I viewed it as entertainment, as a fictitious story, and I took no offense at the story. But once again, this game and its story are for intended for those who can appreciate it for what it is: a somewhat violent and (relatively) realistic take on Renaissance Italy society with mature sci-fi themes thrown in. Adjust your buying decisions accordingly.

Edit (11-22-09):
Finished the game. Wow. If, like me, you liked the sci-fi style near-future storyline of Desmond, then you’ll love the ending. It literally blew my mind. The story is immensely satisfying and comes to a completely awesome conclusion that sets up for the next game. If you despise the collection elements of the game, you might be disappointed by some mandatory collection at the end. I was lucky enough to have collected 29 of 30 codex pieces and so only had to find one more, but it is kinda jarring to be made to stop right at the climax of the story to find a few things you may have forgotten. Thankfully, they mark every missing piece on your map, but it still breaks the flow of the game. While this was a little irritating, the next hour of gameplay more then made up for it.

The much-hyped flying machine sequence was (thankfully) a short one time thing that, honestly, seems like it was included only for the awesomeness factor and didn’t, in my opinion, really seem to fit in with the rest of the game. Ezio’s character really develops into a mature and intelligent protagonist, even going so far as to lament about the seemingly endless killing that doesn’t bring him any closer to realizing his goals, exactly at the point when I was thinking the same thing. He is incredibly well written, and this makes him one of the more believable characters I’ve seen in a video game.

Since finishing the game, I can honestly say with certainty that this game is everything the original should have been. The story, while starting off slow, kept my attention the entire time, so much so that I finished the game in roughly four days. The length seems about right, and I finished in about 23 hours. If I go back and find all the collectable feathers I could probably get an additional five or so hours of playtime. The replay value isn’t very high, as there is no other difficulty level or any other reason to play again, besides a desire to see the admittedly good story again. And I’ll say it again: the story is very, very good. The difficulty is on the low side, and I don’t think I ever died, other than from long falls resulting from bad jumps and trying to get the Flyswatter achievement during the flying segment (the only missable achievement, fellow achievement hunters). The graphics and sound grew on me even more as I played through the rest of the game and experienced the other cities and locales. The many weapons and skills made for even more fun and amusing ways to kill my targets. The story missions stayed varied and fun, and I never got bored with them. I tried out every type of optional side mission and while they were amusing once, I didn’t feel the need to do any more of them, with the possible exception of the assassination missions.

In short, after finishing the game, my initial impressions remain accurate. This game is very good, and is well worth adding to your collection.

Buy it now: Assassins Creed II