Developers: Ubisoft
Website: Assassins Creed II Official Site
Publishers: Ubisoft
PEGI rating: 18+
This format: Xbox360
If you’ve played the first Assassin’s Creed game, forget what you know about it. The repetitiveness is gone and has been replaced with an in-depth story with varying fun missions. The assassinations have also been improved upon with players finding they’ll have to be even more sneaky to find a way in.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is based upon revenge. It is what causes Ezio to become an assassin. His family was betrayed, a tragedy occured because of it and Ezio is set to seek revenge on all that were a part of it. The game takes place from 1476 – 1499 so as players work through the story, they’ll find it’s a long list of names.
As a player of Assassin’s Creed, I found I fell right back in with the controls in no time at all. However, there’s no need to worry about having not played the original as the game presents you with a tutorial as part of the storyline in the very beginning. Ezio is very nice to control with all of his movements feeling quite fluid and natural. The combat system has been improved upon since the original with disarms now part of Ezio’s fighting repertoire. I find this to be the most lethal out of all of the combat moves as you can steal the guard’s weapon and use it on them. This is extremely useful when dealing with more stronger enemies like Brutes.
Ezio has more gadgets to use such as smoke bombs and a poisoned blade, which are useful for causing distractions and speaking of which, the various factions – thieves, courtesans and mercenaries – are also quite useful for this purpose and Ezio can also enlist help from them at any time – for a certain price of course. There are more stealth assassinations to play with since Ezio can now assassinate enemies from the environment. As a result, hay stacks and ledges are no longer safe for guards to stand next to!
There is a new notoriety system in the game whereby doing things considered an offense to the law will add to the meter. When completely filled, Ezio will be wanted by the guards and if they see him, they will give chase. Fortunately doing certain actions like removing posters, bribing heralds and killing witnesses will drop your notorious level and Ezio can go back to being anonymous. This is certainly more favourable than in the original game where galloping past guards on a horse was enough to make them attack. When running from chasing guards, once they lose sight of Ezio, a radius will appear on the map showing where the guards are most likely going search so don’t waste time trying to hide in hay or sit on a bench. The guards are more intelligent this time round.
There’s no multiplayer in Assassin’s Creed 2, but the game doesn’t need it. In my opinion they would have damaged the game by putting it in just for the sake of it.
The entire game was pure fun for me. Ezio’s character adds to the game’s fun level as he’s naturally charismatic as opposed to Altair’s moody and arrogant persona. I definitely enjoyed the addition of a second hidden blade. I found several times I would just walk up to a pair of guards, kill them and walk away quite casually. Diving into the Venice waters as an escape method was also highly enjoyable. I’ve even discovered a bit of a Grand Theft Auto moment in the game where you can hijack a gondola. You don’t even have to go to the bother of removing the operator as just jumping onto the gondola will be enough to knock off the user so you can claim it as yours.
I also definitely enjoyed having the factions since sometimes in the original it was a bit annoying when constantly having to get into a fight with guards to get to a certain area. I know the scholars were there but they walked too slow and were only designed to go to certain areas. The factions walk at Ezio’s speed and go anywhere with him. So now it’s just a case of hiring a faction, distracting the guards and sneaking right past them. It just makes the game more about being an assassin, which is always fun.
Graphics: The scenes are incredible and Ubisoft really did a fabulous job at recreating Renaissance Italy. With the day and night element introduced in Assassin’s Creed 2, it really adds to the breathtaking environments. The main characters themselves are designed well, but the standard NPCs are still left looking a bit plain.
Music: The score is just simply amazing. Composed by Jesper Kyd, the music seriously adds to the atmosphere of the game by playing the right songs at the right moment. By walking around Venice, one can hear a tranquil, choir-like angelic theme whereas getting caught up in a fight sequence will treat players to an upbeat, chilling tempo. Last time I checked, all 35 tracks were uploaded onto YouTube so happy hunting!
Ubisoft introduced their Uplay service for Assassin’s Creed 2 that allows the player to earn credits through playing the game and then spend them on items. One item I believe is up for grabs is the Altair outfit. One doesn’t necessarily have to spend the credits on a certain game; they can be kept for another game.
The achievements/trophies are all fairly standard and it’s quite easy to get the full lot of them as I got the 1000 achievement score in 10 days – and I was taking my time. The achievements/trophies include story related ones, performing certain actions, doing some side missions, upgrading and finding collectibles. There is one missable achievement/trophy called Fly Swatter which is to kick a guard while using the flying machine. This can only be done during a certain mission and there’s no opportunity to do it again except by doing a second playthrough. So crash the flying machine before the end of the sequence to restart if missed.
Collectibles I know are the big taboo thing about Assassin’s Creed after the flags and templars but they really have improved on them and made them useful.
In terms of collectibles they have:
- Subject 16′s videos. There are 20 puzzles to do in which the player is rewarded with a small video clip that obviously shows something important. No spoilers.
- 30 Codexes. They’re a small scroll that get added onto a wall in the villa which when using eagle vision, something else is revealed. This is essential to do to unlock the final mission. The codexes are found in buildings in the cities with four guards at the door. I often just used one of the factions to distract the guards and walked in and took it. I found I just did these as I was running through the area and they’re all marked on the map. Some are also gotten through missions.
- 6 Assassin Tombs. These are physical puzzles in which the player has to figure out how to progress from one room to another. There can be guards along the way. Collecting these rewards the player with Altair’s armour which will also colour Ezio’s clothes black.
- 100 Feathers. These would be the standard collectible. They’re not that bad and again they’re not necessary to do, but the player gets the Auditore cape as a reward. This puts Ezio on permanent notoriety so a fun thing to do if looking for a challenge. The DNA area in the pause menu will inform players about what areas are complete and how many feathers have been collected. They are quite easy to spot when in eagle vision.
- 66 Viewpoints. Not essential to do but it’s handy so the player can see the map.
I found several times the game would freeze on me. I think I pinpointed it down to the use of the fast transport system when travelling to Tuscany or Romagna. I had no problem going to Florence, Venice or Monteriggioni, which are really the main areas of the game. I also found maybe one or two instances where guards would be stuck in a rooftop.
Definitely five hearts for me. I loved Assassin’s Creed despite its flaws but to have a game that completely excels its predecessor is just something amazing. Ubisoft really did listen to the fans and they went back to the drawing board, kept what was good (the handling of the game), got rid of the bad (repetition/flags/templars), added in some extra stuff and came up with a masterpiece.
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She won't play just any game but is a completionist. She hates odd numbered achievements and is also a lover of pie.
Top notch, spot on… 10 days is a bit generous though, i managed two days…. but i like to rush through as you know.
First review i believe and the perfect game for it
nice review