On November 14, 2007, Assassin's Creed showed us the potential of the 'next' gen at the time: The beautiful graphics and atmosphere, the free roam mechanics, and the silky smooth animations all showed us what the 360 and the PS3 were truly capable of. However, despite a lot of the critic's excellent reviews, the game was severely cut down by the fans, claiming that it was boring, repetitive, and met with an unsatisfying ending.

2 years later, Ubisoft attempts to remedy the series for good (after the lackluster Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles on the DS, iPod, whatever) with Assassin's Creed 2... But does it live up to what the critics were raving about 2 years ago?


Live by the Creed

Story and Presentation
The first game had a split story: It followed Altair in the Middle East in 1191 and Desmond Miles in America (assumingly) in 2012. The second game follows suit as it follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Italy in 1476 on a quest to exact revenge on the man who killed his family. Unlike Altair however, Ezio is a regular man, and he had to undergo training as he continues on the path to his targets. He'll meet plenty of faces and names before he's done, and he'll greet them all with a smile...

Two large complaints against Assassin's Creed 1's story was that it was bland, although it was rich in historical fiction, and the dull protagonist that you played as was about as a spirited as a dead body. In Assassin's Creed 2, the story has a lot more juice now as it's now driven by revenge than just doing what you're told to do so, and Ezio definitely has a lot more personality as he's hitting on women, showing his cocky attitude, and more. Ezio's personality wouldn't have that special punch had the characters had bad voice actors, but luckily he has one of the most charismatic voice actors ever. He pulls off every line of Ezio's with polish as smooth as turtle wax, and the other characters definitely follows suit.


Ew... you got blood all over it

Presentation wise, the game opened up very strongly with a monologue with Desmond Miles, who isn't shown much this time around, and his and Lucy's attempt to escape Abstergo, the company that imprisoned Desmond. The story never truly lets up after that, although there are some bland moments, the game has more than enough juice to keep you entertained until the end. After all, the story now tries to innovate from the first game by having you do different things like testing out Leonardo's flying machine or evading enemies on a horse driven carriage. While these are few in numbers and definitely too far from each other, it does come right when you're feeling too bored of the game. My personal favorite would have to be the carnival chapter of the game because it's unique and different from the rest. There are 14 chapters in the game, although for certain reasons Chapter 12 and 13 are not present at the moment and will become DLC (the company said that they removed these chapters to relieve stress as they closed in on the release date). It doesn't matter though as the game will still take you about 15 hours to beat.


Game play
Of course, Assassin's Creed 1 took about 12 hours to beat... are you going to be grudging through AC2 like AC1? Nope, because this game now has variety in its mission structure: Instead of going here, kill this guy, and repeat, you now do other things like running errands, stalking down targets, and even disguising yourself to blend in. Speaking of blending in, you now have the ability to blend in into any crowd instead of just scholars just by walking into a crowd of them. One of the new play mechanics is that when you walk into a crowd of people, you and they turn grey and the ground under the group would be highlighted to show you that you are now hidden. Although you're rarely forced to use this, it's a nice way to finish some missions.

But that's not the only new play mechanics: You must now purchase items necessary to play the game such as health vials to heal yourself (no self regeneration), new armor to increase your health, new weapons to increase your attack, and more. Although some things you can buy are cosmetic like dye for your clothes or paintings to hang in your villa, you're going to have a hard time with the game if you don't buy the necessary equipment.


With a setting so beautiful, you feel like you can jump right in... Don’t worry, he can swim

How do you get money you ask? Well, although the game tells you to loot bodies, that are chump change. To get actual money, you need to either do side quests, which will become repetitive like the first game, gather treasure crests, or through rent: When you gain access to the Villa, you can hire a carpenter to upgrade the town and the people living there will pay rent every 20 minutes, which you must yourself get by accessing the crest in the Villa. Although it's a hassle to do this every 20 minutes, you can let the money stack up to a certain limit and pick it up later, and stack up it will: Although you'll get like 1000 florins when you first play, eventually down the line you can get 5000 florins down the line, and if you upgrade all the shops, you can get like 12000 florins every 20 minutes (game time). Eventually, you'll get more money than what you spend, and by buying trivial things like paintings and old pieces of armor, you can get even more money. And more money you want as near the end game is when the good items show like, like the Sword of Altair.

The economy system isn't the only new addition to the game: Even the fighting is now improved. You no longer need to learn through progression how to counter or grab ledges when falling as you already know these moves. Instead, you can now do new moves when fighting such as disarming someone, throwing sand, and even throwing multiple knives at once, although for two of those things you do need to learn. However, the newest addition of this game is new weapons and toys such as smoke bombs, dual hidden blades, and even a gun. Yes, you can now shoot your targets, although the gun comes very late in the game. Yeah, let everyone know that you're a badass by shooting your target.


Now you can disarm the guards who smack you around with their weapon

But don't let them think you're to much of a badass: Like the notorious Hitman 47, you can now become notorious yourself as every public action will now cause attention as well as having a meter fill up. The more the meter fills up, the more famous you are, and that leads enemies to now attack you on site. It sounds like a hassle, but you can lift the pressure off you by ripping down wanted posters, bribing heralds, or even assassinating key guards. Sure, you may have to find them yourself; at least they're marked on your map.

Speaking of finding stuff, you now have other things to collect such as feathers for your dead brother. Although you get some pretty nice rewards for doing so, the only things you'll care about to collect are the Codex pages written by Altair himself (which is mandatory for completion of the game), the Seals of the Assassins (to unlock the best armor in the game) or the mysterious glyphs that shows you the history between Assassins and Templar. The Codex is filled with tidbits of Altair's life like how he met the love of his life to why he wears black armor now, as well as providing instructions for Leonardo da Vinci to build you new stuff (although it's scripted to receive these pages). The glyphs however are much more interesting, albeit not required: They give you a puzzle that, if you solve, will reveal revelations of history. For example, did you know that Jesus Christ had the Sword of Eden, or that Cain from Abel and Cain was a Templar and that Abel was an Assassin? Of course, this is all fiction, but nevertheless, it's definitely interesting: Fans of historical fiction should definitely check these glyphs out.

What everyone else should check out though, especially fans of Prince of Persia, and are the Assassin's Tomb: The Assassin's Tomb are side quest temples that's more focused on plat forming and running. The whole point of doing this is to ultimately gain access to Altair's Armor, the best equipment in the game since it doesn't break and have the highest stats. However though, you'll have fun doing some of these as they pretty much test you on your ability to free run and to look for a way out on the spot, like in Mirror's Edge (but without the red). Why did I say you'll have fun with some? Some Tombs are either time based or puzzle based, and those can be a nightmare should you falter doing them. The time based ones are a nightmare since you have to not only beat the time limit, but you need know exactly how to get to your destination, or else you'll be retrying it over and over again.

Final notes
Overall, Assassin's Creed is a definite improvement over the first game with it's new city, which is beautifully detailed, new combat mechanics, new things to do, and overall a new experience. Although the series was intended to be a trilogy, the ending of the game may not be as one would hope, but it does end of a satisfying note, as well as a major kick in the face for Ezio. The ending hyped me up for the next game, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth seeing as how the story still isn't halfway wrapped up but I guess that's what they were aiming for.


We fly high, no lie, you know this...

Score:
Graphics ---- 8.5
-The graphics are nicely detailed and the animation is nice and realistic. Although there are some clipping issues, the game isn't too bad on it. It's interesting to note that the textures were not as detailed as in Assassin's Creed 1. However, the atmosphere that comes with being in Italy more than makes up for that.

Sound ------- 9.0
-The voice acting is stellar, and the orchestra is beautiful. I also like the small sound effects like the flapping of an eagle's wing to the metallic clunk of two swords colliding. It would've been nice to had a certain voice actor to return for a cameo, but hey, at least everyone sounds nice.

Controls ----- 8.0
-Virtually the same as before, just with new actions being performed with old buttons. After all, sequels don't usually radically change the controls. You still have a leg, head, and arms button, and since you'll be using the new weapons with the same arm.... same buttons.

Fun Factor --- 9.0
-If you loved the old, you'll love this. If you hate the old, you still might love this. It's filled with a cool story, awesome characters, and memorable moments like popping off an assassination with a gun. I would've loved for the DLC to come out with the game, but other than that, the game still have its moments.

Final Verdict - 9.0
-it's a good game, but not everyone will take to it, especially not after the bad impression that AC1 left on some people's mouth, or how AC2 is more of the same, but the story has a much wider scope outside Italy, and the duo story, although brief, showcase some interesting things about Desmond (as players who beat the first game found out). Hint hint: it's not over even when the credits roll.


Can't touch me