Review – Assassin’s Creed 2

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Platform(s): Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo DS, iPhone
Genre: Action

Rating: Mature 17+
ESRB Content Descriptors: Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Content, Strong Language

The Scoop: I went out and bought this game about three days ago. Though the first was rather repetitive, I didn’t fear the same for Assassin’s Creed 2 as I knew people who had already played the game and did nothing but brag about it. I can admit and say that I spend a really big majority of my life sitting on my ass playing video games and to prove it… three days of owning Assassin’s Creed 2 and I’ve played the game for 20+ hours.

The setting is absolutely brilliant. All the historic landmarks that are present in the game are uncanny to that of the real thing as well as some great accomplises, most importantly being Leonardo Di Vinci. With the setting being just as amazing as the first and the new game mechanics, Assassin’s Creed 2 proves to be better then the first in every way.

The Setup: In the second installment we are brought to Italy during their renaissance period in the late 15th century. Spanning a ten year timeline, this time around we assume the role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young man who becomes an assassin under unexpected terms and finds himself caught in a war between the assassin’s and the templars.

As in the first, were playing as the assassin through returning protaganist, Desmond Miles who once again finds himself going into the animus. The story is more well constructed this time around with loads of familiar faces that we might have seen in our third grade history class. It’s surely a great history lesson and makes for one hell of a video game.

What’s Hot:

• Gameplay: The gameplay has expanded from the first giving us more weapons, the ability to swim as well as some new hiding spots really add to the world of Assassin’s Creed. That and a few other surprises really add up to a joyful experience. Climbing up buildings is also a lot more frequent this time around as theirs no real pausing during the climbinb process as there was the first time around.
• Graphics: The visuals are gorgeous. Theres little to no rips in the texture and the design of the Italian Renaissance period is very admiring. The motion of the mouths with the spoken words are also on key as well as the
• Sound: The voice acting is spot on. The english language offers for some amazing Italian accents really giving off a nistolgic feel to the product. That and the option to switch to six other languages gives gamers a lot of options to choose from. The ambience is really something else as well. The sounds of the rivers to the outside discussions between other groups it impressive as well. Pile all this onto an amazing soundtrack and you have some delicious listening entertainment ahead of you.

What’s Not:

• Glitchy: Though the game is generally a smooth running title, it can get rather glitchy at times which can actually screw up gameplay making things harder on you during those fast paced chase sequences.
• Partner AI: Throughout the game you’ll call upon several thieves, merc’s and stellas to watch your back in different ways. Whether their methods of madness be violence towards the oncoming pursuit or to sway them with their sex appeal, they tend to get in your way a lot. I also often found myself getting chased down by guards for no apparent reason, even when my bounty level was all the way down. This proved to be quite the pain in the arse.

Final Verdict: With the majority of mixed console action games going down the tubes lately, it’s decent to see a great game like Assassin’s Creed II clean up all the broken pieces of the late mixed console action-adventure titles. Though it doesn’t come up to the standards of games like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves it’s still worth a playthrough and definitely a contender in the action-adventure genre. Out-doing the first ten to one, I’d recommend this game to any style of gamer.