THE RENAISSANCE OF MAN… BORNE ON THE WINGS OF CONSPIRACY.
A shadowy plot has emerged, your family threatened and violent actions brought to bear. It’s time to don your scabbard, pull down your hood and get to work – Assassin’s Creed 2 is here!!
For this sequel to the late 2007 hit by Ubisoft, the scenery has been shifted to Italy during the Renaissance period (late 1400’s). Venice, Florence and many other areas of the Italian countryside have been recreated for the gamer to run rampant in. Visually the game looks beautiful, water effects and after-effects (such as drip-drying clothes after an impromptu swimming lesson away from the scene of a crime) are stunningly done, and it’s the little graphical features that all add together to really immerse you in the game’s world.
Integral to this sort of game is the plot, and a heavily-laden one it is indeed. The story of Ezio and his escapades as an Assassin in the Late Middle Ages is detailed in full, with all the betrayals, plot twists and thrilling moments you’d expect. But it’s the fate of Desmond and his Assassin allies that hold the most interest, carrying on almost immediately from where we wound up in the previous game. Just like the original Assassin’s Creed, there’s all sorts of subtle references, hidden and double meanings to in-game references and even some hints that’ll require some external “homework” to grasp the full implications of. As a twisted tale of some of our most cherished and quoted beliefs, Ubisoft’s writing team has done an outstanding job of researching and integrating the story to what we know from real life. And as Act 2 in a planned trilogy of a storyline, there’s much more to come. The only downside is that the game’s story does take a while to build into, but all the initial missions do give you a familiarity and a sense of kinship with Ezio.
If you’re new to the series, the first thing you’ll notice is how literal the term “free-running atmosphere” is for the gameplay. In effect, if you can see a building, chances are you can scale it, use it to evade capture or leap off to (hopefully) an insulated landing on the other side. All the original tricks of the trade return and there’s a couple of nifty new ones to learn as well. The weapons arsenal has been expanded quite a bit – most are simply an adjustment of previous weapons used (like poisoned weapons or double hidden blades), but some truly add a new depth and strategy to an assassin’s style. The pistol is great for long-range accurate sniping, but is offset by being slow to bring to bear (and noisy to boot!!), but the smoke bombs help with a disguised escape (and make you feel like some sort of medieval magician).
All of the flaws from the first game (repetitive “scouting” missions, a strange lack of a swimming ability, and an over-emphasis on an insane number of “collectables”) have been addressed to some degree. Swimming is now an essential skill to conceal some remote assassinations, and whilst there are still only so many sorts of side tasks that can be done, they don’t actually feel repetitive. Whilst seemingly a small definition change, that feel of individuality makes all the difference when you’re playing. Downsides? Assassin’s Creed 2 is a single-player game. To that end, it’s an enthralling experience to play through but there’s noongoingreplayability beyond doing it all again. Whilst this isn’t a bad thing – it’s clearUbisoft spent a lot of time and effort on making the game allitcan be (and more!!) – it’s always a little disheartening to get to the end of a gameandencounter a “so where do I go from here?” moment. As an extra, there’s currently two pieces of downloadable content up on the marketplace for and Microsoft points respectively (or you can pay a little more for the second one and get a few extra tombs to explore). Whilst these do elaborate further on the Assassin’s Creed overarching storyline, they are relatively short, especially the first one. If you’re a fan of the game and want to experience more they’re worth a playthrough and are pretty cheap to boot. But otherwise they’re probably worth a miss.
All in all it’s a great action/adventure game, and a solid improvement of the already-established Assassin’s Creed gameplay. It may not be a game you’ll have stuck in the console for months on end, but it is a wholly enjoyable experience and one well worth playing (even if just as a rental if you’re wanting a more substantial long-term return for your purchase). A must for adventure fans.
