Assassin's Creed 2 Review

His name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze; and he is an Assassin. He also happens to be the protagonist in Ubisofts latest effort Assassin's Creed 2.

Compared to its predecessor AC2 is a slow burner, incredibly slow in fact. The beauty of this is once you get into a comfortable pace the game slaps you in the face with a juicy plot turn. It’s for that reason I forgave the game for the drawn out sequences. This fact doesn’t mean the plot is any less complex. In all fairness, I didn’t get it. But it doesn’t really matter, nor did I really care. The reason being the sub-plots just felt like a means to an end, a necessary evil. The end of this game is where the focus truly is; trust me when I say it will have fans of the game torn. All I can say is, I enjoyed it, it was done in a ‘tasteful’ way and at least it fits in with what AC2 is, a work of pure fiction. However that’s where my main gripe with the story comes in, AC2, from a great height, shits on every history book anyone has ever read. I’m pretty sure Machiavelli wasn’t an Assassin and I’m even more sure Da Vinci’s flying machine never actually flew. I know I said AC is a work of absolute fiction, but it can at times go too far, especially when you see it in context with the ending. I have visions of little Timmy yelling out in the middle of his history class, “Where the fuck is Ezio?”

And, to get to that ending you have to kill a crap load of people. But it’s okay; you have a crap load of weapons, which you unlock speedily through the game. I especially enjoyed using the poison, which allows you to effectively kill an enemy and run away before anyone can do anything about it. Another new addition in AC2 is the gun, which is sort of useless, and in many respects detracts from the game play. The beauty of Assassins Creed is being the up close and deadly Assassin, and being able to use the weapons that make visceral and personal. Not a musket, like anyone wants to shoot anything in a game that has Assassin in the title. It’s a good job that the gun is a bit crap and you don’t really use it that much. The weapons and combat has changed a great deal since AC1, attack, counter and dodge in equal amounts and you will be fine, with no real challenge ever been met. Actually I take that back the only real challenge is actually getting anywhere, Ezio has a fetish for running up anything remotely near him, so as you sprint, which also happens to be the same button to free-run, he just gets sucked into a wall. Admittedly this doesn’t happen often, but the fact that it’s so annoying more than makes up for that.

On the many occasions you find yourself up a building take the time to look around, the vistas are beautiful, well, at least they are the first ten times you see them. This repetitiveness is also seen in all the other architecture, you’ll find yourself slightly annoyed that the game becomes some labyrinthine killing game. Don’t worry though; if you just sit back and enjoy the game this won’t annoy you, much. The plot reveals itself before you, it’s deep and conspiracy riddled, but you love it really because it’s cool, and a lot better than some of the crap that has been pumped out lately.

It’s a beefy game, there’s plenty to be doing. Collecting feathers, treasures and the Assassins Seals bumps up the games play time. The greatest one of these collectibles is the glyphs. These glyphs are small markers on buildings, when activated they induce a small, but frustratingly hard puzzle. However completing each puzzle rewards you with a segment of video called ‘The Truth.’ Once you have unlocked al the glyphs ‘The Truth’ video will play, but don’t worry the video is greater than the sum of the parts you actually unlock. This single 20-second long video adds an extra depth to the game. A depth that will definitely be greater explored in the sequel.

Assassins Creed 2 is a gem of a game, but everyone knew it would be. It is such an epic improvement on AC2, in terms of everything actually, that I am genuinely excited for AC3, which we won’t see for a long time. The game is riddled with cool little things to do, these things feel useful and necessary to the story at first, but they’re not, its just filler to the plot. However, that’s ok, I forgive you Ubisoft because these fillers are a delight to play, and you’ve made such a solid game, with pretty much no faults. Thanks Ubisoft, no really, cheers.