Assassin's Creed II Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 17th December 2009

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Assassin's Creed II Details:

	Action
	PC/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	Ubisoft Montreal
	Ubisoft

16+

Out Now

When Assassin's Creed was released towards the end of 2007 it became an instant classic amongst gamers, combing stealth and fast paced free running gameplay, however the game did have some fundamental problems. Following on from its success in the gamer community Assassin's Creed II looks to expand on the gameplay and put problems in the original game right. But does it succeed on improving the playing experience of its predecessor?

The game once again places you in the role of Desmond as he enters the Animus to relive the lives of his ancestors. This time he steps into the role of Ezio a young man from a noble family living in Florence during the renaissance period in Italy. The game starts with Ezio living a care free life, courting girls, getting into mischief and generally being a mans, man. However, Ezio is soon pulled into the world of assassins when his family are betrayed and killed as the Templar’s look to seize control of Italy’s major cities as they search for a mysterious vault that will empower them in their bid to control the world.

One of the aspects of the original Assassin’s Creed many gamers found a little puzzling was the games story. But this is one of the sequels biggest improvements, as we already know all the peculiar twists from the original game. It doesn’t start off to great, but quickly gets better concentrating on conspiracies, betrayal and revenge and as it progresses it really picks up the pace uncovering many new aspects, and you soon realise how little was actually revealed in the original game. Towards the end of the game things do seem to deteriorate a little and at times it appears that the writers lost their way, with the game feeling a little longer then it needs to be. Several sequences in the game also seem to have been put in simply as filler, and fail to serve little or no purpose to take the game forward. Despite this though it’s not at all bad and the game also introduces some welcome new additions.

The most notable change is that you are able to undertake missions when you want to, thanks to the games new open mission structure. This also gives you access to a lot of side missions such as hand fights, races, assassination contracts and Ezio even gets the opportunity to work as a delivery boy… well courier. This new open world setting also allows for a greater level of exploration than the original game and renaissance Italy has a lot of hidden treasure and tombs to be uncovered amongst the many huge buildings. The game world itself has been crafted brilliantly by the games designers, and the various locations are expansive and varied. The developers have also done an excellent job of creating a living world by incorporating a lot of NPC going about there daily business, often getting in your way as you are pursued through the streets by guards, adding a level of intensity to chases making them feel more realistic. The games NPC’s due to the sheer number of them, also aid the games stealth aspects making blending much easier, despite this the games stealth aspect is still a little lacking compared to other games and Ezio will often be spotted by his enemies despite you doing everything possible to avoid detection and at other times they will fail to spot you, even when performing kills right in plain sight.

Apart from the changes to the games mission structure, missions themselves are far more intricate than before and players will have to utilise new stealth abilities and assassination techniques in order to achieve the set objectives. Gamers will often have to undertake several small reconnaissance missions before undertaking the main goal. Ezio also has access to a number of new moves that weren’t available to Altair such as being able to disarm his enemies during combat and take their weapon. Ezio can also swim if he should fall into the water and there’s even a sequence in which he takes to the skies although this seems like more of a gimmick than a worthwhile addition to the gameplay of Assassin’s Creed II. Combat is one of the high points of the game allowing you to take on large crowds of enemies with a mixture of attacking and counter moves, that allow you to string together impressive combo’s which often allow you to come away from fights unscathed. Assassin’s Creed II also features a good upgrade system that allows you to improve Ezio’s armour and the amount of health available to him.

Visuals in the game are fairly strong, with good character animation and facial details, however, when the game switches to the modern age it tends to suffer, looking bland and lacking a little in detail which spoils the overall package. However, when in the animus these issues don’t seem to be a problem. The games audio design is thankfully strong throughout with believable voice acting and sound effects.

If there’s one major complaint I have with Assassin’s Creed II then it’s how sloppy the controls can be! The games free running system requires accurate controls to travel across the city at pace, however you will often find yourself heading in a direction you didn’t want to go in or jumping away from a wall instead or straight up. This of course can be extremely frustrating as you can often find yourself having to cover the same ground over and over in order to reach certain locations. The games sloppy controls do really spoil the overall package and can often lead to moments when you simply want to turn the game off.

Assassin’s Creed II once again allows players to step into the silent shoes of an assassin, and moves in the right direction providing a more focused and solid playing experience. There are a few standout features, most notably from the brilliant combat system but the game is still to be perfected. If you enjoyed the first game it’s definitely worth a look if not, Assassin’s Creed II may just do enough to win you over.