http://gryphonosiris.blogspot.com/2009/12/assassins-creed-2-good-bad-and-duel.htmlFinally getting around to doing this review as job interviews has taken a priority this last week. I’m certain that if you have played any gaming console (not including the Wii, it’s not a real gaming console) that you’ve heard of Assassin’s Creed and how it offered brilliant free running in the Holy lands during the Third Crusade, but was rather repetitive. Ubisoft, doing something that no other developer ever has, decided to listen to all the complaints that people had about the first game then sat down and corrected them all. Did it work? We shall see.
SYNOPSIS
Stepping back into the shoes of Desmond Miles you escape from Abstergo with the help of the lab assistant and fellow Assassin, Lucy. However, time is running out for the World as the modern Templar’s plan is coming together. You now must dive back into the Assassin’s Animus and learn the skills you need to join the fight for free will. This time around you move forward three hundred years to the Italian Renaissance and all the wine, woman, intrigue and murder that go with it. You are Ezio Auditore de Firenze, and like your father before you, you are an Assassin.
THE GOOD
As mentioned before, Ubisoft did a total over haul of the game and the visuals for series. In the first game you had roughly 4 or 5 different pre-assassination missions that you would do in order to gather intel on your target. Changing that up the developers decided more on a Grand Theft auto approach by having you do everything from leading mercenaries through a Tuscan city, to following your intended target through the city while listening to their plans. Along with this they added some optional side missions that include a timed free running course, assassination missions for Lorenzo de Medici, defending the honor of women who have cheating husbands or courier deliveries for famous individuals such as Casanova. Thankfully the hundreds of flags that littered the cities and kingdom of the first game are now gone, they do have 100 feathers that can be found, however it is nowhere as frustrating as trying to collect 500+ flags hidden across the holy lands. Along with the feathers there are pages from the Codex Assassin that are kept under guard in all the cities. These, however, automatically show up on your map when you sync in the local area, and while not required, they do add to the story of the series.
Combat also received a major update as well in the series. In the first game it was defend yourself until attacked, counter, kill, next target. In AC2 they’ve made it so you can grab enemies and pummel them with punches, knees to the gut, and head butts. They have also changed the game play mechanics so if you attack someone from behind with any weapon it is an automatic kill move, and that heavy weapons such as axes, spears and halberds can break through normal sword defenses. To balance things they made combat so you can disarm your enemies and turn their weapon against them, or pick up a weapon from a fallen enemy and use it against his allies. The weapon selection in the game makes the first game seem rather stifling. Since this is the Renaissance banking has taken hold, and therefore money instead of barter is the way things are purchased. With the money you acquire in the game you can buy weapons, armor, ammunition, health and poison refills, along with repairing your armor. There are a few upgrades and assassination moves that are scripted in the game and acquired from Maestro Leonardo da Vinci (yes, that guy. He’s your own personal Q from James Bond). These range from the twin hidden blade, the poison blade, and the hidden gun. Each of these change how you view your assassinations, as well as if you want come in as an angel of death, to be stealthy, or pick your target off at range in order to keep your distance from the guards.
Speaking of the guards, those also went through some upgrades as well. In the first game you just had normal city guards, archers, and the rare Templars and they had certain stages of alertness before they attacked you. Since we’ve moved forward a few centuries the guards also have evolved into the heavily armed and armored Brute, the Agile who can keep up and sometimes even catch you, the long weapon armed Seeker who will investigate places you might hide and destroy your cover, and of course, the ever annoying roof archer. To help you counter these new threats the blending system which seemed rather tedious in the first game was also evolved to allow you to hide among the crowds walking down the street. This allows you to seamlessly blend with the civilians then switch to a different group while still keeping your stride. You also have allies you can hire such as thieves, courtesans, and mercenaries who act as both a moving cover, but also can be set on guards to distract them with that group’s particular ‘skill’. As you clear certain areas you also acquire capes that lower your notoriety level so that unless you actually commit a crime in front of the guards they will completely ignore you, or in the case of your families’ cape, will automatically make them suspicious of you.
Thankfully lacking from the game is the tedious Kingdom area, and rather they just incorporated a fast travel system where you lay a couple of Floren’s down take a carriage to where ever it is you are going. In many of the cities, such as your assassin strong hold and in Tuscany there are surrounding areas outside of the city that can be explored, offer side-missions, and hide hidden secrets. These are also some of the few areas to allow you to use horse riding, and along with Venice, allow you to pilot a canal boat on the water ways. Even the cities seem to be much larger than in the first game both on the area they cover, but also how high some of the buildings are. In the AC1 the tallest building was the cathedral in Acre; however that is easily dwarfed by most of the landmark structures in Firenze (Florence) and even by the towers in Tuscany. The help show this off the game has hidden Assassin’s tombs in most of the major cities that let you explore certain key landmark buildings on the inside, but also give you a Prince of Persia style agility challenge as you free run your way to the tomb itself. For completing these challenges you are awarded a seal to a lock that will allow you to acquire the armor of Altair, along with the black robed Master Assassin’s outfit.
THE BAD
Ok, I’ve been harping on and on about what’s good in the game, but I must make a few notes about things that I did complain about. First off is that Ezio tends to grab or jump in places you may not want him to. For example you are trying to free run across the beams sticking out of the side of a building, and if you are too close to the roof ledge he will grab that instead of taking the next jump; a little frustrating when you are trying to keep up with a guy you need to assassinate. I also didn’t learn until halfway through the game that you can turn sub-titles on, which will translate it when characters start speaking in Italian. They use Italian the same why Firefly used Chinese to cover up when they swear, however there was nothing that told you that if you want the translation to turn on sub-titles. The camera can also sometimes be your enemy in the game, like with most third person games, but nowhere near as frustrating as, say, Grand Theft Auto 4.
There are also some quicktime events in the game that require you to press a button at a certain time for the scene, while these will not lead to death like in other games, it does mean that you may only kiss the girl instead of showing her your ‘other’ hidden blade. I was also a little disappointed that you can only use the flying machine that Leonardo da Vinci invented for one particular mission. They made such hype about being able to fly over the city of Venice, but in the end it only covered about 20 minutes or so in the actual game.
THE BAD
Well, for starts, Ezio is not the serene monk character that Altair was. With that said, Ezio tends to fight more like a brawler, doing everything from bashing enemies in the head with war hammers to running them through with their own weapons. He will also do rapid stab attacks with the twin hidden blades, cut throats, and even stab enemies through the eyes with the hidden blades. As a man of the Renaissance Ezio also likes to woo the ladies, and in one case he sneaks up to her room for a night of passion; nothing is shown except her bare back (if you follow the on screen prompts right), but quite a bit is implied. There is also some rather harsh language in both Italian (spoken and subtitled) and in English. In a few cases what is said would make a Marine Drill instructor do a double take, and for some reason just seemed really funny to me, but I will leave it at that.
CONCLUSION
Ubisoft actually improved upon the first game by listening to what the players wanted to be fixed, they expanded game play, updated the combat system and fleshed out the visuals of the world in a way I never expected. Game play is fun, challenging, a little bloody, and there are some things not recommended for younger players, but in all it is an incredible game that shows what can be done with a realized living world. Visually it is nothing like anything else on the market and gives you the level of freedom in the game world only seen previously in the GTA series.
HIGHLY recommended.
