Assassins Creed II (PC CD)

After the amazing intro to the franchise with Altair, I knew that I was going to want to play the next game in line. Activision had a lot to live up to with the interactivity with the world, (mostly) realistic game physics and movement and outstanding graphics and locations. As well as this, Creed had been slated repeatedly for the fact that the fights and the missions were just too similar so that by the time you were drawing to the last mission, you just didn't want to go through it all again. And the massive killer, the pointless collectible flags. You would spent a painfully long time combing through the maps trying to find somewhere around 600 flags to discover that they don't unlock anything and develop your gameplay at all, they just wasted your time hugely.

So I was eager to see how Activision would would build on Altair's world and story, and also whether Desmond would actually do anything of interest to the story, rather than just being in annoying cut scenes between missions. Well I wasn't disappointed with what I got to say the least. From the start, I discovered that I had a fluid game with an improved game-play. The fighting was more realistic, where people now attacked you at the same time, rather than just being polite about it and going one after the other. You actually find out a lot about Desmond, and his story is finally interesting and even integrates with the story. The new locations are just as breath taking and well made, not once having a repetitive layouts you could see in other games such as caves in Dragon Age: Origins. The characters in-game are interesting and surprising, i.e. Leonardo da Vinci. New gear and the chance to finally choose your weapon collection help add to the game-play, where every weapon has it's own kill styles, so that every weapon appears to be different when used. Collecting feathers actually got you thing in game (auditore cape and a war hammer). The introduction of money to the game really improves the feel too, as you choose what to buy and when, so your characters development as well as the villa is all down to you, as your use of money will determine how quickly your weapons/armor improve and how much income the villa generates. The missions are fresh, bringing new ideas to the story, removing the monotony later on in the game.

Two things stood out to me above all others though in this game, and they are that you grow up with Ezio in game, and that the closing sequence leaves you with many questions. The fact that you grow up with Ezio means that you see him develop, you make mistakes, you gain wisdom and you begin to understand him. You see how he changes the more time he spends being an Assassin, becoming a character you can truly understand. This really brings the game to you, presenting a character that you can almost relate too (aside from the murdered family and excessive womanizing). The closing sequence though is the real point of interest in the game. After going through the whole story line, seeking revenge for a murdered family and searching for understanding, you get to the closing section of the game, and you are completely blown out of your mind. Your perception of the game changes, and that of Creed 1 also. It makes you step back and really think about what just happened. It clearly is begging for a follow-on game, but you want it, so it doesn't matter, as it is so well written that you just have to find out what the heck it all means. So as not to spoil the surprise for anyone, I won't describe what happens, but let's just say that you won't see it coming, even if you complete the truth video side mission, you still will be wanting an explanation for what the heck just happened.

Obviously, the game isn't perfect, there's minor glitches in the fighting and they still haven't latched onto the fact that some of the leaps of faith just wouldn't leave you living after doing them, but at the end of the day, the positives by far outweigh the negatives. Activision has presented an outstanding game that really immerses you in itself, blowing you away with it's sheer enormity of the scale of open maps and character pools, a hugely inter-woven story line that keeps you guessing and yet another phenomenally well made game. Definitely worth buying and seeing through to the end, and what made me become a true Assassin's Creed fan.

I hope people enjoy this as much as I did,

Druyii

Very addictive, Very good game, very entertaining story, and for how cheap it is it's well worth the money!... this is how to kill your boredom!

Assassin's Creed II isn't revolutionary compared to it's predecessor but a definite evolution and improvement. The controls are essentially the same, the gameplay is improved as is the interface.