Assassin's Creed II

If you played the original, then these are the better bits (so far after 8 hours of play)

It's an excellent absorbing game and is a league above the original Assassin's Creed. It takes a few hours before some of the developments in the game unfold and to be honest they are still unfolding so by this time next week there may be a whole heap more. To give some examples:
- Blending into crowds is much better implemented, you actually have to position yourself in the middle of moving groups to blend, not just press one button. Trying to make your way without being seen requires more stealth and it's very easy to become exposed at a critical moment.
- Introduction of armour, greater variety of weapons through merchants
- More combat moves. Combat is still a bit easy, but there is more that you can do with it.
- More sub-plots to break up the main plot (well to be accurate there weren't any in the original game, since I don't count picking up flags as fun, but now there are quite a number). Overall this looks like it should take quite a lot longer to complete and sub-plots are more reminisent of something like Oblivion.
- You need to seek out doctors for medical potions instead of just sitting still to heal
- Different groups you can hire to help e.g, thiefs, soldiers, prostitutes
- Missions vary and do not follow as predictable formats as the original and have proper plot development
Basically, if you liked the original, you should really like this. If you weren't particularly keen on the original but like games like Oblivion, this should have more to entertain you than the original.

With a lot of love for the first game most reviews were mixed saying that the missions were to repetitive but I liked the missions and Parkour of the game so for me this was an ideal game for me. After the confusion of the end of the first game this one sets off directly afterwards throwing you straight into battles and getting used to the controls. For the first 30 minutes of the game you will have to follow the story instead of having the will to free roam.

The story revolves around the "Animus", a machine which makes it possible for the player to view the genetic memories of protagonist Desmond Miles' ancestors, a long line of assassins. This time you are based in late 15 century Italy during the Renaissance and take control of a young nobleman-turned-assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze who after witnessing his family killed goes on a journey to uncover a hidden conspiracy after the murder of his family.

The graphics are pretty much the same as the first game with a few jitters in frame rate from time to time.
Not much has changed in the way of controls, a few more moves have been added and the free running works well it seems until you are in a rush and little things like jumping away from a wall you are climbing or diving off buildings when you didn't want to can be frustration and time consuming especially when you are against the clock. This however is a small problem and once I learnt to let go of "X" at places I deemed dodgy areas then I found this problem happening less and less.

The battle system is mostly the same, you now can take weapons from your enemies and vice versa but for me this makes the combat even easier than before. When I play assassin's creed I like to be unnoticed and do everything by stealth but I found with this game it did not matter if I was spotted because I could take all the guards out without any problem and get away with ease. The problem that they need to sort is the A.I. of the enemies, they will just hang back and let you pick them off one by one and you even have time to taunt and change weapons while they attack you one at a time. What should happen is all the guards attack you at once forcing you to make a getaway.

Also added is a meter that will tell you how much guards take notice of you, you can clear this by ripping down wanted posters or bribing a public speaker but they might as well not have this meter as I found I could easily walk around the town with a full meter and no one stop me, the only time I ever had problems was the guards on the roofs.

Assassination jobs are easier to pull off then the first game, you also have more of them which is a good thing but I would have liked them to be more of a challenge. What makes it easier is that you can pay prostitutes and thieves to distract guards or pay a group to attack them, giving you all the time in the world to hit your target.

Like the first game things to collect are back but instead of flags you have feathers to collect also statues and codex's. There are also Glyphs which will unlock puzzles to complete which extend on the main game. Delivering letters against the clock, beating up cheating husbands and races are also small sub quests but again too easy. You also have stores to fix any broken armor or upgrade, a healer you can buy medicine from but I found this useless to have so much I never even used more than 2 bottles and I had 15. You can buy treasure maps and paintings and also change the color of your clothes.
Also swimming has been added which also adds another way of evading the guards as you can duck under the water and somehow they seem to forget you were ever there. Once out of the water your clothes will look wet and you will be dripping for a while which was a nice small touch to the game.

In short this is an amazing game improving on the first with more missions and a stronger story but it also has some of the flaws from the first game such as poor A.I. and issues when it comes to precise jumping. I dropped it a star for this but if we could give half stars it would get 4.5

The original Assassin's Creed has been one of the most striking and divisive games of the generation so far. Some were won over by its unique setting, innovative controls and impeccable Free Running, whilst others chastised its lack of mission variety and the absence of an opportunity to meaningfully interact with the game world. A fair summary would probably fall somewhere in between the two, but there's no denying that it was one of the most potential-laden games of the last few years, driven by some of the most impressive and powerful tech to have graced the PS360.

Assassin's Creed II is without doubt one of the most exponentially improved sequels in modern gaming memory. Ubisoft Montreal have obviously listened to user feedback, made improvements in a multitude of ways and developed a sequel with pacing and depth that the first game unquestionably lacked. As someone who wasn't a particular fan of the original, this game is probably the nicest surprise and best use of its source premise this year alongside the excellent Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Taking place in 15th Century Renaissance Italy this time as opposed to Third Crusade-era Israel, ACII casts the player as young ruffian nobleman Ezio Auditore on his various misadventures around the city; brawling with a rival family, running errands for his father and stealing illicit visits to his girlfriend. Before long his family is disgraced and his relatively carefree lifestyle is turned upside down as he uncovers his father's legacy and takes the fight to their betrayers. While the original game was very structured in its design - 'nine people must be killed, here is how it must be accomplished' - ACII flows much more smoothly, with a more interesting plot concerning the Auditore family and their enemies, and far superior pacing which isn't simply about killing faceless villains.

The game world is excellent, and like the first game, it's encouraging to see the interpretation of such a unique and distinctive environment as historic Italy amongst all the po-faced modern day New Yorks. The major cities of Florence, Tuscany and Venice feature, with a smaller town acting as a hub of sorts where Ezio can train, invest in town regeneration and unlock both the family Auditore and the assassins' secrets. The cities each sport an individual feel, with the golden architecture of Florence contrasting against Tuscany's dull stone and Venice's flamboyant visual style. There are some indoor 'Assassin's Tombs' to be discovered around the countryside, which are linear and recall designs from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, which again pleasingly juxtaposes with the open-ended environs elsewhere.

ACII most successfully sets itself apart from its predecessor in the small details. An economy is implemented which allows for a few different types of shop and introduces some RPG-lite elements -- for instance, Ezio can purchase armour upgrades which increase his health meter, he can purchase maps which reveal locations of hidden treasure chests and he can carry medicine vials for use on the road. These options and details also manifest themselves in the combat; he can fight guards at the risk of prematurely raising the alarm, or alternatively he could hire a group of courtesans to use their womanly charms to distract them. The whole aspect is implemented on a fairly basic level, but it brings and element of depth and variety that the first game desperately needed, and searching dead guards for Florins to buy Ezio some new bracelets or a different coloured outfit is often compulsive and very welcome.

The plot in Assassin's Creed was always structured to be the first part of a franchise, and the story picks up here exactly where that left off, with Desmond and Lucy escaping from Abstergo before meeting more assassin allies and delving into Ezio's world to find more answers in the battle against the Templars. The voice work on the Italian characters is generally well done and feels authentic, but the modern-day characters suffer from poor scripting and largely uninterested or irritating voiceovers. To be honest the plot is still a load of implausible sci-fi nonsense and it would probably be more entertaining if they abolished the whole Animus aspect and just concentrated on the historical characters.

Technically speaking, ACII is very impressive in almost every regard. The stellar animation is its crowning glory, with lots of extremely detailed characters and excellent effects such as a day/night cycle and a stable frame rate. There is a fair amount of screen tearing, but the city feels busy and alive, with dozens of NPCs often on screen at any time. Enemy AI is often a little suspect, allowing the player to murder guards next to their fellows who take seconds to react, but at other times they can be fairly astute, following Ezio up to rooftops and calling to their fellows once he's spotted. The horizon distance is excellent - get to a high point and you can literally observe the whole city, and although each area is broken by a fairly forgivable loading screen, the need for them is very infrequent.

Overall, there's not a huge amount to criticise in Assassin's Creed II, and I can't remember the last time I played a sequel which had improved so successfully over its flawed-but-potential-laden predecessor. This game has clearly been the result of a tremendously talented development team listening to feedback and giving gamers what they wanted - namely more variety and more depth. The excellent gameplay of the first game has made the transition, and now it has the brains to go with its impeccable looks and presentation. It has been a busy year for third-person action adventures, but ACII can comfortably sit at the front of the pack with the likes of Uncharted 2 and Batman. An exemplary sequel.