Assassin’s Creed 2 is an awesome, single player follow up to Assassin’s Creed. Gamers are often wary of sequels, questioning whether fairly minor upgrades merit the shelling out of hard earned money. Don’t worry; this is definitely not the case with Assassin’s Creed 2. The plot, the variety, the visuals and the gameplay are unbelievably better than the predecessor, making it one of the best ever third-person, action-adventure games. Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, it was released on the 20th of November 2009, on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.
The plot is engaging, coherent and well-written. The story picks up where Assassin’s Creed left off, and although it begins in the near future, most of the action takes place over half a millennium ago, in renaissance Italy. Desmond Miles needs to hone his skills to bolster a team of modern assassins (Lucy, Shaun and Rebecca). To this end Lucy ushers him into the extraordinary Animus, a machine which enables him to ‘become’ his ancestor Ezio. After experiencing the birth of Ezio, Desmond leaves the Animus for a short while, and you are treated to some hand-to-hand street fighting. Then it is back to the Animus and the physical body of Ezio, who is now a young nobleman, living at a time of intrigue, murder, mayhem, double-crossing, skull drudgery and revenge. An epic story unfolds, which traces the gory revenge exacted by Ezio, after his father and brothers are murdered by rival families.
The action is set in Venice, Florence and some Tuscan towns. The labyrinth of dark, narrow alleyways that make up much of present day Venice provides the ideal setting for murder, stealth and intrigue. Venice is a particular apt setting for the game, because in this small city the past and present seem imperceptibly intertwined, particularly at night when the marauding masses of day-trippers have departed. Coincidently, there is still an alleyway in Venice named the filled in canal of Assassins.
Assassin’s Creed 2 is not a particularly hard game to master: you are aided by a lengthy, well structured but never dull tutorial of about three hours. Ezio is not presented to you as a fully-fledged Assassin: he develops his skills slowly in a well crafted storyline. As he learns, so do you; and even eight hours into the game, you’ll still be picking up new tricks that will enhance your success and enjoyment.
Obviously, you alternate between Malcolm and Ezio, as dictated by the storyline. But as Ezio you are constantly aware that you are in the Animus, so the onscreen prompts don’t jar.
The range of weaponry is better than in Assassin’s Creed; the choice includes spears, axes, maces and various swords. That genius of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci, is on hand to design new weapons for you, such as a small one-shot firearm and a poisoned blade. You may be aware that all those years ago Leonardo drew plans for a flying machine: well now you actually get to use it! Assassin’s Creed 2 enables you to disarm enemies and seize their weapons. And of course you can always kill your enemies by pushing them off high buildings or drowning them: there are endless possibilities for creative killing!
Stealth and diversionary tactics are essential skills for the successful assassin. You can now blend easily into a crowd, and can use whores, thieves and mercenaries to distract, steal from or even kill the guards.
The free-running and climbing are better than ever, with the roof tops of Venice proving the perfect environment for acrobatics. The missions are numerous and exciting; about a hundred are in the main story, with a similar number of side missions. Even the seemingly ordinary task of delivering a letter can be intriguing, when the letter is from Casanova to a young woman, who is under the armed guard of her protective family. As well as murder, passion and intrigue, there’s a villa to upgrade. Your renovations will increase its value, and you get to deck its walls with artistic masterpieces.
The visual graphics are superb; the wonder that is Venice is captured in fine detail. The voice acting is realistic, and the soundtrack adds to the drama.
Assassin’s Creed 2 gives you up to thirty hours of magnificent gameplay together with a captivating storyline. Added to this there are the superb graphics, so what else can I say other than – BUY IT RIGHT NOW!