Reviews

Back in 2007, when the term “next-gen” was still being used liberally to  
describe the kinds of games that gamers wanted and weren’t getting  
(apparently) Assassin’s Creed was one of the first to show us what our  
current machines are truly capable of, and what kind of new games can be made  
with a little creative thinking. You can argue about some of the game’s faults:  
its repetitive nature and limited scope – but you simply cannot dispute its  
merits: a great control scheme, a new take on the stealth genre, and one of the  
most compelling and twisted sci-fi stories ever seen in a videogame.

That’s why, despite the first game’s drawbacks, fans have been eagerly  
awaiting the release of Assassin’s Creed 2. The game picks up right  
where the first game ended – and it starts off with a bang. Players are thrust  
into the role of Desmond Miles: the protagonist from the first game in whose  
mind we took on the role of Altair. He’s still imprisoned in the Abstergo  
building, but is busted out by Lucy and taken to a secret base – the lair of the  
modern-day descendants of the Assassins. There he is, strapped into their  
version of the Animus (the machine which lets him relive his genetic memories)  
and told that he must learn the skills of another one of his ancestors, an  
Italian man named Ezio, in order to help his current Assassin brethren stop the  
modern-day Knights Templar organisation from executing their schemes.

This is achieved via the “bleeding effect”, a complicated phenomenon in which  
users of the Animus can acquire the skills and traits possessed by their  
ancestors while viewing their genetic memories. This time, rather than being  
placed in the role of an experienced and skilled Assassin like Altair, Desmond  
starts in Ezio’s youth. Ezio is a lusty young man with quick fists and a love  
for adventure and trouble, but he’s no killer – not at first. Ezio’s days of  
making deliveries for his father, picking fights with other young noblemen, and  
climbing into young ladies’ bedroom windows for steamy encounters, come to an  
abrupt end when his father and brother are falsely accused of conspiring against  
the government of their home city, Florence, and are executed. Determined to  
prove his father’s innocence and take revenge, Ezio follows clues which  
eventually lead him to uncover his father’s secret life as an Assassin and to  
take up his father’s mantle in his quest to thwart the Knights Templar’s devious  
machinations.

At first, Assassin’s Creed 2 feels very much like the first game.  
The controls are almost exactly the same and Ezio handles similarly to Altair.  
Only after a significant time investment will the subtle improvements and tweaks  
become apparent. Ezio is a bit easier to handle while free-running, the climbing  
system is a bit faster, the combat controls are slightly tighter and less  
chaotic and, more importantly, the whole flow of the game feels a lot more  
coherent. 
Rather than completing a few missions in the Animus, being  
constantly shunted out into the real world, and having time fast-forwarded  
between every important event, Desmond experiences Ezio’s story in a much more  
uninterrupted, movie-like narrative. The idea is much the same though: Ezio’s  
main task is to track down and kill his father’s murderers and the heads of the  
Knights Templar in Italy. To do this, he must talk to people and gather  
information on where his targets will be and potential methods to reach them.  
Then all that remains is to get in there, kill them by whichever means you  
prefer, and escape before Ezio is overwhelmed by guards.
Among other additions is a new “notoriety” system. If Ezio is seen doing bad  
things, like murdering people, stealing, starting fights, and wandering into  
forbidden areas, his notoriety will increase. Once this meter is full, guards  
will immediately pursue him on sight, which can make even moving around the city  
a problem. There are remedies to this, of course, including tearing down wanted  
posters, killing the officials who are spreading information about Ezio, and  
bribing town heralds to shout about other news. Another new addition is that  
Ezio can use any substantial crowd of people to blend in and avoid detection –  
but he has to master switching from one group to another because one crowd might  
not be heading in the direction he wants. Early in the game, Ezio will meet  
Leonardo da Vinci, who is quite an eccentric and likeable character. As Ezio  
acquires secret documents from the Templars he kills, he can take them to  
Leonardo, who will use the plans to create new equipment for Ezio to use.
Aside from the main quest, there are tons of other things to do, including  
the mandatory item hunting (100 feathers, in this case) and plenty of side  
missions to engage in, like assassinations, races, deliveries, and roughing  
people up. Most of these quests reward Ezio with money, which he can use to buy  
new weapons, healing items, upgrade his armour, or even throw on the floor to  
draw crowds of beggars to distract guards. And then there’s the Villa  
Monteriggioni, the home of Ezio’s uncle, Mario. This is basically an entire town  
Ezio can invest in by renovating the villa, building shops, promoting trade, and  
generally sprucing the place up. The more he does this, the more money the town  
will make, money which he can use to buy the more expensive items in the game.  
Also, hidden around this villa are a few very secret, very powerful items,  
including the armour of Altair, if you can figure out how to get it.
Ubisoft really went out of their way with AC2 to address the issues  
players had with AC1. The result is a great action game with a far  
greater sense of immersion and grounding in the world than the first game. The  
graphics are a great improvement, too, and the story is really heating up,  
making this a must-buy for fans of Assassin’s Creed.