Review: Assassin’s Creed 2

We might as well admit it, Assassin Creed wasn’t a very good game. It lacked polish, it was overhyped and its story was rather clumsy and convoluted. The main character, Altair, was an arrogant cold character that was extremely difficult to like. The world was interesting, but the sci-fi aspect to it never felt properly attached. In the end Assassin Creed was a nice game, but it wasn’t the excellent game it was hyped to be.

A couple of years later and Assassin’s Creed 2 has turned up, except this time things have changed. AC2 has attempted to fix all the problems that the original had, and in doing so it has managed to create a more interesting experience for the player. Instead of a cold, calculating assassin, you have Ezio; a man thrown into the world of Assassin’s and Templars due to the unlawful hanging of his brothers and father. At the start he has no concept of what it is to be an assassin, and his first attack on the people who betrayed his father is brutal and messy. He has to learn fast and get help from friends if he wants to take on the rest of his father’s killers, and the Templars themselves.

This is all happening in Renaissance Italy, but this time the Animus, the machine our hero is within in the future, feels more wrapped together with the past than it did in the original. Cities of Renaissance Italy build up in a mesh of white light, almost like a computer loading up a simulation. You no longer die, but rather your connection to the world desynchronises and the world starts to flicker white and red mesh until you get some medicine. The story is now within the world, both in the documents, letters and codex information you pick up, and also in the “The Truth” pieces that exist within the world. These pieces are codes that can be unlocked through a simple puzzle game to unearth a video file. Find all of them and you can unlock the truth of the pieces of eden, the celestial object that the Templar’s are looking for in order to control the world in 2012.

That’s not all that’s changed though; our character in Italy is far and wide different from that of Altair in the first. A lovable rogue, Ezio has more of a personality than Altair could ever muster, and as such you warm to his story far quicker. Ezio’s abilities are more advanced than Altair’s, and with the help of Leonardo Da Vinci, you are able to acquire new skills, weaponry and techniques as you progress through the game. Leonardo acts as your codex decipher, offering his services in order for you to improve your health and abilities, as well as unlocking information about what the Pieces of Eden are, and what Altair did after the events of Assassin Creed.

Customisation also exists in AC2, allowing you to develop Ezio as you see fit in a variety of ways; from weaponry, to clothing, to dye colour if you don’t like the white cloth of the Assassin robe. You can also recover by visiting doctors within the world that will supply potions or heal you if you are wounded. You also gain your own villa and town thanks to the generousity of your Uncle. At first this town is in a pretty poor state, but continual upgrading of the towns merchants and services will transform it, and also allow you to pocket some cash as well. This cash can be collected after a set period of time within a treasure chest in your villa, similar to that of Fable 2′s system of giving you cash for every merchant you owned.

A completionist will absolutely love Assassin’s Creed 2, and there is a high amount of things for you to do in the game, including races, sub missions, assassinations and others. Ubisoft has obviously seen that the main problem with AC1 was that there was nothing to do apart from the main quest; that the cities were interesting to jump around on and navigate, but there was effectively nothing to do in them. Assassin’s Creed 2 is the opposite; each city has its offering of quests, items, feathers (the equivalent of flags in AC2, that now have a backstory to them other than “I’ve dropped my flags Altair, go collect them), and treasure chests. If you ignore all this then the game averages in at about 12 hours, but if you spend time in the cities collection treasure or building up your villa, the game can last far longer.

There are some problems with the new game, the biggest I have is that the parkour feeling of jumping about rooftops still doesn’t feel very smooth, especially compared to the likes of Mirror’s Edge where you’re able to perform jumps, leaps and quick movements with relative ease. Ezio continues to feel somewhat clunky, his movement feeling sluggish and on numerous occasions I’ve mistimed a jump simply because he doesn’t respond to my button presses. Similarly if he runs in one direction, it can be very difficult to make him run in the other direction. Combat, though improved from Assassin Creed, still suffers from the AI surrounding Ezio and not attacking, perpetually seeming to wait their turn to be slayed by my sword. If you lived with it in the original however, you’ll probably live with it in this one.

In effect, Assassin’s Creed 2 feels more polished than its predecessor, and it feels like Ubisoft has had more time to develop the game as it wanted it to be, without the need to rush out the game as it did in 2007. Though there are still a few problems here and there, AC2 is definitely a recommended game to play. If you enjoyed Assassin’s Creed you’ll very much enjoy the improvements of the sequel, and if you’re new to the franchise I’d recommend giving AC2 a try.

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