I wanted to wait until I played the last game in the list of what I considered to be game of the year candidates before I rendered my opinion of Assassin’s Creed II.  My list, by the way, in no particular order – Resident Evil 5, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Batman: Arkham Asylum, COD: MW2, Borderlands, Assassin’s Creed 2, L4D2, and The Saboteur.  Now back to Assassin’s Creed…

For those of you who have not played Assassin’s Creed 1 or 2 – first of all, shame on you.  Taking place in the near future, you play as Desmond Miles, a regular guy who happens to be a direct descendant of a group of ancient assassins.  Desmond is captured by the evil corporation Abstergo, run by the Knights Templar.  Through a device called the Animus, Desmond is forced to re-enact the memories of his assassin predecessors in order to find clues to the whereabouts of  mysterious technology called “Pieces of Eden”.  Assassins Creed 1 concentrates on the life and memories of Altair, an assassin from the Holy Land during the time of the Crusades.

Assassins Creed 2 picks up right where the first left off, with Desmond trying to escape from the evil Abstergo.  Desmond is aided by a group of modern day assassins, who are looking to thwart the efforts of the Knights Templar.  Once out of Abstergo, Desmond is taken to a hideout where a new and improved Animus 2.0 is set up, ready for him to relive the memories of another assassin, Ezio Auditore.  In addition, Desmond’s new modern assassin friends have learned of a “bleeding effect” that the Animus produces where the user can physically gain the skills and abilities of the ancient subject.  So – modern day Desmond can become as badass as his assassin relatives.

The vast majority of gameplay in the second game takes place while inside the Animus,  in Florence, Forli, and Venice Italy.  Creed 2 improves on nearly every aspect of Creed 1.  Combat – in addition to new weapons, Ezio has a new arsenal of moves he can use.  In Assassins Creed 1, combat became jokingly easy at the end of the game when all of your combat skills were learned.  All you needed to do was wait for someone to strike, counter, and they were done.  In this way, I was able to take on 15-20 enemies at a time, barley taking a hit, if at all.  In AC2 there are new enemy types, two of which are difficult to counter, forcing you to vary your moves by using disarms and evades along with counters.  When all said and done, combat is much improved, more difficult and fun.

Missions – if I had a nickel for every time I heard Assassins Creed was too repetitive, I’d be richer then Tiger Woods’ flower salesman.  Ok the first one was repetitive.  But it was fun, and what game nowadays isn’t repetitive?    New  types of side missions, along with the interesting story line involving the likes of Lorenzo de Medici, Leonardo DaVinci, and Machiavelli keep Creed 2 fresh.  In addition, new ways to “blend” with your environment to escape from enemies and the ability to swim gives you even more options.

Collectors and completionists will love this game as well, since there are symbols or “glyphs” spread throughout the game that take you through minor sub-story line, as well as feathers that can be collected in each area for various bonuses and a special Auditore family cape to wear.  Another new aspect of the game I loved was the assassin tombs.  Each city in the game and one or two tombs that were only accessible by assassins.  Each tomb involved a Tomb Raider style running/climbing/jumping puzzle to unlock the tomb treasure room.  Each treasure room contained a stone seal used to unlock a special outfit in your family villa.

Overall, there are very few reasons not to play this game.  If you played the first but didn’t quite like it, play this game, it’s much improved.  If you have never have played an Assassins Creed game, this is the one to try.  If you liked the first game, well then this is a no brainer.  I took about 25 hours to complete this game, doing only a handful of side missions.  I’m not the fastest game player, but this game definitely gives you your money’s worth.

I can’t recommend this game enough.  That’s why it’s my game of the year.

Tags: Reviews