Assassin's Creed II is a step in the right direction as most of the issues which had dragged the first experience down have been ironed out leaving a much more enjoyable experience.
If anything is a theme with this year's AAA titles is that most are sequels and it’s Ubisoft’s next attempt with Desmond's story in Assassin's Creed II. Many changes that have been made in this next instalment focus on correcting the issues with the first such as the repetitive structure, but some clever improvements have been made to the character progression that this time round Assassin's Creed 2 is a thrill to play from start to finish.
If you aren't familiar with the Assassin's story so far then it may be difficult to comprehend what is going on in AC2. You are treated to a series of flashing images and a brief explanation of the war going on between the Assassin's and the Templar’s that has carried on throughout history. You start as Desmond Miles, the test subject that was put in the Animus machine in the first game, making you remember the memories of the assassin Altair. Desmond is in a similar situation but this time he is looking at the memories of the new assassin, Ezio Auditore da Firenze. However the story inside the Animus plays out slightly differently, as instead of being part of the Assassin's Creed you are just a no good rebellious young man. You soon get involved into some shady business and before you know it your father is murdered by a corrupt official. This sparks Ezio's path to become an Assassin following in his father’s footsteps and to take revenge on his father’s murder. The story then moves through many twists and turns and you soon find out that the templar’s are plotting to unearth an ancient secret and that your father's murder is part of a much bigger plan. You will encounter a few familiar characters from the first game outside the Animus but inside you will be joined by a selection of different characters, one of which being Leonardo Da Vinci who will be with you the entire story as a crafts man to build all the assassin's weapons and also a flying machine, which you only get to use once.
Of course the story of the first Assassin's game wasn't bad at all but the way in which it was presented and played out was the issue. The repetitive mission structure is now almost banished, I say almost because it depends on how many side missions you do. These side missions can range from beating up a wife’s cheating husband, to racing thieves across rooftops and your standard assassination contracts. For myself I purposely missed these off, only doing each one once to get an idea of what was install for me, but after doing one of each I could see that if you planned to do every side mission you came across then this could become tedious and go back to the old repetitive structure. Instead I chose to focus on only story missions, finding viewpoints and some minor collecting of feathers which act as the flags out of the first game. You shouldn't be worried either about completing this game too quickly either as doing the structure of playing I described above lasted me over 20 hours.
If the only thing that put you off the first AC was the repetitive structure then you should be already satisfied with AC2 as the core gameplay of the game remains the same. Climbing and free running remain one of the main focuses of the game and is still as easy to pull off. The combat is still a waiting game, timing your attacks to counter the enemies and to then see an awesome kill animation. However, the amount of weapons and moves you can pull off has been increased. Throwing sand in the enemies’ eyes, shoving two hidden blades into the enemies back, disarming an enemy and using his spear to trip him up only to slam his spear in his face, the list goes on. The different ways of taking down enemies is much broader, but that does not mean that all are as useful. I found in particular the poison hidden blade and the gun to be the most unloved out of all the arsenal, as the bog standard double hidden blades where my weapon of choice as the speed of attacks and the disgusting yet glorious kill animations that where achieved by using these meant they were hard to put away. There was nothing better than when Ezio quickly stabbed a fool in the chest ten plus times in quick succession.
Combat aside the other aspects of AC2 like the armour upgrades and the small hint of an economy system makes it feel a much fuller experience. Granted the economy system is just upgrading buildings to a third tire, which can be done on your third or fourth visit back to the town, are just nice features to see. The character load out is more flexible allowing you to swap armour and weapons for what you like, but it isn't as in-depth as any RPG out there, as you will already know what the best armour is after two hours of playing so I held off for that, occasionally buying some new armour along the way. The money side of the game again isn't as in-depth as I would have like as potions to heal yourself are as cheap as chips, and the only other use I found with the money is to throw it on the floor to create a distraction to slip passed some guards, as I never found myself short of change.
The locations you will visit during your assassinations will vary in look ranging from the sandy city of Florence, to the grassy hills of Tuscany and of course the romantic city of Venice. Each city looks great and you can really get a sense of scale when looking out from the tallest viewpoint. All feel very different too as the guard’s change their attire but also the street chatter varies. However, most of the background dialogue you will hear is repeated and can start to become just annoying, especially when chasing a messenger only having him screaming, 'Please don't kill me!' every two seconds in the same tone.
The most exciting times in Assassin's Creed II are of course the assassinations themselves. However sometimes, actually most of the time you are spotted before you can perform a stealthy assassination causing the whole sequence to become a chase scene. This took something away from it, but it made it all the sweeter when you succeeded the stealthy way. After each assassination you still have the small dialogue sequence and then the chase after. This quickly became my second favourite part of game, first place going to stabbing two fools in the face, as the amount of ways to escape your enemies keeps you thinking on your feet. Throwing a smoke bomb on the floor or sand in their eyes are very useful, or maybe you would prefer a full on fight or a chase onto the rooftops. Each way was as fun as the other and in the introduction of Venice means that jumping in water and swimming away is always an option.
After I put down the controller and finished the story I didn't feel disappointed, as some people may. The story definitely leaves it wide open and gives a slight conclusion but followed by a, what next. The entire experience of Assassin's Creed II is sadly what the first should have been, however Ubisoft have not only just improved on the faults of the first but built on the framework adding meat and substance to the game. All the characters feel more believable and the main protagonist is much more likable. To sum up this game is everything the first should have been and more, if you were a fan of the first you won't be let down and if you want to brush up on your Italian Renaissance history this is for you. I mean come on you can stab two dudes in the face.