Assassin's Creed II is the same game as Assassin's Creed at heart, but every complaint has been answered. No more long speeches after assassinations, no more tedious conversations at the beginning of every level, and the main character, Ezio, is much deeper than Altair was.
The combat system has been drastically improved, giving Altair not only the ability to buy new weapons, but to take them from the enemy and proceed to pummel or stab them to death with it.
The only qualm I have with it is that it's incredibly buggy*. I've fallen through walls, the camera sometimes shoots off into roads that I am not on, and the enemy AI, while greatly improved from the last game, is still a little slow. They'll chase you off of a roof and die when they hit the ground. They also cannot swim, but I suppose that makes sense seeing how much armor they wear.
Overall the game is fantastic. I can't find any reason why someone should not buy this game other than if you just don't like the genre.
*Keep in mind that I played the launch version, so patches have yet to be released as of the time that I wrote this review.
