User Review : Assassin's Creed 2

Assassin's Creed 2 PS3 Review

Assassin's Creed 2 is the sequel released late last year to the 2007 game which remains the surprise hit of this generation. The problem was, very few people seemed to actually like the game that much. AC2 takes place in 15th century Italy, and truly is the fully featured, expansive and enthralling open world game that so many others, including the original game, wish they could be.

Everything in Assassin's Creed 2 has been expertly crafted, from animations and graphics, to level design, plot progression, and of course, combat.

The game picks up where we were left last time around, with Desmond in his Abstergo cell. A blood relative of past assassin’s, the wonders of some questionable modern technology allows him to relive scenes from their lives. For Desmond though, this creates the inconvenient scenario of him being at the centre of a centuries old war between two powerful 'organisations', the Templars and the Assassins.

Your first moments behind the controls have you escaping from your jail cell with some help from the assassins. Once you’re out, you get introduced to The Animus 2.0, which is the machine that allows him to relive past memories of his ancestors. Your mission is to learn about the life of Assassin Ezio Auditorre de Firenze.

Your life as Ezio actually starts with his/your birth. You then jump around quite a bit, and next you'll find yourself playing out the exploits of an older Ezio, who has become a womaniser and a street gang member. For me, Ezio isn't a particularly likeable character, he is after all a bit of a brute, but he is an assassin, or at least, will be shortly.

The control scheme is quite complex, not because it is poorly designed, far from it, just that there is a lot that you can do. The game does a good job of spreading out the introduction of new control options, even late in the game you are given new ways to climb, and new weapons with different and new combat moves to use.

Early on the player gains the ability to 'free-run' which allows you to climb faster. It works well for the most part, and is solely responsible for the increase in movement speed from the first game. But it can be inaccurate and hard to use at times. It’s better than anything from Uncharted, but not as smooth as Prince of Persia, which is made by the same team. When you are in a complex environment however, it can present problems with the camera not showing what it should. But generally, camera positioning is strong and well worked out.

Animations are some of the best I've ever seen. Fluidity is superb, animations link together much more smoothly than in any other game for the PS3 or 360, with absolutely no missing steps between separate animations.

Stealth is a key aspect of the game. In many a mission you will be told to track someone without being seen. IGN reviewer David Clayman puts it excellently in his review when he compares the stealth in Assassin's Creed 2 to a Jason Bourne movie, in that you use quick actions and movements, as well as hiding in dense crowds to escape or remain unseen, where as the stealth type of MGS games is to move slowly and hide in the shadows. Hiding in dense crowds is exactly what you do in Assassins Creed 2, thanks to the blending system, which makes you appear to be just another civilian to the guards. Sitting on benches with civilians also renders the guards impervious to you. You can still take the MGS route though, by hiding in hay carts/stacks as well as roof gardens. However, seeker guards may probe your hiding spot looking for you, and if they find you, prepare for a fight.

Aside from hiding from, and just killing your enemies, you can also hire courtesans, which is a nice way of saying prostitute/whore, and mercenaries. The mercenaries will follow you up buildings if need be, and are ruthless aggressors. The courtesans can be used to distract the guards. You can also throw money on the ground which will have the same effect, while throwing sand in guards faces will blind them temporarily allowing for easier take downs if you are quick enough.

But I'm sure a lot, perhaps the majority, of people who play this game will choose to go the simple, though less rewarding, route of flat out attack. First though, you'll have to select your weapon, and you have a lot to choose from. All of Ezio’s currently equipped weapons are held on a weapon wheel. You can hold a sword/battle axes, a dagger, smoke bombs, poison, assassin blades (switchblades), and throwing knifes in your inventory at any one time. You can purchase several types of swords and daggers, but can only hold on your person at once, and must visit the weapon room in your villa. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, with varying strength, ability to deflect, and speed.

The first games combat system is really where it fell down. There was limited variation, very simple moves (1 button attack), which led to boring and repetitive battles. Not a problem here though. You can choose to simply mash the attack button. But you will be more successful if time your attacks perfectly, counter enemy attacks, and use tactics to take down large groups of enemies without taking damage. You can really have meaningful conflicts with the enemies, where you feel like you are fighting someone with a brain. Sure, you will only get attacked by one enemy at once, but it’s enough to make you feel intimidated when surrounded by a group of 20 bad guys.

As I mentioned, you have a villa, The Auditorre Villa. You also have command over the small rundown town that it overlooks. You can choose to upgrade the town’s merchants, banks, and brothel among other things and you can also open a mine, a church etc. Upgrading the certain merchant’s shops gives you a discount of 5, 10 or 15% depending on the level you upgrade them to. Upgrading businesses and opening others nets you income which you can spend on whatever you choose from further upgrades, weapons, maps, art, and armour.

The only real downside I can find to the game besides the at times inaccurate free run system is the missions which have you tailing someone. These are tedious at best, and after several minutes of slow walking I got pretty bored. If they'd made the guys you are following walk at a decent pace, then no problem, but as it certainly is a problem.

I could understand it if after reading that last paragraph you think I'm an Assassin's Creed fanboy and that surely there must be more than one or two things wrong with the game. The truth is, I hated the first game so much that I practically had to be forced to play this game by a friend before I would give it a chance. But the sequel has come so far from the original, and has been in every sense improved, that I even spent the 30-40 or so hours to get the platinum trophy.
Even some of the more mundane tasks such as collecting feathers weren't too boring, because there was always a bunch of guards to kill somewhere. Assassin's Creed 2 really is one of the best games I have ever played, and is without doubt my game of the year for 2009.