Assassin's Creed 2 is a shining example of how great a game can be!
It was the game that turned gaming from Super Mario, into "holy GOD i had NO IDEA games could be like THIS!!!"
For me, that game was KOTOR. For someone else, it may have been Diablo, or Fallout, or Half-Life, Tie Fighter, FF7, Oceania of Time.
Whatever that game is, though, we seem to keep playing games, hoping to find that ONE game again, that goes so far beyond our expectations of what a game can be, that we become immersed within it, fighting starvation and sleep to finish just one more quest, hoping to discover one more thing.
Assassin's Creed 2, is that game.
It's not just the best game I've played all year, which it easily is. It's the most fun I've had playing a video game in 5 years! (The last game, 5 years ago, was Half Life 2, and I dare say, I had more fun playing AC2!)
Also, not caring for the first game much, it addressed not just many, but EVERY SINGLE problem I had with the first game, which were...
1. slow pacing
2. repetitive sidequests
3. landscapes that look the same
4. wooden, 2 dimensional characters who do little more than carry the plot forward.
Assassin's Creed 2 starts well, introduces you to likable characters, and submerges you in immersive, and easily recognizable landscapes. From the churches of Florence, to the hazy, golden landscapes of Tuscany, the bending almost labyrinth like streets that line the canals in Venice, all the way to the Vatican, AC2 is littered with fully realized, painstakingly rendered yet beautifully imagined landscapes, and living breathing settings that help sell the setting, the characters, and the story involving them all.
Toss in some very interesting conspiracy theory, imaginative quest design, creative sidequests, and people who feel like living, breathing people, and you've got a recipe for a game that makes you want to keep playing, even when your better judgment says it's time to eat, or go to bed.
Most impressively, no part of the game feels tedious, even down to the sidequests for the "completionist" in all of us. As much as I tried to just plow through the game, to find out what would happen next, I'd discover an assassin's tomb, or the location of a clue into the story, and find myself exploring, not cause I felt I had to...because i wanted to. And, every time, my desire to explore was rewarded with another piece that fleshed the game for me even more than before.
About those side quests...the side missions are, for the most part, fun, sometimes challenging, occasionally frustrating, but in the best way possible...the way that makes you want to try again when you fail, to see what you get when you do.
I could go on and on, but many have, so I'll just pay it the best compliment I can give to any game...
...I didn't ever want to stop playing!
Only the best games make me feel that way, where I seem to live them even when I'm not playing.
Assassin's Creed 2 is that game. It's the game many of us have waited for. A true sandbox game that truly rewards us for every second of our invested time. It's inspired, and surpasses not only the original, it surpassed my expectations of how rewarding a gaming experience could be.