Assassins Creed 2, is a vast improvement, but still missing something. Still one of the best games this year
Ubisoft has had an extremely good track record with not only milking the Tom Clancy cow, but has been instrumental in the revival of the Price of Persia series. The revamp was not only ground-breaking and highly popular it gave way to the original Assassins Creed in 2007. The game was ahead of its time in many ways, but it had some major draw backs that keep it from being a classic. After two years, players once again get to delve back into there DNA memories in this highly anticipated sequel. Does Assassins Creed 2 improve on the original design or is it like Da Vinci's inventions, only good on paper.
Story:
Assassins Creed let off on one of the worst sins in video games, a cliff hanger and a bad one at that. The sequel does a quick review of what happened in the last game, but if one did not complete the other game, then the events of this game are going to be completely foreigner to anyone not knowledgeable to the Crichton style story line.
The story consists of in the present; Desmond Miles has been captured by the modern day Templar order to find out where the pieces of Eden are. These pieces have control over the human population as demonstrated in the original game. In order to stop them, the Assassins, who kill in the name of peace and order, have rescued Desmond so that they can have him plug back into his memories in order teach him the ways of the order at lighting speed while trying to discover the locations of the pieces of Eden.
The story in the past is told through the life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a member of the Italian Assassin family in Florence. His father and brothers are famed for murder and he and what is left of his family are forced out of the city. Ezio is forced upon to take up the mantel of his father's legacy and take revenge on "The Spaniard" who was behind the murder of his family.
Confused, well this is to be expected. Assassins Creed 2 takes no sympathy on those who attempt to play this game. The story is long, complex, interconnecting and almost requires a University degree in History. Being a History minor myself, the story had me checking facts and trying to piece together the links to real events to make sense of the social and political behaviors at the time. The game at least doesn't leave itself another poorly planned cliff hanger, which is commendable. The voice acting cast for the past is extremely well picked as they can speak Italian as well as English. The cast for the present has much to be desired. Though anchored by Nolan North, the cast of veteran voice actors is both over shadowed and mostly unused.
In the end, Assassins Creed 2 is a huge step in the right direction after the last games disappointing ending. The game does require both previous knowledge of the first game as well being versed in the history of the time. You can still enjoy the narrative without it, but you gain a deeper respect for what the game is preaching.
Gameplay:
If you have played the first game in the series then, the controls have seen an overhaul. The controls to this game are not easy to jump into as buttons do different things during separate action phases. When walking the city, the controls are different from when Ezio is jumping from roof to roof. Players will be giving a lengthy grace period before the game starts to expect mastery. This tutorial is done through the story as to not take players out of story to teach them a new skill or ability. The game does a good job of keeping the tasks and killings varied which is an upgrade over the first games repetitive rhythm.
The game has not addressed its lack of an entertaining combat system. Players will fight large groups of sword wielding enemies and have to taken them all out. This is basically done by just blocking and counter-attacking. They added the fact that you can use your hidden blade as a weapon and a quick dodge move. The problem is that there is no reason to use a sword as the hidden blade can get an instant counter-kill where the swords and other weapon can not. Even though some enemies are heavily armored the hidden blade still works. It is not always good at blocking but if you're quick then it doesn't matter.
This simplified combats is just the beginning, now has an advanced health system which allows players to heal mid combat. These things make the overall game experience too simple. Ubisoft goes out of its way to make the control scheme have multiple sections and actions, yet makes the game almost laughably simple. Now this isn't to say that some of the side quests are not difficult like the temple missions, but the main struggle is 20 hours of challenge less tasks.
The game does have a huge amount of side objectives and missions. These range from assassinations to running quests. The game also sports a basic economy which along with your upgraded villa, keeping players busy along the simple story missions. Overall, the game is a vast improvement over its predecessor; it still has nagging issues that keep it from being the classic that it's striding to be.
Presentation:
Assassins Creed 2 is a near perfect snapshot of 1470-1492 Italy. The buildings and design allow for complete feeling that players are in this time period. The graphics were made for looking at a far; the close-up looks at characters are not as stunning. The engine that ran the last adventure has been fixed getting rid of most of the bugs that plagued the last game. The character models for Ezio and other main heroes and villains is extremely detailed and most of the equipment used aside from the Animus, would function in real life.
The sound was what was really impressive to me at least. The sounds of the people as they walk and interact with each city were not only shocking, but added to the feel of the game. Sure after a while you hear the same canned lines after a while, but the fact that there were so many was what kept me going. Every few games can say that they can have the depth and feel that this game has and the ones that do normally begin with Grand and end in Auto.
Overall:
Assassins Creed 2 is a huge step in the right direction, yet still misses the mark of greatness. It has all the tools of what a classic game should be, but its nagging issues keep it from being of classic status. Grade: A-