Assassin's Creed II delivers a much stronger narrative compared to its predecessor, and fixes all the issues.
Assassin's Creed II's story succeeds the previous game's, and we get to see Ezio's character grow up and interact with a more interesting cast of characters: Leonardo Da Vinci, Catarina Sforza and his fascinating Uncle Mario, to list the more prominent interactions. Instead of the first game's story focused more on political overthrow, this game is more character-driven, and gives us a set of missions focused on Ezio's revenge against the Templars, and the horrible things they've done to him. This is a good or a bad thing, the story doesn't feel as large-scale, but you feel more up-close and personal with Ezio's motives. One of the biggest changes is the lack of Desmond. We are still experiencing Desmond's ancestor's memory through the Animus, but we only get to see Desmond's side of the story a scarce amount, which sometimes feels like the more interesting side.
The gameplay throws a lot of new content at you, from small missions with simple objectives to gain money (which you can now use to buy weapons, armor and medicine), to elaborate main assassination missions that never feel repetitive. The introduction of money has given a lot of new aspects to the game. You can manage your family's Villa and gain intervals of income by choosing to upgrade local buildings, to increase the surrounding town's value. You can now upgrade your weapons, armor and even dye your robes different colours (an aesthetic choice). There are also absolutely welcome combat additions, such as a 'hidden blade gun thing' add-on, and poison knives. The climbing has definitely improved, and feels and looks much more fluid. However, a few oddly-shaped buildings still cause stumbles and frustrations, and one wrong button press, and you might fly yourself off a hundred-foot tower, plunging to the ground.
The center-stage is once again taken by the lovely cities, but this time we're in Italy. The cities all have their distinct looks, and everywhere you look is frosted with details. With even more diversity than the first game's cities, which was hard to beat, you shouldn't grow very tired of the locations in Assassin's Creed II, especially Venice; one of the prettiest areas I've ever seen in a game. There is thankfully less focus on climbing viewpoints to continue with the main story, but they are still there and help with exposing the secrets on the map. The soundtrack of the game is definitely superior to the first game's, with very stylized tracks that sound modern at times, but still suit the atmosphere, delivering an energizing experience. The only complaint is that some tracks are heard too often, and become repetitive. Some more tracks that go along exclusively with story mission events would have been nice to hear, to make things feel different.
The good:
-Still an absolutely, juicy plot-twist-filled story, even better than the original game, adding much more value.
-Beautifully detailed cities are still the spotlight.
-A lot more things to do, adding enjoyment and value to the game.
-Dramatically-improved climbing, scaling walls is much faster and stumbles are less frequent.
The bad:
-The story improved, but left some things behind. Desmond's role isn't as prominent, and a majority of the game is spent doing tasks some would consider mundane.
-Climbing control quirks still exist.
-Occasionally repetitive soundtrack.
Final Score: 8.6/10