Good game with some annoying flaws.
Its hard to right a review about every inch of this game because I'm trying to not have any spoilers for the parts of the game i was excited to see.
The awesome things about AC2:
- Awesome graphics, great choice of using Italy in the 1400s
- Custom weapon loadouts and armor (including dyes for color)
- Collection items are TRACKED IN THE MENU. THANK GOD!
- GTA: VC mansion on steroids.
- New, innovative cloaking system and assassination techniques.
- Tomb puzzles... you'll find out about that later.
- Purchasing escorts, bands of thieves, etc.
of course there are more but those are the ones that keep me going.
Flaws that I find annoying:
- The story: I haven't finished it all the way thru yet. I've just finished the section where I "crashed the party" and I only have one clue about the entire plot, Ezio wants revenge. The first AC had all kinds of subtle hints throughout the game when you assassinated people. Nobody gives up any type of conspiracy when they are about to die. Not only that, but the little video clips... WTF are those all about? Remember in AC1 when you would play 80% of Altair and 20% of desmond here and there? I've played as Desmond for about 10 minutes of the game (over 20 hrs of game time).
- Assassination missions are WAY TO EASY to get to the target and get out.
- Glyph puzzles, seriously! Some of those are ridiculously hard.
- Slight movement issues when trying to jump around.
my overall for this game, 8.5 could've been around a 7 if it wasnt for the positive features that make it FAR BEYOND AC1. I felt like it was a mix of Fable 2 and AC1, which is a good thing.
it's a letdown in some areas for sure. It's a must have either way and i suggest playing AC1 all the way thru prior to playing AC2, so you get the full effect of some events that happen.