A great sequel to the game but constant problem prevents it from being totally great (The game IS AWESOME)
Story:
The game follows through the story of Desmond Miles, right after discovering the Templar's true intention( i.e. first Assassin's Creed). He escaped the lab and joined the group of Assassins, the survivors and the constant enemies of the Templars to date. He then discovered his job with Animus is still not done. This time, he isn't there just to let others observe. Desmond is there to learn the ways of Assassins; to fight back the Templars.
He goes into the memory of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a teenager living in Italy at the years of Renaissance. Ezio is shown with a great fist fighting skill with an extremely good acrobatic skills (being taught from his father and his brother). Then, as the early story progresses, Ezio's father and 2 brothers were executed, leaving behind him and his sister and mother. Ezio realized that the plot to murder his father is far deeper than what at first it seemed to be. In addition, following his father's directions, Ezio discovered a secret chamber in his own house, hidden inside are his father's Assassin cloth( white robe like Altair's but much more elaborate). And so, Ezio tries to discover the true intention behind the killing of his family, on the way supported by many people, including his will-be-best friend Leonardo da Vinci. I won't spoil the final bit of the story here but it will be surprising and promising to a long storyline for the game.
Story analysis: The Ezio story line was really fun to play in, provided the "conspiracy chart" where you can see all the connection between each victims. And each scenario is a different feel than others. You may perform a leap of faith killing blow to a target, kill him off in a fair fight, avoid guards and do the classical ways of killing.... the story really ties together and will bring to you much joy.
Whereas in Desmond part, you don't see a lot of things here except for Desmond growing into an awesome fighter/acrobat having learnt Ezio's skills, there aren't any facts that makes your head goes bust in Desmond's campaign(although there are a few surprises but most of them are left wayy behind).
Overall, I will give a good amount of credit towards the story of AC2.
The World: By the world, I meant the virtual world Animus created for Desmond. The 14th century Italy. There are many things to say but it can be summed up into few words: Lively, amazing but not seamless.
The texture of this world looks so detailed you would be dazed just staring at it for the first time( Especially Venice. Especially Venice Masquerade Festival) IT is full of colors, full of sun shines( and sometimes, rain and other tones) and full of people. People in these cities live their life, just like any normal citizen(rather than just roaming around the city like AC1). They sweep the street, fix the houses, talk with friends..... the actions are well executed. However, one thing I hate about the people in AC2 is the bards. Bards are meant to be the replacement of those begging ladies we have seen in AC1. Now, instead of begging money, they harass you with crappy music and blocks your way. As if want to make the situation worse, if you try to run, they will run after you; and if there are 3 bards in the area, they will all come to you, playing like madmen. It was an unknown of them not playing for other people around the city but just targeting one person, Ezio. I can already see a secret sabotage plot going on here.
Anyways, the world is also packed with 3 main types of side-missions: Assassination, Race and our most beloved husband beat-up. Ezio get paid to do all the deeds(Yes, there is a currency in the game. WIll talk about that later). And the funny thing is, killing off a evil merchant who is plotting against a major bank pays you as much as the money you earns by beating up a cheating husband!!!!! Ta-da!!! But enough sarcasm; the side quests are fun to play and sometimes, quite challenging and demanding(For example, kill 3 guards outside the city walls, apart by roughly 1km each in 5mins). This time, the world AC2 creates will suck you in and hopefully, will be the main reason you stay after you finishes the main storyline.
Gameplay: there are a few notable changes in AC2's Game play:
-Money:
Probably the biggest change. Ezio is introduced with a new currency in the game in which he can use either to: Dye his cloth(into some kind of Crimson color. Yeah, I also thought that would help with his stealthy mission, wearing sparkling gold outfit and approach the target, stab him to death). Or, you can purchases weapons(including few types of mace and axes), or buy health and poisons and finally, treasure map and paintings from artists( Obviously, artists are in possessions of treasure maps.They're Indiana Jones right?). Anyhow, the economy system works great as it is and as if to throw the player off, this time, Ezio actually gets to own his own Manor(and little town)!!!. You can upgrade new buildings shops, mines, wells in the city in order for you to gain income. The system is really great but soon, all the upgrading will be done and you'll be left with a whole bunch of money without any practical purposes to spend them( or carry them. How can you carry 12000 gold coins in your body without making awesome noises? Still a mystery to me).
-Dual Hidden Blade:
Yeah, this time, you actually get to kill 2 people at once with new 3 assassination techniques: Over the ledge killing, Below the roof killing and inside hiding place killing. These new changes are awesome and there are whole lot of application for these techniques. Check those out yourself.
Misc Gameplay: The controls are fine, Ezio will do whatever you tells him to do, even jumping off the top of an insanely high tower in the complete opposite direction than the leap of faith position. He's your servant and will do whatever you ask him to do. Fighting system also works great especially with new weapons for you to play around. I personally liked the poison and gun. With poison, you can kill one guy and while other guys are watching, you can also finish them off by poisoning each. Or buy gun, if you are surrounded by Brutes, you can just shot a close shoot and kill off one, making your life hella lot easier.
Online Protection: One word, it sucks and unnecessary. It makes the game crashes and followed by the fact that International plays are almost impossible)Just think about you get a vacation or a business trip to some Asia or Africa country). Ubisoft in it's desperate attempt to rule out pirates have failed again as there re people out there who were able to crack the "sacred code" and bring the game to the less fortunate public( who can't pay the money to pkay the game, again, concentrated on Asia and Africa. Who are branded as "pirates"). Seriously Ubisoft, you are already making whole bunch of money from this already. Why do you want to rip off from people who can't even pay for their food?( Just saying, I do understand that to play AC2, these guys will need high-end PC). So that's mostly one of the main thing that rates this game down. So I'll give it a score of 6.0. Although the game itself was great, this single thing rates it down. A lesson to learn Ubi Soft.