Players reprise the role of Desmond Miles, who spent the majority of the first game in a machine that had him ‘reliving’ the life and times of his distant assassin ancestor from the Middle Ages, Altair. Assassin’s Creed II neatly summarises the events outside of Altair’s adventure, where Desmond has been caught in the middle of an underground war between the Templars (fronted by the pharmaceutical company, Abstergo) and the Assassins. Apparently, these groups have been at it for millennia, constantly fighting for control over humanity and the mysterious artifacts known as the ‘Pieces of Eden’. A superb opening sequence has Desmond and fellow 'Assassin' Lucy escaping Abstergo to the modern Assassin’s base. From here, the story switches focus from Altair in the Middle Ages to Ezio Auditore de Firenze in the Italian Renaissance.
Playing through as Ezio will supposedly help Desmond ‘learn’ to be an assassin (Altair’s memory was already ‘established’), not to mention reveal further clues regarding the Pieces of Eden. The presentation of the story is much simpler, so no ‘glitches’ or tacked-on real-time involvement. The narrative is driven by the charismatic Ezio and the characters in his world, and players are much better off without the constant switching back and forth between realities. So while Desmond’s story is still going in the background, most of the time you’ll be concentrating on Ezio’s tale. There are other minor plots that add to the compelling alternate reality (a bit like Metal Gear Solid, but without as much huh?), as well as a nice humorous take on the history that you’re playing through. So while the story is built so new players can get into it, fans of the original will have a great extension to look forward. The ending is interesting, to say the least, but it does make sense. Just remember what year the game is set in.
Standing there in awe isn't going to help you.
Complex story aside, what Assassin’s Creed did very well, was provide a playground for the highly innovative free-running mechanics and while aspects such as assassinations and combat were considered easy, they never let you feel like anything but a supreme athlete and highly trained professional. These and the other good aspects of the game have been kept in Assassin’s Creed II, at the expense of some that were considered bad. With the changes in the story structure, the game is no longer purely driven by your objective to assassinate 'x' number of figure heads. Instead, each of the assassinations is tied into the levels or ‘memories’ of the story. The advantage of this is that it has allowed for the abolition of the much maligned investigations (which if you actually listened to them, you’d find that they were actually very useful), and this in turn has allowed for a more streamlined structure as well as more variety.
However, this variety does run out of steam at the back-end, which disappointingly points to the limitations that the developers had in making the game accessible. The lengthy introduction to all the new mechanics of the game, while contextual, took a bit too long to get through. It isn’t really until the fourth and fifth memory sequences that the game really gets going and takes you off the leash. That, and new players are slightly isolated as some of the older mechanics aren’t explained, such as the difference between high and low profile. Still, these are very minor concerns when you have a game that flows much better than the original, but that still allows you to participate in shenanigans outside of the story. In a way, the progression feels like something out of a Grand Theft Auto game, but with no reliance on luck or battling terrible mechanics to get through missions.
In truth, playing through the memory sequences play like the investigative missions from the original, but they make much more sense in context. And once the action does ramp up, you’ll be pulling off assassinations similar to, though not as deliciously complex as, Hitman. On the plus side, that means you’ll have some sweet assassination possibilities that can actually be achieved. One particular mission has you sneaking over across several towers to get to a lunatic priest, where we were able to make it across, perform the deed and make a get away completely unnoticed. And damn was it satisfying. Outside of these, you’ll have many other neat one-off missions that weren’t present in the original.
Leonardo Da Vinci's inventions and associations make for compelling variety.
There have been some useful additions to the game, and some spurious. Earning money in the game and your home base covers both descriptions. While Altair had everything provided for him, as Ezio, you have buy or take it. You can get money by completing missions, stealing it using you assassin skills or finding chests. Money then is used to buy health, weapons, armour, hiring help (courtesans, thieves and mercenaries) against city guards to avoid a fight or lose them, as well as upgrading your villa. Doing so will ‘attract visitors’ who will bring in more money for you. It’s a nice way of having to earn your stuff rather than just by finishing levels. However, once you have everything, money becomes superfluous. Thankfully though, it won’t be till quite late in the game.
Aside from your villa in Monteriggioni, there are four other magnificently detailed locations in Renaissance Italy to explore: Florence, Tuscany, Romagna and Venice. While the cities in the original had more distinguishing character to each of them, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that they provide a great, living environment to explore as well as rich and intriguing histories. While there are open fields for you to run around in, they’re contained in each region and there is no useless overworld to get lost in. There's a lot of tomfoolery to get up to in each of these cities as well, including solicited ones such races, assassinations and beat-ups and other that are just about stuffing around, such as trying to catch Borgia couriers. Finding glyphs is also an interesting task, as it gives you further insight into the story. But once you find them, you need to unlock them through a mini-game. The mini-games vary and require some cryptic thinking and historical trivia, but some can be devilishly difficult. These puzzles are a welcome diversion.
The undoubted highlight of the additions are the Assassin tombs. Basically, there are six tombs in the game that combine the acrobatic mechanics of Assassin’s Creed with the environmental puzzles similar to modern Prince of Persia games. The result is some of the most exhilarating and satisfying acrobatics ever seen in a video game. Not only do they show just what the mechanics in the game are capable of, but they are superbly varied, puzzling and creative. If you picked up one of the limited editions, you’ll get a few more of these to play with as well.
Get out of my office!
Aspects such as the free-running and combat remain fairly untouched. There are very minor additions to the free-running, such as the ability to swim (a must in Venice) and a few jumps. Otherwise, it remains a highlight of the game. Combat has a few new weapons and tricks to play with, such as smoke bombs, poison and some (term used loosely) strategies, but the general mechanics are fairly identical. So these combat additions come off as nice-to-have rather than a necessary progression. Sure, the combat can make you feel like a real professional and there is satisfaction in being able to pull off the best moves, but there really hasn’t been a proper evolution to it nor does it provide much of a challenge at times.
As mentioned above, the presentation goes back to traditional cut scenes, but this has meant that the characters are a bit more caricatured than in the original. Still, Assassin’s Creed II pretty much improves upon most of the graphical hitches of the original and now takes it even further, with more detail and depth without sacrificing performance, particularly with hugely improved load times. The ambition in the Venetian waters and racing around on horse back can still be a little dicey, but overall, it’s kind of improvement a sequel should have. The soundtrack to the game is masterfully composed by Jesper Kyd with another wonderful performance. The voice work seems to have been unleashed this time around, with performances that seem to be delivered with much more freedom and zest, complimenting the improved story delivery. Basically, Assassin’s Creed II pretty much nails the presentation.
Simply put, Assassin’s Creed II is a superior game to its predecessor. While it no longer has the ‘new concept’ feel, a number of additions and subtractions have overhauled it into a much more coherent experience, both from gameplay and story perspectives. The gameplay has a much better flow, a lot more variety and the story is compelling and well delivered. Sure, the perceived lack of difficulty and variety wear thin at the back, but the compromise is necessary in delivering an accessible but compelling gameplay experience, as opposed to a complex but jarring one such as Hitman. And to top it all off, this is a 20 hour quality single player experience, something a rarity in this day and age. Otherwise, the only thing that’s left for the series is a conclusion.
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