Assassins Creed 2

Since I'm waaaay to excited about the Assassins Creed multiplayer footage I've seen, i decided to go back and play through both previous games. Kept me busy for a few days, and I figured I may as well do a review of one of the 2; and I chose AC2.
Assassins Creed 2 is an action adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal for the PS3, X-Box 360 and PC.

STORY
Although being a sequel, Assassins Creed 2's story doesn't follow immediately on from the first game. Well, it does and it doesn't. The Assassins Creed games follow Desmond Miles, though most of the action follows the memories of his ancestors, through the use of the Animus.
You see, the Assassins and the Knights Templar have been waging a secret war for ages, and to get an edge over their adversaries, Desmond searches his ancestors memories for any information that is particularly valuable to the cause.

The story is definitely an interesting one; providing players with an alternate history where many of history's great leaders were in fact Templar's, and their exploits can be traced back to artifacts known as pieces of Eden. Convenient little plot devices created for this story that sounds like its written by a team of conspiracy theorists. Still interesting though.

PRESENTATION
The Graphics of Assassins Creed 2 are quite fantastic, even by today's high standards; and lighting/ water effects really make the environments seem realistic. However, you're soon reminded that you are in fact in a machine; by way of graphical glitches and the HUD. I like the presentation, but at times, the Animus lacks personality (for example, during loading screens).

Voice acting is pretty impressive, with the majority of characters sporting an Italian accent that doesn't go over the top. A lot of the lines are also delivered in Italian which certainly add to the immersion. (The English is explained, as the Animus auto translates memories apparently).

GAMEPLAY
Gameplay in Assassins Creed 2 focuses mainly around fighting and free running, both of which work extremely well. The missions you get sent on are pretty varied (or extremely varied when compared to the first game) but at the expense of the freedom to plan your assassinations.
While this isn't a huge loss, it does take away from the feeling of being an assassin, that the first game did so well, despite being extremely repetitive.

Apparently, the Renaissance was a time for great achievements in the field of murder, among many other things. New assassination techniques, as well as a variety of weapons make the combat truly fun. The free running is also a lot faster and more fluid than the first title in the series, and the addition of a notoriety system (albeit an imperfect one) make this game a stellar improvement over the previous game.

The biggest downfall from Assassins Creed 1 is the massive drop in difficulty. Although enemy AI is more intelligent, they simply aren't vicious enough to be able to take your character down. And most fights can be won with patience and counter attacks.

REPLAYABILITY
Being an open world game, Assassins Creed 2 offers the players a massive sandbox to explore, including Italian cities such as Venice or Florence. Found in these cities are side missions (assassinations, courier etc) as well as collectibles to find. There are a ton of feathers to find in the game, as well as "The Truth" files to look out for. Trophy Hunters and Achievement Whores will have alot of fun with this one.

OVERVIEW
With an interesting and deep storyline, well executed game mechanics and a lot of things to do and find; Assassins Creed 2 truly was one of last years better games. It was far from perfect however, as the low difficulty level and often repetitive gameplay stood in its way. Oh, and I fucking hate the random Lute playing douchebags. I swear, they hunt in packs. (Although they aren't AS annoying as the beggar women and super strong lepers from the first game.)

In summary, if you haven't played this game, i suggest you do. It's fun, and is bound to keep you entertained for quite some time.

Next week, my Dead Rising 2 review. Thank god the Australian Ratings Board let this one through with little/no modifications.