With Italy as your backdrop, the sequel to Assassins Creed has graphically improved, and is a lot of fun to experience.
The story continues where the previous ended; Desmond, in today's time, escapes from the complex that kidnapped him and captured his mind. This time he teams up with the good guys, and gets back in the seat in the machine that sends him back a few hundred years to Italy, during Leonardo Da Vinci's time, where he'll play an assassin, in order to train himself the skills. I won't go into detail, but rest assured that it's pretty well told and written. The opening sequence is painful to sit through. Desmond wakes up and has no idea what's going on. With the aid of Lucy Stillman, he escapes and finds himself in the company of the Assassins. You're then subjected to a series of uninteresting dialogue sequences with your team when all you really want to do is strap into Animus 2. Roughly twenty minutes later you've been transported back to Renaissance Florence as Ezio Auditore, a descendant who lived a privileged life without a care in the world. That is until his entire world comes crumbling down around him after his father and brothers are murdered. But forget that, because the rest of the game is a great experience. With Italy as a backdrop, the game is visually stunning and definitely blows away the art in the first Assassin's Creed title. You really have to stop and look around to appreciate it. Most of the bugs and glitches from the first game has gone, and along came the great, visual art and the endless free roam ability that never gets boring. The detail and structure of each building is superb. There isn't one brick out of place, and almost everything is climbable, to a certain extent. Many other extra characters have their own personalities, unlike the first game. If you remember, the first game had multiple characters walking the same, doing the same things and what not. Assassins Creed II has changed that, and given each back dropped character a different tone of moving, and different things to do. You'll find women bribing you with their exotic outfits, and old men shuddering in corners of the finest areas in Italy. The game is an endless gasp of fresh air compared to the first game. Which is a good thing. The gameplay is smoother than in the original game, and it feels more fluid and faster, especially the free running, jumping and climbing, which you will be doing an awful lot throughout the game, but it never wears out. This is essential, since it's a big part of Assassin's Creed II. Also, this time there are clear indicators that point you in the right direction, so you're never lost on one of your missions. The HUD has been improved, and looks a lot better. Game play wise, it hasn't changed that much, but as I said before, it feels faster. For example, there won't be a pause before you hop up a buildings, or there won't be any awful frame rate issues to haggle with, because it has all been improved in this sequel. The missions in Assassins Creed II are certainly more varied than before, but the progress of how to approach and execute them remains largely the same. I would have loved to see more variety there, taking cue from other assassin games, like Hitman, Splinter Cell or aspects from Uncharted 2, but it still is a fun example, and a solid example, of what Ubisoft have done to make this game far better than the last! Weapons are a plenty of, and you can collect money and buy swords, hammers, knives, and lots of other gadgets, and clothing, at shops around the different towns. That is another aspect of what Assassins Creed II has gone through, more customization, and more weapon variation!
However, the combat seems a bit slow and, dare I say, almost turn based at times, where a pack of enemies will attack you, but only one after another will actually attack. Instead of surrounding and flanking, the obvious choices. This is a probelm, and hasn't been fixed from the first game. If they fixed that, and made the game more challenging, it would have got a 9.5 / 10 from me, but it hasn't changed. The AI isn't that great, your enemies are quite dumb and will remain frozen, swords drawn, and simply wait to be killed. This doesn't happen all the time, but too often for it to be noticed. But most can overlook that, and take the game into consideration when picking the case up in a store. So is Assassin's Creed II worth the hype? Absolutely. It's massive improvement from the first. The graphics are awesome, the game play feels a lot faster, and overall, Assassins Creed II is a solid game, that will have your heart beating every second. Do I want an Assassins Creed III? Oh yes!