Refined first game or true sequel?
User Rating: 8 | Assassin's Creed II X360
Those who were fans of the first one and saw its potential only to be severely boned by the rubbish ending will still enjoy it's sequel. Shame however that the ending to the sequel is ever so slightly better than the first but still feels incredibly unsatisfying. Whilst the character models seem to have taken a beating and really don't seem as impressive as the first, the animations also seem to look either too familiar or just not heroic enough. The gameplay mechanics haven't changed though and what worked the first time is indeed working again this time. However kitting out Ezio with weapons and armour is possibly the easiest thing you can do in the game and this is Assassins Creed 2's downfall: its balance of money making and spending. First off it is stupidly easy to get rich, by stealing off the many people in the street to creating and expanding an on-going income at the Villa, your home. Many weapons and armour are not available right away but you need not worry about money when they do become available. Also there's a small option to up your income by upgrading your main town/home, problem is, this part seems totally tacked on and I found myself finishing what was available to upgrade within two times of visiting the architect. You can't help but think that these little aspects to the game have been chucked in as an idea and clearly haven't been thought about or developed properly. Also pretty much everything from the first game is here but instead of collecting flags, you now collect feathers... worth it? Not really. As a whole it is an enjoyable experience and the mini puzzles to unlock "The Truth" videos can be quite challenging and break up the game nicely. The downer to this and to collecting the feathers is that you don't need them to complete the game and players of the first game won't even need the best armour or weapons in order to get through it. It's a bit of a shame and feels like a slightly wasted opportunity by the developers, hence why this feels like a refined version of the first game. There's obviously going to be a sequel and hopefully a complete change of styles, mainly architecture and fighting styles will come with it and making it feel a lot more fresh than this. Bring on China next I say, now that would be a change in every area but also, work on the ending!
