A surprising setback from the original.
Graphics - While it is almost 3 years old, Assassin's Creed 2 still looks surprisingly good, especially the cities. Character models aren't great but they get the job done.
Sound - Not much to say here. Voice acting is good as expected.
Gameplay - Now, it's been almost 5 years since I played Assassin's Creed so my memory of it is blurred. But I don't remember having as many issues as I do with this game. I think this game is too similar gameplay wise with the first, and it left me with a feeling of "I've already done this". Also, I find the free-running to be broken, as I constantly jumped the wrong way off buildings to my death, even when I clearly ran the correct way. This frustrated me to no end along with many other issues. The controls seemed too loose to work correctly as well. Along with those problems was the fact that the missions were boring. None of the missions stood out and they all felt the same. This game also made assassinations feel less powerful, as there were so many of them. I liked having to work my way up to an assassination in the first game, and this game just gives it to you. One improvement I really enjoyed though was the addition of owning a city and upgrading it to gain visitors and money. This light tycoon segment kept me interested and I believe it should be heavily improved in Assassin's Creed 3, as there is great potential here.
Story - Another part of the game that took a step back. I really liked how the first game took you out of the Animus and back into modern times. I find the story in the real world with Desmond to be much more interesting than Ezio's. The final scene is exactly what I was hoping for in this game, so maybe the third will have more Desmond story segments.
Replay Value - Definitely improved over the last game. There's plenty of things to do in this game, and once you finish the story, you can go back and finish what you left. If you are a perfectionist, you're going to spend a lot of time with this game.
Verdict - I didn't really enjoy my time with Assassin's Creed 2. There were highs and lows but the lows outweighed the highs for sure. It's a shame, because I really enjoyed the first game. Maybe I won't if I go back and play it, but I don't want to ruin my fond memories. I was planing on purchasing Assassin's Creed 3, but I'll definitely pass on it now, until it's at a cheaper price at least. For now, I'm done with the Assassin's Creed series.