Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Amazing"

Assassin's Creed I got mixed reactions from the critics the first time around with its repetitive mission style and a somewhat bad ending to keep us bewildered.

Assassin's Creed II does everything correctly this time around giving us a more complex storyline and different missions to keep the flow of the creed in your blood stream. The game starts out with Desmond being taken away from the templars (people from the first game) to a secret place where two other assassins await him. Desmond realizes that he has learned moves and styles from Altair and this is secretly a plan that they mention during the game. You mainly play as Ezio Aditore an Italian wiseguy who sees the death of his family and decides to get revenge. Unlike the first game the story jumps a couple of years later in some parts mainly showing the older and wiser Ezio who is becoming a master assassin. Without spoiling too much the story is fantastic but the ending (once again) left me confused when you are out of the Animus. I don't know it's a twist or a cliffhanger or both because the ending is very mysterious in it's own way. The combat has evolved as well giving Ezio a more superior fighter than Altair. You can now disarm the opponent and use their own weapon against themselves. You can sweep enemies with a long bow and you can use your twin hidden blades to counter kill now. You also get a gun, new armor and even poison. The graphics are perfect. There is some pop-ins with the boats sometimes but this game looks and feels so realistic if almost not even there. The voice acting is great. The voices really match the characters in every way. The mission progress is all different. Sure you will get some of the same ones but it's not repetitive like the first game. After you finish the game you can collect feathers that are basically the flags from the first game and these seals which if you get every single one you get a very slick armor for Ezio to wear and does not need to be repaired. You also have you own little town that you can upgrade by using money. You can buy different weapons, armor, health from anywhere in the city.

OVERALL: Assassin's Creed II is not quite perfect but it is a fantastic sequel in my opinion. It gives us what we all want. An 18 hour storyline, different ways to assassinate people (sometimes two at once) and a bloodier combat system that anyone can enjoy. Assassin's Creed II was a pleasure to play and hopefully the third installment will finish this trilogy off with a bang.