A HUGE game. Never before has there been so many ways in which to kill templars. There is so much to do in this game!
You are once again in the boots of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who has just returned from a decades long quest of vengeance, but soon finds himself in yet another such quest - a quest which brings him to Rome (once again, but for a much longer stay than just one assassination).
The game expands on many of RPG-like features; you can now collect items which you either sell, in order to afford a new piece of equipment, or which you can collect and then trade to a shopkeeper, unlocking the chance to buy special equipment. Ezio can now wield two-handed weapons; anything from bastard swords to big bearded axes.
And as a much appreciated addition: You can now wield a crossbow! I had long been wondering...Altaïr had, and used, a crossbow in the opening cinematic of AC 1, but in the game itself his only ranged weaponry were throwing knives; Ezio in AC 2 as well. But now finally we get our crossbows! Now we can kill templars from even greater distances! Which is quite useful during mission in which you absolutely must not be seen.
Missions themselves have been expanded from just story missions, boring side quests, and looking for keys to unlock that which holds a special armor. Now there's Borgia Towers; towers which you can take over in order to expand Assassin influence in the city of Rome. You sneak your way to the Borgia Captain and kill him, and then you set the tower on fire, causing the blackpowder held within it to explode. You get the chance to take over Rome in this glorious fashion numerous times! Also, now that Ezio is re-establishing the Assassin Brotherhood with himself at the helm as "Mentore", you get to recruit assassins, have them fight by your side (even shooting everybody dead with crossbows from above), and assign them missions.
The story is sort of parted in two lines, which can make things a bit confusing, but also adds welcome variety. One line is Ezio's quest for vengeance on Cesare Borgia, and the other is Ezio's quest to liberate the town by means of establing a new brotherhood of assassins.
As you can see, there are tons of new things to do in this game, and...
SPOILER ALERT! You even get to use the Apple! Brainwashing the enemy or blowing their brains to a bloody mess inside their skulls! END OF SPOILER ALERT!
There is much character development, however one thing bothers me: The villain. Cesare Borgia. He is your generic power hungry bastard that would kill and manipulate even his own family to further his own status. He has a huge superiority complex, even proclaiming that no man can kill him, ever. Now where have we seen these things before? It's also a bit off topic, seeing as the previous villains were more...ideologically evil; they wanted to use the Apple for the templar cause of mind controlled peace, whereas Cesare wanted to use the Apple to subjugate everyone to his own will, effectively making him the political leader of all. He didn't care at all for peace.
That's right, folks: The only "bad" thing about this game is the villian; whom you won't be seeing very often, actually, what with the whole establishing of the new brotherhood.
The game is huge, immersive, awesome. Only the villian puts a tiny speck of dirt upon this godly game.
9,5/10