Just like the Statue of David, it has its imperfections however it's next to nothing when playing this game.
Graphics: 8
Sounds: 9
Value: 10
Tilt: 10
Actual score: 9.4
Assassin Creed 1 burst into the scene back in 2008 with irrefutable success. It was a world where 'nothing is true and everything is permitted' – well that's the Creed's maxim. A clever game where there are no real bad / good guys – just an interpretation of what's the ideal way of living. A living and breathing world where everyone will react and everything had a purpose yet and unfortunately so, there were gameplay flaws that set the game back from being a masterpiece.
One year later though, Assassin's Creed 2 was released and it seems that whatever 'flaws' were presented in Assassin's Creed 1 was wiped out and added a bucket load of new features, you cannot help but think that Assassin Creed 1 was nothing more than a tech demo. Actually it wasn't however the changes made with added features in Assassin's Creed 2 made this game one of the greatest game I have ever played.
The game is set in Renaissance Italy, mainly Florence and Venice -a period where times are changing from the ruling arm of the church to science; a great backdrop for the Assassin's Creed story. The game literally starts off where Assassin's Creed 1 ends and I won't go into details as it's a major spoiler otherwise. However I did groaned in the first 15 mins or so as the game starts off extremely terrible; not terrible in the sense of gameplay but the characters you'll meet. They are woefully terrible and it was so bad that I was about to quit however, and thankfully so, I didn't.
Before launching into the gameplay itself, I will say that there is one bad element – the 'always on' internet connection to play it. The draconian digital rights management (DRM) is in full force and it can set back many players due to this. I understand that publishers Ubisoft want to protect this game however it does so by punishing those who actually bought it as it requires another client 'Uplay'. That said, if you bought the game via steam (like me), I need to run two clients being Uplay and Steam with the internet connected at all times. Luckily for me, I got no issues with it however I can imagine if there were, it would be difficult trouble shooting two clients.
Now the bad stuff is out of the way, the game itself is a total masterpiece. Just like the Statue of David, it has its imperfections however it's next to nothing when playing this game. You play a different assassin this time being Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ezio for short). Ezio is another ancestor to the main character Desmond however this time, Desmond is now using an improve animus marked 'Animus 2'. This animus not only reads Desmond's ancestral genes, but learns their skills as well. This is vital as in the 'modern time' (i.e. 2012), the assassins are scaling a massive attack on the Templars and they need all the assistance they can get.
So the game effectively makes you learn all the tools in a gentle way instead of thrusting you in head first thus causing unnecessarily frustrations. Each sequence (memory blocks or chapters if you prefer) will almost have a new skill to use and practice with the associate missions. So, for example, you need to scale a large building to survey the lands (thus marking your map with hotspots) however there are points to cannot reach because you need to learn that 'jump to a higher ledge' skill. So there will be a part in the game that enables Ezio (you) to learn it and practice it as it incorporates into the mission itself. This goes to all the skills Ezio learns like counter attack, grab, blend and so forth. And because Desmond needs to learn, you learn as well as Ezio – storytelling at its finest.
Of course, your goal is to assassinate certain high ranking Templars (but also Ezio has a personal reason but I won't spoil this) and unlike the first game, there are certain ways to do this. Not doing so will cause you to 'loose sync' and restart back to the last checkpoint. So if the game tells you to stalk then kill, make sure you blend like hiring a group of escorts to lure the guards then go for the kill. Of course there are many other ways however I like this approach as in Assassin Creed 1 there was absolutely no punishment when opting for a full scale war (so to speak).
Besides assassination, there are tonnes of side quests for you to do. Ranging from husband bashing (and you must bash him to submission otherwise you will lose sync), mini assassination quests (via a note from a carrier pigeon), collecting treasures (and to save you time, buy a treasure map from the merchants), locate codex pages left by Altaïr (thus enabling you getting weapon upgrades), collect feathers (for your mother) and searching for assassin's tombs. Yet the assassin's tombs reminds me like Tomb Raider where Ezio must complete many feats of jumps / swings / climbing to ultimately reach for the tomb and collect the seal. Collect all six seals allow you to unlock Altair's legendary armour.
So in effect, the entire side missions are all interlinked with the main storyline so you have many reasons to complete them to the best of your ability. This is a refreshing outtake as I'm getting sick of those 'collect me three fish' as even though you may complete the quest, has very little meaning / impact to the main plot. And to memory, I think there are around 200 missions in total; that's including the main quest so there are plenty of meaningful things to do. And to top it off, all the missions do feel dramatic and some even out there (like flying).
And if you think you can cause chaos and destruction (like you can in Assassin's Creed 1), think again as this time the more chaos you perform, your notoriety rating goes up. What this means that guards will be more alert and if you reached the maximum bar (as indicated on the top left of the screen), the entire city guards will hunt you down. There are means to counter this like ripping down wanted signs (they are marked on your map) and / or bribe city officials.
So money plays a huge factor in this game and without florins, you going to have a rough time as armour will display wear and tear, buying healing potions (and there's no auto heal – thank goodness for that) and many more. You can spent a lot of time pick pocketing people (like I did early on) to earn cash however your notoriety rating will go up slightly or better still, when you own your own villa, invest in it. Meaning pump as much cash in it like buying paintings, weapons, renovations and so forth. Trust me that your villa will be the cash cow and yes, you'll be broke for a little while however soon you will be swimming in cash. Also completing missions will grant you cash as well and hunting down thieves (they will be marked on your map as a money bag).
And if you have a bit of spare time, explore the area as not only the visuals are stunning filled with people doing their daily tasks (and some even argue at one another), there are certain buildings that prompts you to read its historical importance and some will house those all-important glyphs. Glyphs are a symbol that's been left by another assassin assisting you knowing 'the truth' and unlocking them requires puzzle solving. These are worth your time and effect as it helps you understand what the hell happened to the previous 'test subject' 16 (i.e. the unfortunate soul before you as you are test subject 17).
Like in Assassin's Creed 1, combat is I feel the best feature as it's extremely fluent and entertaining to execute. You learn to combo / counter / sweep / throw sand in their eyes/ grapple and so forth. And because there are different types of soldiers, one style won't do it (as my personal favourite is the counter attack with a dagger and you cannot counter attack with a brute wielding a massive battle axe). But don't despair as there are plenty of opportunities to learn them and, like me, use the training grounds to master it otherwise it will cause frustrations when your favourite attack won't work for certain individuals.
I can literally go on forever raving on how entertaining Assassin's Creed 2 is. As mentioned previously, it practically makes Assassin's Creed 1 looking like a tech demo (however please don't view it as that as it was a great game regardless). Choco-block full of things to do, see and listen (as it's got a fantastic soundtrack to boot especially when running across the Venice rooftops – makes you feel like a soaring eagle), this game is a true marvel to behold and a great learning experience as well. Ignore the first 15 minutes and you're in for the ride of your life. However, because of the 'always on' internet connection, this will set some players back. So it seems that Ubisoft went all out with this product and boy they certainly did – a work of genius.