Assassin's Creed 2

9.0

Format Xbox 360

Developer Ubisoft

Publisher Ubisoft

Genre Action, Adventure

9 Comments

For some reason, it feels like Assassin's Creed 2 is up against the kind of challenge that even Altair would struggle to scale.

The original game was massively successful and rightly loved, but there was a general consensus that there were several areas that could be improved. What's more, with the state of the art moving forward in terms of visuals, AC2 will struggle to blow people away in the way that the first game did.

Worry not, though, because in this game, every conceivable element has been improved, expanded, buffed or polished, and while the straightforward action is very definitely a follow-up to Altair's adventures, the rest of the game is barely recognisable.

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One of the main reasons Assassin's Creed 2 is so enjoyable, is the fact that this time around your historical character is properly fleshed out.

We can understand the reasons behind Altair being a blank slate and something of an enigma in the original game - he was supposed to be an avatar for Desmond within the memories created by the Animus machine - but it was difficult to feel connected and involved in the medieval world.

AC2 demonstrates that having a more complex character and revealing more of his life story doesn't compromise the futuristic plot that runs in parallel. Ezio Auditore Da Firenze is brilliantly realised and develops over the course of the game, which spans a huge portion of his life.

At the beginning of the plot he's a spoilt, petulant teenager, but early in the game his world is shaken by betrayal and you see him become the steely assassin you'd expect him to be.

It's a subtle and beautifully handled transition to maturity that fortunately doesn't result in Ezio becoming another generic growling anti-hero.

In most of the cutscenes his cowl is removed and he's an expressive and well-acted character with a sense of humour. As a result you feel a much more connected and integral part of the history that makes the series so fascinating. Worry not, though - having a genuine human being as the main character doesn't make Ezio any less of a badass when the hood goes up and the claret begins to flow.

Raise the bar
Desmond also gets a more meaty role in proceedings as well, rather than simply wandering around looking confused. The game opens with a mad dash to escape the Abstergo complex, and while you'll only play as the bemused barman three times in the game, with more of his ancestors' powers unlocked he's inching ever closer to the same abilities as Ezio and Altair.

In general, the futuristic portion of the game is far less intrusive than in the previous title - you aren't constantly hauled out of Ezio's story just to poke around a sterile lab for a few minutes.

Plus, when you're in the Animus there are fewer occasions where your progression is blocked by gamey contrivances.

Renaissance Italy is a hugely exciting place to explore, and once again each city is gloriously dense and really feels like a living, working environment. The Italian architecture is considerably more haphazard as well, making negotiating the rooftops a more satisfying challenge in itself.

It's not quite the revelation that AC1 was at the time, but the game's still gorgeous - every crack in the stucco walls is picked out in ludicrous clarity, and the draw distances and sense of scale are just as breathtaking as they always were.

It's not just cities either, Ubi Montreal has fleshed out the villages in between. We're particularly enamoured with the walled town of San Gimignano, which includes huge medieval towers perfect for stretching Ezio's legs.

Plan of action
Your newfound involvement (and investment) in the medieval world is mirrored in the missions that are dished out during the course of the storyline. The deeply artificial pre-assassination "investigations" of the first game have been dumped.

While your primary objectives within each chapter are likely to be introducing some corrupt official to the business-end of your wristblade, the build-up is more organic. Rather than a series of different "types" of mission, they're led by the requirements of the story.

So rather than being set an implausible obstacle course, you're scrambling over the rooftops keeping pace with a boat and taking down archers trying to attack it. When that's over, you help patch up the person in the boat, which leads to you meeting someone who helps with the next mission... it's seamless.

These sub-missions build neatly towards the eventual assassination attempts, which are just as satisfying as they always were. When you've planned the perfect route through a restricted area, silently taken out the surrounding guards and then sprinted the final few metres for a deliciously soggy kill, the sense of elation is enormous.

There's generally plenty of freedom in how you approach your mark - stealth is recommended but usually not essential - and if you're prepared to spend the cash, Ezio can be tooled up with poison, throwing knives and a cornucopia of offensive weaponry in order to carve his way to his target.

This combination of an involving story, a rich, detailed, environment and objectives that feel like natural plot progression as well as an interesting challenge mean that throughout the 20 or so hours it took to complete Ezio's saga, we were rarely anything other than totally engrossed.

There's only one moment when the story falters slightly and descends into the kind of item collection that rankled people in the first Assassin's Creed.

It's tiresome because it occurs at a moment where the story is barrelling towards its conclusion and the change in pace is severely jarring. It is genuinely the only mis-step, though, in a story that is otherwise as sure-footed as Ezio himself.

Box clever
Assassin's Creed 2 offers a healthy lump of sandbox distractions, but because you're so invested in the political intrigue, characters and bumping off Italian nobles, it's often difficult to tear yourself away.

It's worth finding the time to complete some of the secret locations, though, which offer Prince of Persia-style clambering puzzles within some of Italy's most famous buildings. Attempting to plot a route and then execute it in one fluid movement is one of the game's greatest pleasures: for the most part precise timing isn't essential, so a mistimed jump doesn't mean death.

There are six of these Assassin's Tombs to be found dotted around the world, one of which is compulsory. There's even variety within the secret areas - one might involve clambering to the top of the Duomo in Florence from the inside, another might be chasing a guard through a series of dank, underground caverns.

Best of all, there's an extremely tasty reward if you do the lot - we won't tell you what it is, but we bagged it and it's worth chasing both for a competitive advantage and general kudos.

Another pleasing element is the opportunity to build-up the entire town of Monteriggioni, which is where you'll find your family villa, and transform it from a run-down and barely inhabited settlement into a bustling market town.

By renovating the various buildings, you generate income that can be collected in between missions and earn discounts on armour, clothes and medicine.

It's by no means vital to the plot, and some people will blow all their cash on the latest, pointiest weapon, but if you want to be stinking rich, it's worth taking the time to spruce the place up a bit. It's not a complex real estate simulation, but it is a neat diversion.

Digging deeper
Finally, the conspiracy theory nuts who went bonkers over the ending of the original game will be pleased to hear that the mystery not only deepens in the game, but that there are also opportunities to dig further into the Templar's plans through a series of increasingly confounding mini-games that can be unlocked during your travels. The reward for solving the lot is as integral to the plot as the proper "ending" of the game, and documents revealing the extent of Templars' influence throughout history are displayed as you progress through the puzzles.

There's a huge amount to do, none of which feels like fluff or filler, and while plenty of people will be satisfied by the 20 or so hours it takes to conclude the story, there's at least another ten of side quests and incidental missions to plough through if you want more.

It's the most substantial game we've played since Fallout 3, and as the nights close-in and the weather becomes arctic in the run-up to Christmas, that's exactly what we're looking for.

Assassin's Creed 2 is without doubt a triumph of reaction to criticism. Everything that was fantastic in AC1 returns, and everything that was a grind has been dumped in favour of better, and often more traditional, game mechanics. The result is a gorgeous, rich and believable world that draws you in and doesn't let go until the climactic finale.

Rather than feeling like an interloper in an established social ecosystem, you feel like an integrated part of that historic period. Watching Ezio develop into a steely killer over the course of around a decade only increases your emotional involvement.

The first Assassin's Creed's charm was in the sumptuous graphics and straightforward action - that incredible climbing and free-running, and the visceral thrill of stapling evil people to the dirt with a wristblade. With AC2 the rest of the game has caught up with the brilliance of those central ideas to create a complete and coherent experience.

We can think of plenty of words that could describe Assassin's Creed 2 - involving, exciting, cinematic - but there's one word that sums it up beautifully. Killer.

For another opinion, check out CVG's Assassin's Creed 2 review

Mike Channell