Review: Assassin's Creed II (PS3)
Assassin’s Creed II was actually one of the first “modern” games I ever played. I was a broke, fresh-out-of-college, unemployed grad when I first saw my younger brother playing the game. I was so interested that, thanks to a well-timed PS3 price drop, I saved up for both the system and the first two games. I’ve since played through the game several times and earned my first Platinum trophy - so I thought it would be a great title to start with in terms of my reviews.
All game images via Assassin’s Creed Wikia and used under Fair Use policy.
This review contains minor spoilers & screenshots!
Storyline
Since this is an older, well-known game, I won’t get too much into the intricacies of the storyline. The game picks up where its predecessor left off - with Desmond Miles trapped in an Abstergo lab. Immediately, he’s busted out of the lab by Lucy, the assistant from the first game, who explains she’s an Assassin spy. They travel to meet up with fellow Assassins Shaun and Rebecca, and Desmond enters the Animus 2.0 to help the Assassin Order track down the Apple - the Piece of Eden artifact Desmond discovered in the first game.
Right off the bat, ACII is an improvement. The modern day story involving Desmond is far more exciting than the first game, where he’s trapped in the Abstergo lab the entire time (though it gets a little dull in the middle when he’s spending most of his time in the Animus). But the genetic memory portion of the game is where ACII really shines. Instead of the first game’s Altaïr, whose main personality trait seems to be his participation in the Order, we get Ezio - a brash yet charming Florentine youth alive during the Italian Renaissance. Ezio’s personality drives the storyline, and for me this is a huge leap forward from the first game. I never really cared about why I was murdering people in the original Assassin’s Creed, but I like Ezio, and I wanted to root for him while I was playing. It was easy to get absorbed in his narrative, and I wanted to play through the main missions so I could find out what happened next. The game also weaves in a wider cast of characters to flesh out Ezio’s story - some of whom are… shall we say, well-known (Leonardo Da Vinci, anyone?)
Finally, for those who were left cold by the original Assassin’s Creed plot and its tangled, confusing ending, ACII is a lot more satisfying. There are sequels to this game, so the conclusion of the game is still a cliffhanger, but it’s infinitely less frustrating than the first one.
Gameplay
Though ACII has a far more compelling storyline, it really outshines the original in gameplay. Though entertaining, the first word that comes to mind for me with the first installment is repetitive. This is massively corrected in the second game, making this a far more enjoyable title, especially for completionists like me.
Right off the bat, ACII eliminated the need to play side missions to progress through the original story - one of the biggest complaints about the first game. I played to 100% completion, but this is the way that side missions SHOULD be handled. You can ignore them completely, or tackle them as you feel like it.
The environment is more detailed and dynamic than ACI - expected, sure, but the real gem is how they weave the environment into gameplay. You still can jump in hay bales, etc. but there are all new ways to to maneuver around enemies, including looping in other citizens to help you distract or fight them, or melting away into a crowd. The controls have been improved, so free running, while still occasionally frustrating, is actually FUN. Some of the missions have you playing in closed environments - crisscrossing a run down church using a series of jumps and leaps is guaranteed to make you feel like a badass.
Combat is expanded and is far more fun - I actually prefer fighting to stealth in most parts of the game. The introduction of double assassination is enormously fun. You can poison people, shoot people, throw knives. You can also stab people and pull their body into the haystack you’re hiding in! Neat!
ACII also introduces an economy, which is enormously enjoyable. You can buy weapons and armor, upgrade the villa and town that serve as your home base, and even collect art. Collecting all of the cool shit available to Ezio was one of my favorite parts of the game (naturally).
One of my favorite additions to the game was the “upgraded Animus”. I liked how they tied the improvements into the modern storyline, but I really liked the little historical tidbits woven into the game as part of the Assassin Order’s database. While obviously not historically accurate, it was cool to get a bit more insight into the game’s setting and time period.
In terms of completion, the side missions still get a bit repetitive after a while, and getting all of the collectibles, like the treasure chests, does get tedious. It helped for me to break this up in between story missions rather than doing it all at once.
DLC
There were two DLC packs available for the game - Battle of Forlì and Bonfire of the Vanities. These are meant to fill in two “missing” memory sequences from the main game. While I would have rather just had the full game from the beginning, these were both interesting add-ons. I’m not sure if these are available before completing the main game, but I played them both afterwards. I think both of these are probably included in most editions of the game on sale now.
Battle of Forlí was the weaker of the two DLCs, which is a shame because it features Caterina Sforza, who I thought was hilarious. The DLC has Ezio helping Caterina fend off a Templar attack on her city. The dialogue is funny and entertaining, but the gameplay is essentially just a big battle that’s almost entirely unrelated to the main game. It also adds a sequence in Leonardo’s flying machine which I thought was one of the most annoying parts of the main game. If you’re not interested in the story, you can probably skip this one.
Bonfire of the Vanities adds onto Florence’s landscape and involves an insane monk burning books and other cultural objects that are corrupt in his eyes. As Ezio, you’re tasked with killing nine lieutenants before eventually taking down the ringleader himself. Again, it’s nothing spectacularly varied, but it does feel a little more part of the game itself, and the missions are engaging and well-done. It’s a bit heavier on stealth, which I generally don’t like - if I want to murder everyone in sight, let me, damnit - but it’s a better purchase than Battle of Forlì if you’re going to be spending money.
Rating
Overall, Assassin’s Creed II manages to accomplish something that few sequels can - it kept all of the most charming parts of the original while eliminating the most frustrating elements. The story is engaging and kept me enthralled from start to finish, and aside from some VERY minor irritations in gameplay, ACII is one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played in recent memory.
