Assassin’s Creed II Review

Out from Ubisoft Montreal, we get the second console installment in the Assassin’s Creed Universe, Assassin’s Creed II. This story follows AC’s main protagonist, the bartender Desmond Miles, as he learns to become an assassin using  a…

I’m sorry I can’t say that with a straight face, because Desmond only shows up in less than one tenth of the game. This game follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze, hereby known as Ezio, or E, through his story of betrayal and revenge in Renaissance Italy. Ezio starts as a womanizing Italian noble, and becomes an assassin, after his father and brothers were executed in the streets of Florence. Sounds solid enough.

For those of you new to this series, I’ll give you a quick synopsis of the first game: the main protagonist is Desmo… I mean Altair, who is in a clan of assassins or apparently THE clan of assassins. He screws up by not following the Assassin’s Creed, loses some special object, and gets demoted; thus the name of the game. Altair then spends the rest of the game earning back his rank while learning about the evil that is the order of the Templar. Eventually you beat the Templar leader, only to find out the Assassin leader is also a Templar. So you defeat him as well, and take his glowing orb thingy that was apparently the special object that you failed to get earlier on. End synopsis.

There has been a myriad of additions and changes since the previous installment, including: A money management system, the ability to swim, and, most importantly, more ways to kill. Also, a few mechanics of its predecessor have been discarded such as the finicky reconnaissance before each assassination. Now since the basics are out of the way let’s get down to the specifics.

Game-play:

Game-play mechanics for this game falls into two main categories: free running/platforming and combat. Since running through the streets of the city isn’t a fast enough method of travel, Ezio prefers to travel by running on the roofs. Which is actually funner than it sounds. The controls are simple beyond all reason, as most free running stunts, such as climbing, jumping, and wire-running, require holding down two buttons and pressing the relative direction of where you want to go. Although the mechanic is simple, it is well done. Fine tuning has also removed some of the “I didn’t tell him to go that way, and now he’s dead!” moments that were common in this game’s older brother. That being said, in the later parts of the game, running atop roofs becomes much more of a mundane task than actually fun. A tedious method of getting to one’s next location, that comes with most sand-box style games.

Combat also takes the simplistic approach, but seems to fall short of anything spectacular. The only moves you need to really know is how to counter and how to assassinate. Ironically these are also the simplest and most cinematic moves in the game. Sadly it becomes more “press square to watch them die” more than anything else. That being said, it’s still fun to stab an archer in the head, and watch him slide off the rooftop.

At times the game decides that you should use them both at the same time. Usually, this is done by forcing the player to chase an assassination target through the city. Although the two mechanics work quite well on their own, I’ve always found the chasing mechanic disappointing me. Whenever you try to go for the kill, the game assumes you are not going for the target, instead it may choose the threatening basket weaver to his left, or the intimidating monk not too far off. Of course, I’m just being a little meticulous; the pros of the chase mechanic is that it fulfills it’s job of being thrilling. Chasing two targets down before they escape was legitimately fun. Add in the fact that it’s hard to actually attack the target, and these times become the hardest in the game.

That’s the thing though. That is honestly as hard as the game gets. There’s a point in the game when you have no weapons, and even if you just fart in a guard’s general direction, he starts chasing you. Even though you can’t fight, this is a lot easier than it sounds, as running away is easier than finding a fish with scales. Each city is littered with benches, hay/leaf stacks, and what look like rooftop newsstands. All of which can be used to hide you from the ignorant guarding populace. Even if this is too hard for a player, he can hire people to distract or fight them, and if that’s not enough, you can “blend” with practically any group of people. Truth is: the game is easy, perhaps ridiculously so. I wouldn’t suggest this game if you expect a challenge.

AC II features a new “economy” system, which allows you to buy weapons, armor, ammunition, etc. It also allows you to invest money into your town, in order to increase revenue for both the town and, more importantly, yourself. This system is superfluous for multiple reasons: Since you get the best weapons in the game (the duel knives, and Altair’s blade) as part of the main storyline, buying weapons only assists in helping players through rough spots in the game, but, as previously mentioned, you won’t really need it. Therefore money’s only use is for ammunition, medicine, and collectible items; Ammunition and medicine being the cheapest items in the game. The money in the game also flows like water. To give a better explanation: if you replaced all of the water with gold, and all of the old gold with water, you couldn’t really notice much difference. I mean, everyone’s pants would be wet, Ezio would be soaked, and boats would have trouble going down the Venician canals, but the quantities would remain mostly the same.

Side-quests, sadly, are nothing spectacular. They mainly consist of races (the forefront of sandbox side-missions), beat-up missions in which you unarmed fight old men, and bland assassination quests. They are more of a “to-do list” than real side-quests. Maybe I’m a little harsh on this subject, but I prefer to see missions that bring some depth to the characters, because in a sandbox world, you already have all the game-play you’ll ever need.

New assassination methods added a nice little flare to combat. Including the much needed, “reach up, and throw off a building” method.The dual blades also allow for double assassinations, which makes clearing out a group that much faster. Not to mention the poison blade, which is just plain funny because the poisoned victim swings around wildly in some demented dance before dying. These elements, along with Spiderman-like wall-climbing of Ezio, make this game fun. A major part of a sandbox game is the messing-around factor, and this game does a wonderful job of fulfilling that role properly.

Story:

Before talking about the lifeless corpse that is Desmond Miles, lets talk about Ezio. The beginning of the game starts out with the snarky noble getting into a brawl with his family rival, the Pazzi. After getting a bloody nose, he, accompanied by his brother, talked on the roof of a church in the middle of Florence as the city lights glowed. The beginning was intoxicating; I almost forgot it was a tutorial, until about the middle…

Let me address something: adding implicit sex scenes to anything is not necessary. If a developer really has to use it to maintain the player/viewer’s attention, then something is wrong. In the case of AC II, it does nothing for the storyline except show that Ezio is a womanizer, and that could have been done any number of different ways. Also, the female character isn’t just not important, but doesn’t show in the rest of the game. It felt shoved in at the last moment, more than anything else, but back to the game.

Up to this point, some of the best portrayed character’s are introduced: Ezio, Frederico, and their father, Giovanni Auditore. Sadly two of them get killed before the tutorial even ends. This game seems to have split character’s into two groups: Those we should care about, and those that just move along the story. Some of the dialogue is just horrible, and a good half of the main characters are static and have the personality of a fish stick. One even unironicly said “Itsa me, Mario”; I died a little when I heard that.

Truth be told, Ezio undergoes a major change throughout the game, a smooth movement from a prideful noble, to a hardened assassin, and it’s nice to see a game where the protagonist has some character. Most games nowadays have the story happening around the protagonist, rather than with the protagonist. I don’t want to spoil too much about the later storyline, so I’ll leave it at that.

The AC’s established protagonist, Desmond seems to be nothing more than a dispensable plot-device again. Consider Assassin’s Creed without Desmond. Altair’s story would remain the same, and Ezio’s would feel a little more interesting, because you’d have the coup de theatre of the Templars remaining intact ( a fact earlier settled by Desmond in Assassin’s Creed 1 ), the establishment of different “artifacts of Eden”, among others. If you’re worried about continuity: Altair and Ezio are both assassins, both fight Templars, and both follow the same Creed; I see no problems here. Desmond obfuscates the storyline more than he adds. Besides, we’re expected to believe that Desmond is related to both Altair and Ezio? If that’s not a stretch, how many other assassin’s are we expected to believe he is related to?

Anyway, besides the tomfoolery of Desmond, the storyline following Ezio is solid. Nothing award-winning, but enough to make you want to find out more.

Graphics:

The landscapes are beautiful, plain and simple. I still find myself in awe overlooking Venice at the night of the masquerade. The buildings are unique enough not to get criticism from me, and shows the multiple architecture styles of Italy.

I do have a small issue with the character models. The clothing is well done, not exactly always reminiscent of the Renaissance though. Every person seems to be smothered in shoe polish. Everywhere from their skin to their pants seems to shine unrealistically, and I’m not talking about eagle vision. It was very distracting in game, and they could have easily turned down the bloom a notch, or three, but I don’t really have much to complain about. The graphics in brief are nothing short of wonderful.

Sound:

I would like to note that the music in Assassin’s Creed 2 was not a virtuoso’s work, but it filled its role very nicely. The music followed the mood of the game to the letter, and deserves praise for that. The sound effects found a nice little niche as well. Although there was a point in which three men were charging Ezio, and suddenly died by arrows or knives and there wasn’t so much of a “woosh” sound to tell what happened. One slip-up is perfectly excusable though.

Overview and Scores:

Gameplay 3.5/5: Ezio, the more creative younger brother to Altair’s more rigorous game-play. A little too easy, though.

Story 2.8/5: classic revenge story, wish they’d dump Desmond though. A couple main characters are not well developed and seem to make Ezio’s plight a little less endearing.

Graphics 4.0/5: This is where the game truly stands out. Some scenes could be considered works of art, truly.

Sound 2.6/5: does it’s duty, and there’s always something to be said for that.

OVERALL 3.4/5: A good game that is worth buying, but don’t expect a true gaming masterpiece.

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