Assassin’s Creed II – Game Review
The goal of a sequel is to be better than its predecessor. Unfortunately for most games the nostalgia factor makes this difficult. For Assassin’s Creed II, a refining of the original experience and adding tons of content makes it feel like a definite step up.
For those who have not played the original Assassin’s Creed, you need not worry. There is a nice recap of events from the first game in case you forgot all about Desmond’s situation. If you have absolutely no idea about the game except for the screenshots and videos, you probably think the game is just about assassinating people and free running. Which is half right. While the majority of the game you are playing as an Assassin, the story is actually done in frames. Basically the outer story is Desmond’s, centering on the struggle of the Assassin’s against the Templars. While the inner story is Ezio’s, a young man who is thrown into the role of an assassin. This leads to some interesting moments where you play as Desmond, unfortunately Desmond’s sequences don’t control as fluidly, but that is mostly due to his inability to run during some of these sequences, which are placed in the game to further immerse you. The outer story also progresses when you discover certain secrets, leading to “truths”. These sequences are puzzles which are nice breaks from the action.
The real fun in Assassin’s Creed II comes from the free running and combat. For some the controls may be a bit difficult to use at first, but once you get the hang of the modifier button, you will be running on rooftops and blending in with crowds with ease. Those who have played the previous game can skip ahead, as you already know how the controls work. The best way to picture the controls is to think of all of your actions taking place while you are in one of two states. These are high profile and low profile. In low profile you can walk around and blend in with people to escape detection. This is useful for getting into places without a lot of resistance. High profile is the mode that people really want to play in, by holding the right trigger down you enter high profile, where you run instead of walk and can jump between buildings and run up buildings to reach hand holds. Finally, there is combat, which can be initiated from any profile. It begins with locking onto a target, depending on what weapon you have equipped you will perform different kinds of strikes. Of course just striking won’t get you too far as the game progresses, so you are given the ability to dodge, counter, and disarm opponents. Dodging is done to simply avoid getting hit, while countering allows you to kill an opponent quickly. Disarming is required to be able to defeat some types of opponents, but you can use it on any enemy. Combat feels very fluid, and while there are times that the camera may get in the way, if you have been playing for a while you will hardly have any difficulty dispatching large numbers of foes.
Like any story based game, the main campaign has to be well done, and it is, but that isn’t much of a change from the original game. What has changed is the number of side quests you can work on. Collecting things is still a big part of the game, but now you also have the ability to renovate a city to earn money and work on assassination, courier and race missions. The race and courier are similar, with both being timed, but races involve reaching checkpoints while you can take any route to your goal on courier missions. While you may not like a particular activity, there are enough choices for you to find something you do like to do, and running around the city doesn’t really get old when you are trying to search for treasure or feathers.
The only real negative to the game is the camera. This is the only piece of the old game they did not really “fix” for the sequel. Most of the time you can adjust the camera with the right analog stick, but when you are freerunning you sometimes run out of fingers to make those adjustments. This is not so bad when you are not in much of a rush, but when you are required to perform several jumps within a time limit, then it can be frustrating to not be able to properly see where your jump will take you.
All in all, Assassin’s Creed II is a solid game. Graphically, it meets and even exceeds the standard we expect from games that have come out in the last year or so. In regards to gameplay it is certainly worth buying, as most retailers should be selling it at a reduced price. Of course if you only care about finishing the story mode, you can probably just give it a rental. Either way, it is a satisfying experience and definitely a cool.
Purchase Now – Help (Cool) Shite
Trailer
Have you played Assassin’s Creed II? Is it all that? Sound off in the comments.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
The Great Movie Never Made – Podcast Special
Rare Unsigned Copy – Book Review
Universal Soldier: Regeneration – Podcast Review
The Big Racket – Movie Review
The Men Who Stare At Goats – CSW Podcast Review
Slice Of Life – Book Review
Games Roundup – Week Three, March 2010
Signs of the Apocalypse Roundup – March 2010 – Week 1
Comic News Roundup – March 2010 – Week 1
TV News Roundup – March 2010 – Week 1
The Top and Bottom 5 films of 2009 – A (Cool) Shite Poll
The (official unofficial) Top 5 Video Games of 2009!
Australia’s R18+ Discussion Paper and Submissions – The Great Debate
Separation City – Paul Middleditch Interview
Kick Ass: Aaron Johnson – Interview
Planet Hulk: Josh Fine – Interview
Star Chicks – Interview
Van Diemen’s Land: Jonathan auf der Heide – Interview
Predators – Featurette
The Losers – Movie Trailer
Tron Legacy – Full Trailer
Iron Man 2 – Trailer 2
Legend of the Guardians – Movie Trailer
