Assassin's Creed 2

Review from Cormac - Saturday, 12 December 2009 @ 3:46pm

The first Assassin's Creed followed the exploits of Altaïr, part of an actual group of guerrilla warriors, the Hashashin, who were considered the original assassins but only ninjas and history geeks know about them now. They actually got along pretty well with the Templars, after getting over the initial awkwardness of turning up to the crusades in the same colours. These guys also did a lot more drugs, hence Hashashin. But what the hell, right? If I wanted a history lesson I'd play Age of Empires, or possibly study history.

On the outset, Assassin's Creed II seems to be pulling the Halo gambit. By which I mean the gameplay gets a few upgrades, graphics get a shine job, the story is progressed slightly and we're allowed to hold two of the flagship weapon to play to the whole "2" thing. On closer inspection, this is everything I could want in a sequel.

Cut to renaissance era Italy and walk a mile in the embroidered boots of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Ezio Auditore to his friends). The story has a lot more meat on its bones this time, even if it can get in the way a bit. It's a good hour's work before getting some honest assassinating done. At that point though, the revenge plot that's been established makes for a much more satisfying tale. The main quest is varied enough to maintain this interest, and it actually feels like a story, rather than a hit list of people who annoyed your boss. One of the early missions actually has you go to stop a family from being assassinated. Unfortunately the foregrounding cutscene has Ezio watch most of them get stabbed into Happyland before he can shout “Hey you, don’t you know who I am?!”

He's a thriller.

Repetitive side missions are out as well. Or more accurately, they're made optional. Basically you can opt to do a series of paid jobs to fill your purse in each city. Not that you will though, money is so profuse that you can equip it as a weapon and throw it at people. I shit you not.

As with the first game, there are plenty of things to collect but you're given decent reason to do so. One set is actually necessary to continue the storyline, one unlocks the game's best armour, and some others are for collection fetishists. One of these delves into a sub plot in which the game takes every conspiracy theory ever and blames it on the Knights Templar. Doing so involves exploring a flagged building and completing a few brain teasers. It's no match for the internet but completing this actually adds considerable depth to the game.

Of coarse behind all this you're actually Desmond Miles sitting in the Animus, a machine that allows him to relive the memories of homicidal ancestors. He and Kristen Bell make an escape to an assassin hideout that also happens to have an animus. AC2 has really run with the whole game-within-a-game concept. For instance, Ezio can swim, and apparently so could Alitaïr, but previous software couldn't handle it. There are also the occasional bursts of Italian dialogue, possibly because it sounds more romantic than English, but they're blamed on lag in the translation program. Always with the lag.

History geeks are still catered to as a large a mount of research has gone into this game. We're then promptly asked to cover their ears (which is fine by me. It's called suspension of disbelief. What?). I probably can't do this review without mentioning Leonardo da Vinci. I've been reassured that I don't have to subject myself to the Da Vinci Code to better understand the conspiracy theories, which makes sense in that we're meeting a fairly young Leonardo. He's portrayed as an eccentric shut-in who's besties with Ezio after the guy carries some paintings down the street for him. Ezio is portrayed as headstrong, ladies man with gusto though, so it works in a very odd-couple sort of way.

I've seen bigger.

Visually the game is fucking slick. Costume design is rich and some of the viewpoints give a dizzying sense of height that's hard to fake virtually. The physics engine often bugs out under pressure, particularly with bodies falling from ledges and becoming elasticised on the way down. The making assassinations from ledges was a key development here after all, I would have thought this would be sorted out.

Combat essentially just builds on the previous system but it flows a bit more naturally. Weapon stats (particularly deflection) mean that counter-attack is less of an I-Win button. I'll emphasise less of an I-Win button. Counter is still your bread and butter but it's less effective here and utterly useless there. There's a much wider array or weapons available this time around too, and with these new toys come new combat animations. Some of the kill animations are so satisfying that I'm a little afraid to sleep in a room with myself.

AI has its strengths and weaknesses. In the first game, if I were to get into a fight with four guards and kill the first two lickety-split, the others would just leg it. That still happens, but it might be one of eight baddies realising they're on the losing team rather than all or nothing. In stealth however, guards don't seem too aware of the world around them. If I played this Batman style, picking off guards from stealth, they never seemed to notice that all their friends were missing. Maybe they went for a really fast boudoir break while they weren't looking. When you’ve got to go you’ve got to go right?

Merchants make a grand entrance here too. Blacksmiths get a lot less useful once you learn the disarm move and you'll pretty much just be visiting doctors anyway. Tailors allowed me to dye my hoodie red which meant I looked like Resistance Red Riding Hood and obviously ran faster (by the laws of awesome, red things either go faster, or explode when shot). I suppose you could also go green and pretend you're playing an MA Legend of Zelda.

Who's awesome?

The parkour system returns and is greatly unchanged. A few innovations make it less of a case of just steering while holding the high profile and free-run buttons. I found myself bouldering through cathedrals and ruined temples in search of ancient relics, which just made me wonder why Ubisoft is continuing to beat the Prince of Persia series. I think they're really onto something with this franchise. Why flog a dead horse when there’s a noble steed standing in front of you with ok I can’t finish that sentence.

My biggest gripe with AC1 was its complete lack of replay value, and I'm not sure that’s a hurdle that Ubisoft have conquered. Since finishing it I've gotten a few more hours play in finishing up this or that, but that's just me. I enjoyed the game and wanted to keep playing it. It may be a lustful renaissance fling that has you hooked for a week then loses interest.

Pros

Everything you could want in a sequel. Combat and storyline are built upon for the better.

Cons

Breaks the threshold between challenging and frustrating more than a few times. Replay value is still questionable.