Assassin's Creed II Review Posted by Christian 'sirdesmond' Sorrell on Dec 24, 2009 - 1:07am EST (Dec 24, 2009 01:07) |
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed landed back in 2007 with staggeringly mixed reviews. For some, the game’s scope, story, and ultimate vision were more than enough to forgive it the shallow and formulaic game play, while the same wasn’t true for others who found the game simply too monotonous for them to enjoy. So as Assassin’s Creed II descends on the 2009 holiday season, we’ve got to ask: Is it the same old game with new environments or something far beyond the game play and story of the original?
The first Assassin’s Creed remains as one of the most gorgeous and well presented titles of the current console generation and the same is true here. From the busy waterways of Venice to the scaffolding of the Sistine Chapel, everything in Assassin’s Creed II looks both beautiful and historically accurate. The city is visually stunning and rich with activity. Crowds mill about in front of shops, gondoliers travel from place to place, minstrels mill about singing, and workers wash newly constructed walls and streets. The team over at Ubisoft Montreal truly upped the visuals from Assassin’s Creed to make renaissance Italy truly a sight to behold. The UI and menu system retains the sleek sci-fi feel of the original, looking just as great here as it did there. For the true gaming purists out there, there’s even the option of disabling the entirety of the HUD and playing the game in Italian without subtitles. Now that’s immersion. All of this being said, the game’s only graphically lacking moments are mostly found in the cut scenes, particularly those early on in the game, where the details and intricacies of the city are lost to the dull textures and facial features of characters. Still though, this is a small complaint in an otherwise beautiful game.
 One of the biggest flaws of the first Assassin’s Creed was the shallowness of the missions and a huge lack of variety, especially as the game progressed. Luckily, Assassin’s Creed II has had this problem corrected and compensated for in spades. Where the first game had players doing three smaller missions before a large assassination and then repeating this same formula for each assassination in the game, Ezio is subject to a much more organic and well-paced single player experience that feels much more like a movie than a repeating formula. Weapons, special attacks, and new cities are opened as the story progresses rather than simply finding everything open to you in the beginning and wishing for more and better equipment as was the case with the first title. Every assassination can be taken on from several different angles whether you prefer to simply tear your way through the guards, run down your target, slip a blade into him amidst a crowd, or even sneak your way to a well-positioned rooftop and executing an air assassination. Retaining the unique counter and disarm combat system of the first, a ton of depth has been added to both the assassinations and the open combat that Ezio takes part in. With a slew of weapons available for purchase many with unique attacks and combat animations and advanced combat techniques available to be unlocked, the fighting remains fun, exciting, and interesting throughout the single player campaign.
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Dec 26, 2009 01:48:49 (Dec 26, 2009 01:48)
