Assassin's Creed II

The Good
Wow it really seems like Ubisoft decided to chuck out the Jade Raymond marketing gimmick and focused on getting a lot out of this potentially awesome franchise. Assassins Creed 2 is a continuation of the original where you play another ancestor memory of Desmond Miles which features a character Ezio and takes place in Italy during the Renaissance.

Ezio is a major step up from the Middle Eastern with the out of place American accent “Altair”. Altair was alright for the generic stealth role but with Ezio's emotions, voice acting and personality you wont miss him. The City's are still extremely well detailed. And the platforming elements are the best I've ever witnessed. There's a lot to do in the city and marvel at the amount of detail put into it.

Graphics in general are just about right and the animation is perfection. Even when climbing walls and obstacles there's never an invisible object. Ezio's legs and hands will always be resting on something, it makes everything so realistic. Combating is simple and satisfying almost the same as the prior game. Although you can now use the hidden blade as a weapon. And since Ezio wields two blades, you can now perform double Assassinations.

New elements include an economy system where you gain money by the usual completing quests, side-quests etc to buy weapons, armor. Also you need to renovate an entire city and doing so keeps increasing your income.

The best part about this game is the fact that the repetitiveness in missions has been removed and they also removed some of the side missions like citizen rescue. The missions are pretty varied and the side-quests are at least interesting. The Assassin Tombs are the best addition which will test your platforming skills, it's like you're playing Prince of Persia for a while. The characters have better roles here than they did in the last, some really memorable ones like Leonardo Da Vinci. And as for storytelling, the usage of cut-scenes and the removal of that annoying “Glitch” feature is a relief. Rarely there will be interactive cut-scenes but they aren't boring or annoying as the prior game's.

I was impressed by the sound and music of the game. Musical score is perfect no doubt and I loved the detail in sound. Like when you land on tile surfaces or running across them the sound is appropriate most of the times.

The Bad
For some the game may drag a little. Yes the length is a little too long and I know people who have been put off by this often giving up after the flying machine part. And if you're doing side missions side by side then it's going to be a very long play.

Another big time issue is the game requires you to be connected to the internet to play. Thank god the game saves often. But if you suffer from constant net drops then avoid this game and see if you can get the console versions.

The Bottom Line
It seems like Ubisoft listened to the fans this time. They got their shit straight and made an ass kicking game. Assassins Creed 2 seems like the grown up version of the prior prototype, the one that has learned from it's mistakes.

The Good
- History - Ambientation

The Bad
- Few side quests - Few collectibles

The Bottom Line
It is very good game with open world