Assassin's Creed 2

Most of you (I hope) have bought this in the run up to Christmas. I know I did. If not then you would have heard of it. I have already received mixed opinions from people I know who have played it, so I felt I should make a review for those considering joining in on 'the Creed'.

First off, with all of the bullcrap that surrounded the first instalment of AC, this sequel has risen above it. This game has improved greatly since the beginning and deserves to be treated without stigma. Cutscenes are not stretched and impossible to skip as in the first game, but actually develop the story and are worthwhile to watch. Gameplay is no longer as ludicrous as finding the nearest bunch of scholars and somehow being able to hide in them. You have to now be in the crowd to be hidden, which seems more plausible.

Being an Assassin in Renaissance Italy has its perks. You acquire a villa during the first half of the game and you may choose to spend time and money upgrading it to get loadsa money in return. Armour and buyable weapons now feature, although they all seem useless once you manage to get the best available. You’re able to heal yourself with medicine vials, which makes falling off of a rooftop all the more survivable. New and more fun methods of assassinating people are notable, particularly the 'double assassinate' feature, which always seems pleasant to watch. It almost makes you feel dare I say it 'pro' when you take down two people at once in one fell swoop.

The levels, while limited in number, are expansive and full of hidey holes and everything climbable. Scattered throughout are treasure chests, racing missions, the obligatory collectable object ‘feathers’, beat up missions, and the return of ‘viewpoints’. The majority of these will take some time to locate and finish, which rather than being a chore is quite pleasant. Aside from these, you can opt to find glyphs to unlock more info behind the plot, or trek into Assassin tombs to unlock Altair’s armour.

Mone, or ‘florins’, is now an important object in the game. You steal it, throw it on the ground to distract people, pay for upgrades and weapons with it, find it in chests and hire allies with it. Not only is it useful, it appears realistic to use money in such a way.

A good addition that builds on the simplistic ‘noted’ icon in the first AC is the notoriety meter. Like the wanted stars in GTA, the more illegal stuff you do such as rob people, kill guards and arouse suspicion will fill it up. If it is full, you are notorious and guards will follow and attack you pretty much constantly. However, you can bring it down by removing wanted posters and bribing people.

Whilst you are given the normal sword, fists and hidden blade weapons, you can acquire more the further you progress. Your hidden blade can be tipped in poison to make guards swing around in a dizzy haze before dying. Both your hidden blades can be used to fight with, providing a different fighting style. You also receive a pistol, which although loud and obvious can be used to take down fleeing targets in one shot, whereas you would normally need 4 or 5 throwing daggers.

There are some drawbacks. Ubisoft got it into their head to fragment most of the extra levels into ‘special editions’. I forked out extra money to buy one of these editions, only to be rewarded by a small extra tomb that gave me more money for an extra 30 mins of gameplay. Seemed a waste, really. I’m guessing all of these extra levels will be released via DLC at some point anyway.Ragdoll physics have not improved, as guards give a tiny jerk upon falling over, and if thrown off a building somehow fly off to the other end of the map. Most guards ignore you if you go running about and climbing around, but will immediately attack you if you get too close or try and punch someone. Plus there’s Venice. Constantly falling into the canal and struggling to get out again is not fun.

Overall it is a good game worth buying. The plot is epic and supported by balanced and interesting play. I would recommend getting it, and if not at least giving it a try.

Eh, I might give it a rent, but tbh I enjoyed Assassins Creed so little, I can't justify the purchase, unless it's dirt cheap.

Hitman is where it's at. AC1 there was utterly no choice in how to kill (from the bits I did, and from what I heard, the rest of the game was replication with minor variation).

But it's nice to hear that it's better.