Assassin’s Creed II

Assassin’s Creed II is the sequel to the love-it-or-hate-it Assassin’s Creed. I myself haven’t played the first game but from what I see one group loved it because of the huge, detailed, and history-based game world and storyline. While the other group hated it because of the dreary repetitive missions and bland cutscenes.

Assassin’s Creed II certainly doesn’t have dreary repetitive missions. Sure there are still endless people to steal from, chests to loot, thieves to kill, but those are just the fillers and are by no means necessary. The main storyline’s missions are compelling, and the side-missions pretty creative. The mission cutscenes were rendered using the game engine and results in a seamless experience between watching and playing. And are  comparable and as entertaining as the better animated movies out there.

The game pits you once more against the Templar enemies, now no longer a fanatical crusader army but a shadowy cabal of politicans, bankers, and priests. How much more evil can you get than those? This time, the setting is in the complex web of political intrigue in renaissance Italy, specifically in the streets, sewers, and canals of Florence, Venice, and even the hallowed halls of the Vatican. All these locations are rendered in intricate detail, made even more awesome since you can climb up the highest points and see the cities in all their grandeur below you.

Gameplay is based on stealth, you’re an assassin after all. This type of gameplay should be familiar to players of the first game or the Metal Gear Solid series. You have quite a lot of specials skills for quietly dispatching enemies: death from above, death from below, death from behind, even from the front if you play it cool. And with your new double wrist blades, you can even dispatch two at a time!

However, a full frontal assault with the pretty big arsenal of weapons and armor available to you works just as well and is quite often the only way. Incidentally, all these weapons and armor change your appearance. And you can even dye your clothes at the shop and wear different capes that you get as rewards. Your appearance carries through into the cutscenes again enforcing the seamless experience.

The game is good for around 20 hours of play which actually gets more enjoyable just as you near the end. So it’s too bad the single-player campaign ends. Worse, there’s no online multiplayer mode so long-term play is nil. Still, it’s quite a good buy even for just the interactive movie entertainment.

Rating: 4/5