[Game review] Assassin's Creed II
Platform played: PC
Date of Review: March 25, 2012
The
anticipated sequel to Assassin's Creed. Just like in the last game,
you play as Ezio. But this time you flee the lab you were locked into
along with a girl to get to her friends who have recreated the computer
the scientists used. This way you can go back into your ancestor's
memories once again.
This game has a lot of interesting new things
to do. Of course there are the assinations, but now they have also added
races which make you run across cities against the clock. You can also
go into temples to find treasure. In your uncle Mario's villa is a box
with income money that your sister keeps account of. With this money you
can renovate the city to raise it's value (and get discounts at the
shops too), buy armor, medicine, weapons, etc. You can even buy a new
assassin coat. (mine is now green and gold)
The combat system is almost identical to the first game, but they improved it a little. They've also added more blood.
New weapons include different kind of swords, hidden poison blades and even a gun.
In the later missions, you can even fly in a prototype-plane.
All in all a fun game and it's always fun to climb on large buildings.
Mission variety
I
would like to talk about this a little bit. Mostly the missions are
nothing more than "Go to location x to kill person y." But some can be
different and pretty fun. There are a few missions where you have to
rescue people from cages. Later you have to put them in a few spots.
Then you fire a gun shot from a higher point to make them all attack the
enemy so you can assassinate your target.
Later there's a mission
where you have to follow a carrier, kill him and steal his clothes,
follow a guard to your target and then have a long swordfight with the
target.
The story follows, just like in the first game, Desmond. This time he escapes from the labs and goes to a secret hide-out where there's a copy of the Animus. Desmond delfs into the life of Ezio Auditore. His dad and brothers get hanged and him and his family get to live with his uncle Mario. Ezio must (of course) assassinate people and find out the truth behind things. Also, he has to search for the two pieces of Eden (one of them is in the first game, the Apple, and the new one is the Staff). At the end he tries to assassinate the Spaniard but fails as he is the one with the staff. An epic battle ensues. After that, he enters a room with the "creators of mankind". One of them tells Ezio that long ago, people betrayed them. After a long speech, she says "Desmond" to Ezio. Desmond wakes up from the Animus, in confusion. Then the Templars arrive at the hide-out. Desmond must fight them and kill the doctor but the doctor escapes at the very end...
All in all an interesting story. It's history mixed with sci-fi. I never knew how much I would like that kind of story.
Verdict
The gameplay is better than the first game and it's more diverce. There's also more side-missions to explore. And there are more cities which are made even bigger too. The story is even better this time, too.
I give this game an 8.5/10
In : Games