Assassin’s Creed was one of those games that showed a lot of promise. It was a refreshing story set mostly in a time that’s never before been explored in games, and setting the game in the Animus, visiting the memories of relatives was not only a clever way of presenting the game to the player, but opens potential as a series instead of just a standalone title. The title’s hero, the acrobatic Altaïr, was well designed and had some great moves. However, it was let down by repetitive gameplay, sometimes awkward combat, and a frustrating lack of cohesiveness to the whole experience.

Assassin’s Creed II starts off with Desmond Miles escaping the Templar controlled Abstergo research facility / prison setting of the first game, and taken to a safe house with a new Animus, this time run by the much friendlier bunch of people aligned to the Assassin’s Guild. This time, the search for the ancient technology delves into the memories of the life of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a likeable rogue living in Renaissance Italy, whose merchant family become involved in the conflict between the Templars and Assassins.

Unlike Altaïr, Ezio is not trained as an assassin from the start of the game, so instead of having a bunch of skills and losing them like in the first game, as you progress through the game you gain your skills and weapons of the trade. This makes the game far more enjoyable, as the first hour or so you get to just run and jump and brawl at your own pace, exploring the city of Firenze (Florence) and getting to know the character of Enzio and his allies. Enzio is a lovable rogue like Han Solo or the Dread Pirate Roberts; quick of wit and good of heart. When it does come time to fight and assassinate another person, the progression seems natural to both the story and the character of Enzio, who’s motivated by revenge and not any other shady purpose.

As likeable as Ezio is the real star of the show is the world he inhabits. Renaissance Italy is alive in this game. The streets are crowded with people going about their business, and unlike the first game you can blend in with any group, instead of having to wait for priests. Admittedly most are just walking around in circles, but the paths they follow and clever placement of guards hides the fact these are predetermined cycles, and make you believe the people have a purpose beyond hiding you. You can now enlist the aid of courtesans to hide you and distract guards, and the thieves and thugs return and appear far more able than the previous game.

Like the first game, the free running aspect truly shines. Jumping up to the rooftops and sprinting across tiled roofs and making leaps of faith into straw bales is still a tonne of fun. Paths are made far more obvious, and you don’t seem to make as many mistakes. The tall spires of Italy’s Churches make for some excellent vantage points, and the absence of Templars just standing around doing nothing at the bottom of them make exploring the verticality of the city much less of a chore.

There are a bunch of side missions to do, such as assassin contracts, races, and beating up cheating husbands. These are pleasurable distractions from the main quests, and net you some coin. Adding to this is the Assassin Vaults, six locations spread throughout Italy where you have to use Ezio’s athletic skills to get to remote vaults to unlock Altaïr’s armour. These Prince of Persia style puzzles will have you jumping and running and swinging, trying to get to a certain point before the time runs out. Whilst a little frustrating especially when Ezio jumps the wrong way from a wall jump, these challenges break up the other action of the game well.

There is also an economy of sorts. Enzio is given refuge in his uncle Mario’s home. Just as an aside, when Ezio meets his uncle it’s one of the most humorous moments in the game. Mario’s home is run down, the city in disrepair, but by gaining money from side missions and robbing chests, you can improve the citadel by upgrading buildings and beautifying the building with Renaissance art from the likes of Bruges and Da Vinci. As you improve the citadel, you gain access to better weapons and armour.

What I haven’t mentioned is all of these things are optional. You can just simply follow the story line quests, and zip through the game. But these activities unlock better items and make the game easier that they’re all worth doing. Also, they’re just a hell of a lot of fun. And the main missions themselves are quite a bit different from before. There is a heap of variety this time; you don’t simply do the same bunch of tasks to find and then kill the bad dude like the last game. This time you can bash your way through guards, leap from a rooftop, sneak up to your mark and then shoot him, or climb up a big tower and dispatch him. There’s even a part where you fly over a fortified wall in Da Vinci’s flying apparatus!

The fighting has been refined too, made simpler but more engaging. Taking a leaf from Arkham Asylum, the fights flow more fluidly, relying on timing and grace. You won’t get all the guards piling on at once; rather they’ll wait for an opening before attacking. Countering is still the best way to dispatch an enemy, but you can disarm enemies and use their weapons against them. This is particularly useful against heavily armoured foes.

There are still some issues with movement in the game. Sometimes Ezio will leap the wrong way from a wall jump, or will miss a beam you’re aiming for, or won’t edge around a wall properly. There was one particular tower where I would try and jump up to a higher ledge, but he would jump backwards into a leap of faith. There are also some minor clipping issues when fighting, and I once got trapped in some unfinished mesh because I evaded into the chimney of a roof, but these are really minor bugs and didn’t deter my enjoyment of the game.

Otherwise the game looks great. Ezio’s movements are graceful and elegant. The recreation of Renaissance Italy is superb, and the costumes and characters feel authentic. The inclusion of real life persons adds to this greatly, but the authentic sounds make it greater still. From Ezio’s footsteps on the tiled roofs, to the shop assistants yelling, to the sounds of the forge, it all creates a sense of realness. The only problem is the Italian-English accents, as it’s a little hackneyed in some parts.

Conclusion
After Assassin’s Creed, I was a little worried that the series would simply fade away. So many other Ubisoft games have suffered because of sequelitis, but the premise was interesting enough that I would like to see its conclusion. Playing Assassin’s Creed II, one can’t help but think Ubisoft really did listen to the criticism of the last game. Everything has been expanded upon and improved. That which didn’t work well was removed, and that which did was left in and improved upon. And the work done to improving the game has made it into one of the better games to come out this year.

Pros:
Great continuation of the story
Excellent amount of variety both in main missions and side missions
Likable character living in an excellently created world that shines both visually and aurally
Superb game mechanics of the first game refined

Cons:
Some minor graphical issues
Accents can sound a bit hackneyed.

90/100