The Assassin's Creed Series: Assassin's Creed 2

Context

Assassin's Creed was released in November 2007, and received overwhelmingly positive reviews as a game that brought new levels to the phrase "open world" and essentially defined a new genre of gameplay in the parkour/stealth mechanics.

Sales were hugely successful, so it was fairly obvious that there would be a sequel. AC1 had a few flaws, most notably the side missions were widely considered to be repetitive (as explained in my previous review). But with general success making a new style of gameplay, there was a lot of excitement about the sequel. Would the excitement be lost with the release of the second game? Would it seem like just more of the same? How could Ubisoft build upon the great legacy created with AC1 and expand upon it to keep things exciting?

Would AC2 be a hugely enjoyable improvement, or a massive disappointment?

The Setting

The first thing we have to discuss when talking about AC2 is the setting, because it is the foundation of the entire story.

The location is set in Italy, in the late 15th century and at the height of the Renaissance period. The game revolves around the Tuscany and Romagna areas, including highlights such as Venice, Rome and the Vatican. This setting provides a tremendously rich backdrop for the game, with lots of key historical locations, people and works of art. As such a highlight of human history, any person with even a casual interest in history can't resist getting sucked into the historical information available in this installment. One of the major changes in AC2 over AC1 is how much historical information is provided. The history of locations, even ones that no longer exist today and information on key figures, such as Leonardo da Vinci. Of course, there is artistic licence on how these all come together, but a lot of the information is historically accurate.

Young Ezio, as depicted right at the start of the game.

And then we come to our protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a purely fictional character who epitomises this period in history. Ezio is in his late teens at the beginning of the game, and is a playful,  good hearted lad, if overly carefree and distracted by the ladies. However, serious events unfold which force Ezio down a hard path and threaten to darken his character with plots of revenge, but his family and newly discovered friends keep him on the right side of the path. In the first Assassin's Creed game, there was nothing wrong with Altaïr has a protagonist, but with the game opening at the height of his arrogance and with the setting relatively alien to the modern day, it provides a cold relationship between character and player. With Ezio, on the other hand, he is immediately sympathetic and identifiable even to us in the present-day world. Ezio demonstrates anger fuelled by injustice and yet warmth for humankind in general, on top of an overall strong sense of right vs wrong. Playing Ezio in AC2 is beginning the life journey of what is widely considered the best protagonist in the entire AC series and arguably even across all of gaming.

With the backdrop, characters and general writing, Assassin's Creed 2 has a world that the player can get engrossed in, right from the opening sequence of the game!

The Game

The graphics in AC2 are definitely a step up from from the previous game, although it does help that any AC2 version you buy today are actually remastered versions, with a lot of textures and some graphical effects updated. Even on the remastered versions, it's still clearly PS3-era graphics, especially in the somewhat simple-featured faces of most characters, but you won't see garish pixellated textures for the most part, and terrain distance is managed quite well.

The soundtrack in the gameplay is iconic of the early Assassin's Creed series, although in retrospect this might be because the AC2 trilogy really defined the early series itself.

The gameplay is really the highlight of Assassin's Creed 2, however, and the highlight of the early series. The parkour has been improved since AC1, Ezio is slightly faster climbing up buildings, features have been added that allow fast access to rooftops and the general flow of free running is generally smooth and predictable. Continuing from AC1, you have the ability to generally indicate if you want to free run up, down or across and so traversing balconies and canopies on the sides of buildings is overall a frustration free experience.

The parkour in AC2 is really the best of the early series. True, AC2 doesn't feature the complexity of landscapes in later games, especially trees, but it just works, and it is a pleasure move Ezio around.

AC2 brings other new features that persist in the AC series as well:

• Upgrade paths for armor and weapons, to improve your chances against tougher enemies.
• More weapon types are added, such as the poison blade, dual hidden blades for double assassinations, and a pistol for remote insta-kills, at the expense of loudness
• Based building mechanics. You can unlock and upgrade vendors at your base to enable the purchase of items and increase your bases money-making rate. Also you can invest in artwork to also increase your base cash generation.
• There are more opportunities for blending in and stealth mechanics. Ezio can submerge underwater for short periods to remain hidden when swimming. Also, Ezio can blend into essentially any group of people, rather than being restricted to certain types.

Monteriggioni, your base in the game and, like Masyaf in AC1, a real world location.

However, the other single largest improvement that AC2 brings on top of the general gameplay is the writing and the missions. The mission have a huge variety, especially compared to AC1 and develop the story well. The side missions are all extremely relevant and enrich the main plot, and are not just "filler" to add hours to the game. Even the collectibles have a relevance to the story development and have a reward that brings warmth to Ezio's character.

The modern day story of Desmond Miles continues in AC2, although it is not particularly revelatory in AC2 and, in essence, just a continuation of the events of AC1. The satisfaction of completing the game comes from how the discovery Ezio makes at the end of the game ties in with the current day.

Summary

AC2 is a huge improvement on AC1 and a game where every effort to build upon the previous game is done right. The story and main character is much richer and relateable to the player, the game world more gorgeous, the lore more interesting, the gameplay itself expanded and more satisfying and is in every way an improvement on AC1. AC2 is a tremendous accomplishment of building upon the base you have in richness of experience and depth of writing, every feature added is thoughtful and relevant.

Assassin's Creed is widely considered to be one of the best games in the entire series, if not the best. Also, Ezio's character is considered to be the most loved and well written character in the entire AC series, and across gaming in general.

Assassin's Creed 2 is truly a highlight of the series.

Review Score

Assassin's Creed 2 does a phenomenal job of taking everything that was in Assassin's Creed and adding more depth and ingenuity on top. Everything in Assassin's Creed 2 adds to the story and immersion into the world, even the collectibles. Nothing in Assassin's Creed 2 feels like it was just thrown in there to add length to the game. Assassin's Creed 2 is widely regarded as one of the highlights of the entire series, and so is the character of Ezio. In my opinion, this regards is absolutely justified, and I give this game top score within the series.