Game Review: Assassin's Creed 2

So first let me start off by saying that I’m sorry about not posting this sooner. I’ve been falling behind on some homework, and this would be one of them. I usually try to have my post for the week by Wednesday of the week before (since its due Monday by midnight). But I kind of forgot about the blog post until today.

Anyways, like I posted two weeks ago, this week’s blog post is about a game called Assassin’s Creed 2. This game is a sequel to Assassin’s Creed, the game that I made a blog post about. So since you already know the background story of the first game, I won’t have to explain as much on this one, assuming you’ve read my first post. Be aware that some of the stuff on this post will have spoilers if you haven’t played/finished the first game.

So when we finish the first game, Desmond has finished reliving the memories of one his ancestors called Altair. At the end, he is still a prisoner of the Templar group known as Abstergo. The only thing that is different is that thanks to something know as the “bleeding effect,” Desmond has learned a few of the skills that Altair knew. But they aren’t really that helpful because he is still trapped.

So when we start out the second game, there is an alarm going off in the building. The Assassin Brotherhood has decided that Desmond has to get out of the building before something happens to him. That’s when Lucy, one of the characters that took care of you during the last game, reveals that she is also an Assassin and she has been working undercover this whole time. She puts you back into the Animus and you are introduced to a mysterious character known as “Subject 16,” but you never know who he is even at the end of the game.

After that, Lucy and Desmond manage to escape the Templar building and go to a safe house where Desmond will learn how to be an Assassin. But since they don’t have time to train him, he will be put back into the Animus to learn how to be an Assassin from another one of his ancestors thanks to the bleeding effect and to find out more about the Pieces of Eden that they learned about at the end of the first game.

This time the Animus takes him to Italy during the Renaissance in the late 15^th century. And we are introduced to a man named Ezio Auditore da Firenze that lives in Florence. At first he has no idea of the history of his family, since he’s just a regular guy living the good life. His family gets caught in the middle of a political plot and his father and two brothers are hanged. The final instruction from his father was to look for a chest containing Assassin garments and tools used for killing. Ezio seeks out one of his uncles and escapes with his mother and sister to his uncle’s villa. There, his uncle teaches him the history of his family and how they all come from a long line of Assassins. Little by little, Ezio learns how to be an Assassin and how to use the tools that his father left behind. And thanks to the bleeding effect, Desmond is also learning how to be an Assassin along the way.

That is the basic intro to the second game, and I won’t say anything more because I don’t want to give too much of the story away. In my opinion, they did a better job in this game with everything. While you still have to go and kill different people and do similar stuff like in the first game, it no longer feels repetitive like the first game does. The story line is awesome, very complex and the ending is mind blowing (no joke). Through out the game, you also have the opportunity to find and solve puzzles that reveal some information about Subject 16 and about what he knows. 

You are also able to eventually upgrade your tools into a variety of different weapons like a mini pistol or poison needles. Your armor (the Assassin garments) is also upgradable and you can also change the way you look (to a certain extend). Other features include: finding 100 feathers to unlock a cape and a hidden weapon, renovating your uncle’s villa to make money for you, side quests, and even unlock Altair’s armor.

The graphics and CG cut scenes are amazing in an HDTV. The game play is feels a little bit more smooth. And the character design is wonderfully done to make the game look like the Renaissance. The game will take you through: Florence, San Gimignano, Forli, Venice and eventually Rome (even if its just for a brief time). I recommend this game to everyone; I assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks for reading.