Game REVIEWS

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Assassin’s Creed 2 Discovery Review

System: Nintendo DS/DSi
Publisher: Ubisoft
Category: Action
Available Now

Assassin’s Creed II Discovery, a pseudo-3D (a 3D rendered game in a 2D dimensional plane) action adventure platformer for the Nintendo DS, is the continuation of the Assassin’s Creed II story. It features: stunning visuals, simple, yet satisfying, game-play; great voice acting; un-lockable cheats; and challenge modes. The game also incorporates a nice bonus for Nintendo DSi owners, the ability to feature your face on your own personal wanted poster. This game is actually the two missing sequences in the console version: sequence 12 and 13.

The protagonist, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, travels through 15th century Italy and Spain to free his comrades who have been imprisoned by the Spanish Inquisition. His progress slowly uncovers both the Spanish Inquisition and The Templar’s plans to travel to the new world.

The game features stunning visuals, which is very difficult for a handheld game. When you use Ezio to scale a building and reach the top, you can gaze far off into the distance, giving the world a sense of depth that most 2D games don’t possess. This perspective epitomizes the spirit of the Assassin’s Creed series and its reputation for spectacular backgrounds.

Moving on to the game play: The game borrows some elements from another great Ubisoft game, “Prince of Persia”. The game play really captures the stealthy action from its console brethren and the game play really translates well into 2D. The levels come in three varieties (normal, speed, and stealth) and very linear. Normal means that you can kill or assassinate enemy guards without being penalized. Speed mission usually mean that you have to find your target or reach your goal in a set time limit. Stealth means sneak around and avoid being spotted by the enemy. The stealth game-play is quite entertaining as the background music adds to the suspense and allows the player to immerse in the game. The level design could’ve used a bit more variety because at times the player might feel like they are going the wrong way.

The bottom screen on the DS shows a mini map in which Ezio is displayed as a big white emblem; the enemies are yellow triangles and alerted enemies in red. The mini map is a little bland and isn’t really all that helpful. The actual combat is handled by three buttons: Y, A and R buttons. The Y button is used for Ezio’s sword and if the player rapid presses it, Ezio will perform a combo. Hitting Y as the Ezio sneaks up on the enemy, he performs an assassination strike. The assassinations include their own special animation depending on the type of enemy the player kills and they will hear a “Ching!” as the blade pierces the enemies’ armor and body. The A button allows Ezio to use his throwing knives which will kill an enemy instantly as long as they don’t spot him. Throwing knives can also be used to inflict damage to enemies who have spotted Ezio, but in the process he might run out of stock. Ezio can only carry five knives at a time and those are replenished if the player finds a stash of them, which are hidden throughout the levels. The R button is Ezio’s guard and by pressing Y while Ezio is guarding, he will perform a counter attack. Counter attacks are only activated when the enemy hits you and the counter attacks vary. If the enemy tends to guard a lot, Ezio will perform a shove or kick in order make them drop their guard. If the enemy is wounded, Ezio will perform an instant kill. For a handheld game Ubisoft really packed in a lot of good game-play elements.

The game includes full voice dialogue for every character. Ezio, in particular, is voiced by Roger Craig Smith (voice actor for Assassin’s Creed II for PS3/X-Box 360). Roger did a spectacular performance in bringing Ezio to life, for this version of the game, just as he does in the console counterpart. All of the enemy soldiers have voice as well and shout “Assassin!” every time they spot Ezio. In game, cut scenes are also fully voiced. This feature alone makes the game much more amusing as the player won’t have to sit and read everything.

Some of the nice extras in the game range from un-lockable challenges to un-lockable cheats (for the DSi: exclusive wanted poster feature). The challenges can be unlocked by finding parts of a special map. With each map collected, a specific challenge is unlocked. In total there are 10 challenges that the player can unlock and varies from assassinations to time trails. The game also allows the player to unlock cheats by collecting sync points, which are given to the player at the end of each level. The amount varies depending on how the player played during the level. Locating and destroying wanted posters also increases your Sync points. Once a cheat is unlocked, the player has the option to turn it on or off. As an exclusive feature for the Nintendo DSi, the player can take his or her picture with the DSi camera and upload it into the game. The picture in turn appears in the game wanted posters. Congratulations! You are now a wanted Assassin.

Overall, Assassin’s Creed II Discovery is great pseudo-3D action adventure platformer, with a lot of great features crammed into a small handheld game. The game play is great and sticks to the traditional 2D platforming genre. The action is simple and satisfying making the player feel right at home when it comes to the assassinations. The un-lockable challenges and cheats really give this game good replay value. On the downside, the game is really short and tends to throw the player into the same situations again and again. It would’ve been nice if they could’ve added a bit more level variety and a bit more story: the game ends when it gets to the good part. This game is worth checking out if you’re a huge fan of the series and want to know what the missing sequences are. Fans of 2D platformers will also be content to know that this is a solid platforming game.

**Written by David Lopez