Game REVIEWS

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Assassin’s Creed 2 Review

System: Xbox 360/Sony Playstation 3/PC
Publisher: Ubisoft
Category: Action
Available Now

“Assassin’s Creed II” is a continuation of the first, “Assassin’s Creed”. In the first Assassin’s Creed, Desmond Miles was kidnapped by Abstergo Industries as a test subject for the Animus project which allows him to experience his ancestor’s life through genetic memory, Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad, learning the truth: who he really is, the identity of the company who kidnapped him and their intentions.

The story begins with Desmond trapped in a locked room inside, and by, the Abstergo Industries. Lucy Stillman, former researcher for Abstergo now works with the modern-day assassins, tries to break Desmond out of this “prison” and escape to her hide out. There he is introduced to two of the assassins she is currently working with: Shaun Hasting and Rebecca Crane.

At the hide out, Lucy asks him to help them discover his ancestor’s memory, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, in her own version of Animus, dubbed “Animus 2.0”, to accomplish two things: train Desmond to be a full-fledged assassin and to find other “Pieces of Eden”.

Ezio’s story:
That boy was a trouble-maker, who cherishes his family. He ran errands for his father: delivering letters, taking care of stuff for his family and so on. Through the tasks given to him by his family, he meets a family friend, Leonardo da Vinci, a person who will soon play a very important role in Ezio’s life.

Ezio was sent out to run an errand, when he returns, his sister informs him that his father and his two brothers have been taken away, thrown in jail. Ezio runs to go see his father in the cell. His father tells his son to collect his belongings and a deliver a letter to Uberto that would reveal the truth. Ezio did as his father instructed him: he dons the Assassins cloak and heads to Uberto with the letter in hand, believing all would be taken care of.

He attends his father’s and the two brothers’ trial. In the end Uberto announces them guilty for treason and they are to be hung. The father protests against this ruling, stating he has sent Uberto the proof of their innocence. Uberto denies this. In the end, poor Ezio watches helplessly as his father and brothers are being murdered. With a whole army enclosing on him, he has no other choice but to run and leave his family behind. Ezio, infuriated and broken as the turn of events, runs into a woman. She teaches him basic survival skills and helps him locate Uberto. Ezio assassinates Uberto in front of many people and announces that his family bloodline still carries on.

Ezio does not stop there, no. He saves his mother and sister and takes them to his uncle’s villa to protect them. At the villa he learns the truth about his father and about his family heritage. To Ezio, his father was just a banker (little did he know his father was an assassin—story explained in Assassin’s Creed Lineage). Here, he begins his training to be a true assassin and take revenge on those who are responsible for his family’s death.

Assassin’s Creed II plays very similar to the first. Ezio has the ability to: walk, run, free run, climb and swim. Ezio’s fighting skills, muck like Altair, includes: assassination, knife throw, counter attack, hand to hand combat, and weapon fight. Even though it is similar to the original, Ezio’s fighting physics have been greatly improved.

Ezio gains new abilities as the game progresses:
1) Double assassination with the help of a 2nd gauntlet allows Ezio to strike two opponents from behind or in front.
2) The ability to poison your foe, this leaves them weak and disorientated.
3) When you’re barely alive, for a small amount of time, you can take advantage of this situation.
4) The ability to equip any one of many weapons by purchasing them throughout the game: swords to maces, hammers to rapiers.

Other then the throwable blade, there is a new addition to the distance weapon in Ezio’s arsenal: a new gun like attachment to his gauntlets enables him to shoot from a distance to kill and a smoke bomb which helps with quick escapes or clouded kills. These are important factors/skills that help Ezio achieve his goal: revenge.

Assassin’s Creed II is amazingly well written and keeps you playing, to the point where, when you stop you’ll keep wondering what will happen next. There are many twists and surprises to the story: unpredictable situations/scenarios from the start to the end. The characters add depth and strength to this game making it enjoyable to watch and play. As for voice acting, Roger Craig Smith (voices for Ezio) did an amazing job for this role. You could not tell it was him, except for the random grunts and his name in the credits. All the voice actors helped make this the best title of the year. Easily five out of five.

It’s not just the story and voice acting, it’s the combination of everything being completely well balanced from the start to end. The graphics and design of every city from Florence to Venice are spectacular. The beauty and life of 1400 Italy is shown as you walk through the streets: the houses, the churches, and even the waterways in Venice. The game was made in the aim of perfection: appearance, lighting, color, texture, characters, and accuracy to the history of society and environment/landscape of the 1400s. The characters and interactions have substantially increased, making it easier to blend in, using everything around you to your advantage, and to hide. The inclusion of Ezio swimming and pulling his enemies into the water, even at great heights, is fun to watch as they plunge into the water creating a splash.

When Ezio’s story ends, Desmond’s story begins. After completing the Animus for the second time, he is given a message of great importance, which may affect everything that is to come. His assassin’s training has finally been completed, now he is to prepare for the battles to come, to take on the modern-day Templars and stop them from taking over the world. This is honestly one game no gamer should miss. If you haven’t played Assassin’s Creed, I urge fans to play part 1 before picking up and playing this title; the story is very important to the sequel.

Ubisoft adds a new idea to Assassin’s Creed II called UPlay. UPlay is a new concept that links your system (PS3, Xbox 360, or PC) to another system that keeps track of certain goals or achievements and rewards them with Uplay points. These points can be redeemed via the game’s main screen and unlocks special rewards. Assassin’s Creed II has 4 available rewards, one may use the points collected on items such as: extra throwing knives for Ezio to carry, an exclusive map in the villa for the Auditore family and explaining them a bit more, an AC2 (Assassin’s Creed II) theme for your system and lastly, the original full Altier outfit from Assassin’s Creed. Assassin’s Creed II is the first game that Ubisoft has used Uplay for. It’s currently in its Beta stages, but we look forward to seeing more of what it can do in the future, so stay tuned.

A special feature, exclusive for the PS3 version of Assassin’s Creed II, is connectivity to the PSP version of “Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines”, by playing both titles you can get un-lockable items for each game. Connecting Bloodlines to the PS3 converts the money gained in Bloodlines to game currency for Assassin’s Creed II and six new weapons (which have high stats) will be added to Ezio’s weaponry. Bloodline gains health upgrades and hidden blade upgrades as its bonus giving you more bang for your buck.

With so much in the game, and all the extras, Ubisoft really went the extra mile, there is no doubt that Assassin’s Creed II is easily a candidate for game of the year.

**Written by Christopher Del Castillo