User reviews

This game blew my mind. The story line is so intricate, so realistic, and so vastly controversial that this game deserves to be in the video game hall of fame. The AI has been redone to make enemies smarter, now they will actually look for you after you escape. the graphics are once again breathtaking. My mouth is open in awe every time I synchronize on top of a viewpoint. this is one of those game that truly pulls you in to the story and doesn't let you go until the game is complete. throughout the entire game, I felt like I WAS Ezio di Auditore de Firenze. That's how realistic the storyline felt. filled with action, betrayal, humor, fantastic graphics, and even some romance, Assassin's Creed II is not a game to be missed.

Assassin's Creed II delivers everything a gamer could possibly want; to kill ruthlessly, or to silently kill and walk away. Many new additions have been added to the game, although players hooked to the first game will have to get the hang of how weapons are selected and how to buy them and such. The new setup is quite different from the first Assassin's Creed, due to now there be actual missions rather than the basic storyline of having to kill some bad people. But Assassin's creed delivers great graphics, more gore, more counter-attacks, and now one of the greatest inventions in gaming history, to use your opponent's weapon against them, and delivering the same great feel. Plenty of unlockables means it's time to unsheathe your sword and get ready, you're in for a real show stopper.

Let me start off by saying that the developers have truly outdone themselves with this one. All the expectations I had for this sequel to a game that was already well-polished; this title completely surpassed them.

The plot is so much more rich and intricately interwoven with brilliant and even hilarious dialogue, and multi-layered conspiracies. Excellent character development lets you emphasize with the main character (this holds true for Ezio as well as Desmond).

The visuals seem to be more detailed than before, and the sounds are as good as ever.

The inclusion of a monetary system was a great idea, adding much more tactics to the game.

The gameplay mechanic has improved vastly with smarter and tougher enemies, more moves and tactics for your character, and so on.

The game was always challenging, but never frustrating, which is very awesome.

If you were even remotely impressed by the preceding title, you should at least check the sequel out.

I've been saying to everybody, if you didn't play Assassin's Creed (AC) 1 yet, play it before you play Assassin's Creed 2. Although, there is not much link between the two parts, AC2 is much more advanced than AC1. When I first played AC1, I loved it, but I had few comments (which everyone did), but now in AC2, all these comments were taken care of, making this game the best game in 2009.

They have taken care of many comments, which many players had including me. They have dealt with the repetition in AC1, there is limited repetition, where the story is much smoother and different. They have dealt with the fact that a great assassin jumping from building to building could not swim, now the assassin can swim wherever he desires. The graphics have been enhanced. There are more weapons to use and not limited to the sword, assassination blade and throwing knives.

I would say that Ubisoft should be very proud for being able to create such a great game. We will definitely be waiting for Assassin's Creed 3.

Honestly no words for this great game! The best game in the AC series.

This is undoubtedly the best game in the franchise. Story, gameplay, characters, locations, everything is on point. Lots of plot twists and turns. Overall it's a masterpiece.

I have played through almost all of the games in this series and none have matched up to this game. This is the perfect Assassin's Creed game and has aged quite well.

Fantastic storyline and great gameplay. Impressive graphics from game that developed in 2009.

Best game ever! Ezio rules! Great story, I love it

One of the greatest game ever, a masterpiece, the best vendetta story in gaming so far, a legendary game that made AC what it is today, as well as a stunning out of this world soundtrack

Console: Playstation 3

Genre: Third person 'stealth' action.

Setting: A mysterious place in the present or future, and Renaissance Italy.

Story:

Continues from the original, with some surprises in store, as far as characters go...Desmond Miles is still the pivotal character. "Assassin's Creed" had a juicy hook to end the game with, and the sequel takes the narrative elements to a new high...up there with the "Uncharted" games. Unlike the original, the sequel's story telling peters out towards the end.

Graphics:

Again, fantastic looking, and much more sumptuous due to the new location of the historically set story. The locations are pretty as a picture.

Gameplay:

Much improved over the original. There is variety to the game which the original lacked, but some of the non-core gaming elements are infinitely frustrating. It's these elements which really drag the score down for me. The kinds of elements I have in mind include puzzles, racing and finding certain things in the cities and towns you are in. Whereas the original had mindless/inane collecting elements, in this game they are made more a part of the story and hence something you would choose to pursue. However, the difficulty levels are just absurd...some puzzles are seemingly solved with random button movements, whilst other puzzles seem to require an arts degree or a degree in cryptography. Utterly bizarre. My guess is that many people will have to Google solutions to these puzzles...it's odd how the game seems to want to appeal to little boys and people with tertiary qualifications...a middle road would have been better...puzzles solvable without going online out of frustration.

A non-core element of the game are timed foot races...on roof-tops (!). Some races seem impossible to complete...suggesting that they are set up for players of an elite level. Actually, returning to these races I have found them to be completeable but by no means fun...you're just glad that the whole thing is over. The marks that you have to hit are often hard to spot, so you lose time looking for them. The game makes completing them unnecessarily hard too...soldiers chasing you, or pedestrians being in your way. If you miss a jump you just know that you won't be able to complete the race...meaning you either have to let the clock run down to zero or cancel the race and retry. Basically the races are a grind...take many attempts to learn the route and not make mistakes. Just a real pain.

And the logic of elements like these is questionable to say the least...one such is the collection of feathers...I kid you not. An historical assassin collecting feathers? They increase the value of his home? His nearest and dearest won't move from prayer without you having all the feathers? Yuh. Inane. Since there is a narrative import to completing this quest, it grates when finding all those feathers is just such a massive, frustrating grind...even with the benefit of a downloaded map. A big improvement would have been having each feather numbered, so you knew which particular one you required and thus could limit your searching for it. Some are trickily placed to. The game makers imagine the world they have created is so wonderful you will want to explore every inch of it...then pretty much force you to do this with grinding quests like this...not fun at all.

Back to the races...you play an assassin...who, in his spare time races locals for fun? And there are city guards who can overtake you even if you complete the race? Hmm.

Another interesting addition to the game play is the renovations you can do to your home. These earn you money which you can spend on items. This seems a very undercooked element to the game for me...I've earned a million florins from doing this and have no realistic hope of spending most of that money as there is nothing to spend it on now. It would have been better to be able to build on this feature...have a particular artist in residence at your home, for example...or raise armies...or annexe castles and towns etc. None of this is possible...but what there is is a suitable alternative to the grinding treasure hunts of the game.

The Good –

• The early narrative elements of the game are engaging

• More variety in actions the assassin can perform

The Bad –

• Buggy game play...if you run around the place (as I do) trying to get to a task quickly, you will see buildings and pedestrians be drawn ahead of you. This can actually adversely affect game play. For instance...you can enter a building and take treasure, but on trying to get out you will notice that guards have suddenly appeared there and you will have to fight them. Or certain citizens which trigger non-core game elements will not be where they are supposed to be...you have to wait for them to suddenly appear.

• Occasional quick time events which are such a surprise you may miss them...not a fan of these...like giving my hands a break during a cutscene.

The Ugly –

• Frustrating non-core game play...interminable races which give you no wriggle room to complete them.

• Ridiculously difficult puzzles (involving code breaking) or annoying as hell concentric circle painting puzzles...both a massive grind to complete...the former at least having the 'virtue' of being able to be cheated on via online sources.

• Annoying character actions or non-playable character movements. The thief kills are an example of this...you want to kill the thief so try and climb up a wall...instead you kick back and jump backwards...too late. Same thing for races. The thiefs are pretty hard to catch...so I'm happy they can be so glitchy...they get 'stuck' somewhere and run on the spot...easy prey. It's a glitch, but a welcome one!

This game had a lot of potential as the sequel to one of the most amazing games in gaming history, Assassin's Creed, which introduced versatile mechanics in perfect harmony with creativity, but unfortunately Ubisoft ultimately failed to deliver. Full of plot-holes and inharmonious game play, this headache-inducing game (if you will choose to call it that) is a crowded cache of failing mechanics and laughable graphics.

The story isn't much better, as it is extremely improbable and relentlessly drags on to the point where you'll want to put the controller down and blast your console with a double barrel shotgun. It may seem complex, but it's incredibly shallow and boring ad infinitum. A few advancements were made on previous concepts such as assassination techniques, maneuverability, etc. and some victoriously successful, while others withered and died.

I give this game a 3/10, and that's being generous. The first game is where it's at!

Assassin's Creed II is a story of a young, charismatic, flamboyant kid without a care in the world...who's family has been framed of treason & sentenced to death. He's forced to grow up overnight, quite literally. He flees the city, hoping to escape the poor hand life has suddenly dealt him. This same kid gets thrown into a never-ending battle between two factions. The Assassins & The Templars.

The Templars fight to control the masses & create a "New World". In order to so, they search every corner of the Earth to find "artifacts" from ancient civilizations, which have capabilities of enlightening those who use them, but can also bend the minds of the people.

The Assassins fight for Free Will, they fight for full freedom. They seek to prevent The Templars from synthesizing the minds of civilization.

That kid finds out his father has been keeping many secrets from him, including his career as an Assassin. The kid still insists on wanting to run away from all of this. He laughs at this crazy talk of "Assassins", "Templars", "mind control" & "new worlds".... Until he avenges his family's honor, killing his first targets.... And get this, they just so happened to be Templars.

He realizes his father's work is deeper than he thought. This was a conspiracy unraveled before his eyes. This kid who had no goals, no passions, has finally found purpose. He sets on a path to finish his father's work, all of it. As the story progresses, this kid grows into a man, a poet of the kill... Traveling through Florence, Tuscany, Romagna, Venice & Rome, to assassinate those who seek to oppress & corrupt the minds of the free... All in the midst of the Italian Renaissance.

His name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze, and he...is an Assassin.

This game is everything an assassin's creed game should be. The story is good the gameplay feels like you are a real assassin and it has very good music. If you are looking for the beat assassin's creed game look no further than this.

The one that put ac on the spotlight with its masterful soundtrack and great graphics and story

I'm playing it through right now and I'm still so amazed by how good it is. The storytelling, the plot, the voice acting, intrigue, it's all so good. The different kind of missions tie the story seamlessly together. It's true the gameplay has certainly improved in many ways throughout subsequent games (like fast traveling, hiding in bushes and whistling). But the simplicity is part of the reason why I love this game so much and I absolutely disregard AC Valhalla. The city building in this game is beautiful, filled with people, opportunities and obstacles, so much more than in sequels. Ezio and Desmond are perhaps the first and last characters within the entire the AC universe that I truly effortlessly rooted for.

I had seen trailers for this game some time ago but it wasn't until earlier this year that I decided to pick it up. A holiday to Dubrovnik in Croatia (where the old city has very "Venice-esque" rooftops) and a very brief spell in Venice for work made me more impressive by the game and had me imagining running around in this world in the game. Being hit by infinite explosives on MW2 also helped me decide to pick up a few more games. Having not played the first game I was happy that the game gave me a bit of time to get into the story and the controls (important since my instruction book had been incorrectly printed so half was missing).

The story is a revenge tale but with this constant "bigger picture" very much in the foreground as well, so while Ezio seeks revenge for the murder of his family, the path he takes also brings him into the world of the mystery that the modern day Assassins are trying to learn more of. These two threads work very well together and are well told without being too cut-scene heavy. My interest in the story is important because, although AC2 has been praised for having more variety than AC1, there is a reason that my girlfriend refers to the game by the name "rooftop running" – because every time she looks at the screen I appear to be running along yet another roof somewhere. This is a fair comment because there is a lot of running around but it is part of the game and does pose its own challenges as the free-running movement style is not as easy to master as it looks. I was glad to get to Venice so at least when I accidentally threw myself off a roof without knowing where I was going to land I would hit the water and live (as opposed to hitting the floor and dying).

The gameplay is enjoyable. In the main story there is a good mix of things to do, even if essentially the majority of them do boil down to "go there, kill that guy". Personally I could not be bothered collecting all the feathers in the game but it was a good addition to have side missions early on to collect things that boost your income as this is important early in the game. Combat is quite fun but once you get the hang of it, it is a bit easy. The blocking and counter-attacking generally works fine, while the special moves that you can learn (like throwing dust or multiple throwing knives) generally seemed to expose me to injury more than just the standard block/counter moves – which is a shame as the combat could have benefited from these moves being an advantage rather than a disadvantage. I liked the navigation objectives as it feels good to open up the map as well as showing off the graphics (some of the bigger climbs were very tense for me as I struggled to not accidentally fire myself into the void without warning) Similar to this the game is pretty easy. There are a few harder missions that relate to not being seen but even these I was able to do after only a few tries (albeit when I got close to my target I generally just rushed in to kill him). Otherwise the main story is on a good difficulty curve because nothing every held me up for long. Fortunately the story is long enough to mean that even getting each mission first time there is still a lot of time here. The various side quests are a bit more testing – personally I find the thief races to be pretty tough. Although I am always grateful to be able to escape, the NPC guards are probably too dumb. Even the searchers don't do that good a job of finding you and it is pretty easy to escape even when vastly outnumbered in an open area.

Design wise the game is stunning – large cities with lots happening and seamless graphics. OK Venice doesn't smell of damp in the game like it does in real life but otherwise the locations are convincing. The ability to sandbox around and interact with people is not at your GTA4 level but you do still have the freedom to explore and just run around picking fights with guards if that is what you want to do.

Assassin's Creed is a great game and one I enjoyed a lot whenever the mutliplayers I mostly do just got too much for me. It is a good length with plenty to do even if it is never as difficult as I would have liked. The gameplay is fun and flows well through a story that is engaging even if it is all a bit mumbo-jumbo. Good characters, great design and fun to play. I "finished it" last night (in terms of the story) but still have loads to do and am looking forward to it.

well what to say about this one i just picked up assassin's creed 4 years back not knowing any thing about the game just the pack looked cool but boy did the game turn out to be EVEN cool i loved it 2 years later i got up in the morning to pick up assassin's creed 2 BOY OH BOY OH BOY was it worth it! from the game play to the story graphics to the controls Magnificent! i am one of those guys who never believed in consoles i simply love my mouse too much but most of Console games on pc don't really work to be honest ( EXCEPT First person action games for which PC is actually better ) but assassin's creed 2 was as good as for Consoles as for PC and i loved it they have done such a commendable job the UBisoft team from the software developers to everyone Jesus Christ it's been 2 long years now i still play this game often lol that tells you a lot Recently i got another great great game Call oF duty black ops it was better than assassin's creed in every aspect ( keep in mind the game is of late 2010 so it's bound to be) but YET if it's a one on one comparison i would still say overall assassin's creed 2 is better BECAUSE of one reason ABSOLUTELY NO BUGS* I MEAN being a computer engineer i know HOW much of ATTENTION these guys have to actually give to avoide any MINUTE bugs honestly till this date i don't think i have EVER PLAYED ANY game other than assassin's creed 2 which has absolutely NO BUGS* BRILLIANT GAME WORTH EVERY penny you pay for it. P.S. Brotherhood the sequel is out soon too on PC cant wait for it :P~~

Desmond is back, with this picking up right where the last one(that this expects you to already have played... although you won't miss much if you haven't) left off, and he's soon in a new Animus, taking on the role of a different ancestor of his: Ezio(son of Armand Assante), in Italy during the Renaissance, out for revenge. You get to go to cool famous locations, take part in historical events and meet well-known people(one of whom I swear is William Fichtner), including Leonardo Da Vinci(and you get to use his flying machine, if only pretty briefly... the same goes for steering a carriage where you, by swiftly turning it, can unbalance those that try to get to you, from atop it), fresh from the, ahem, treatment that Dan Brown gave him. Yes, this feeds the conspiracy theorists, and the "decoding" can be engaging(and if you don't get into that aspect, you can still enjoy this... that was the case for me). This has the whole DRM thing like other recent titles, meaning that you can only play this if you have a permanent internet connection... I didn't have any problems with it, though obviously, no one will be able to play this if the server goes down entirely(meaning, if they go bankrupt or similar). The graphics are upgraded, with all cut-scenes in-engine. There's a nice level of expression to faces, if Lucy can come off wide-eyed, and looks like she raided the lipstick collection of a clown. This is about the same as the first, with Prince of Persia acrobatics, Hit-man/Splinter Cell hiding(note that one of the new enemies will check piles of leaves and the like for your presence if they are hunting you... you can murder them from in there, if you're quick!) and death-dealing and GTA free-roam. There were two things they could do to fix the streamlining that took away nearly all risk(still present)... make it challenging(well, they do that some), or add RPG elements. They chose the latter. The thing is that other than the collectibles(that are the only replayability in this, only one difficulty setting and linear progression through the overarching story), the only thing you can really "get" in this is cash, and it's so easy to gain and there's hardly anything to spend it on(ever watched Brewster's Millions?). Why not reward stealth? You can assassinate from climbing positions(pulling the other over you and off!), while out of sight and sometimes during combat(in general it tends to work, at least often, as long as the other isn't expecting it or is vulnerable). The dual wrist blades can be used for fencing(of which there is too much in this, don't they realize that it's repetitive and dull? At least they give you new moves for the unarmed stuff, at least if you grab the other... headbutt, knee, punch and throw) too, and you can execute two people at once(with a little luck, since you can't "target" two), and if you don't dawdle, you can manage that twice in a row. Dead bodies can be moved, if it usually isn't required(they can distract, as can the money bags you can toss). There are new weapons(accessible only through the wheel, why? The numerical keys could be made to cycle! Instead, only three of them work(well, has anyone *else* been able to get 1 to do anything?), and pressing twice merely draws it(what's the point of that? It's not faster used on account of that!)), such as poison(...never used it, don't know what good it does... take longer, so you can rapidly get away, I understand?), a primitive pistol(that really walks the line between useful and not taking away all the toughness... limited bullets and range, and you should hold down the trigger for a little while to ensure you'll hit), smoke bombs(early flashbangs, essentially), and alternate ones for your main one, mostly swords, a chain-less mace and a hammer(powerful!). The GPS remains(and is the same), as does the map(why does it lag so much?). Viewpoints don't feel like they do anything, well, they fill in the blank areas, they don't tell you where tasks(those are new, by the way, this time you beat up cheating husbands, courier letters, and carry out contracts) are. You can swim, and no one else can, so be careful about your allies, and get your kicks leading foes to their watery demise(...well, *I* like it). This does have intense chases, and they mix up the objectives some to keep it interesting(bullseye). The notoriety system means you can be recognized by your face(finally!) if you've done a lot of illegal things(or if the mission calls for it), until you tear down posters, bribe heralds, or off informants. Saving is again automatic and done by checkpoints, leading to some annoyances when you have to do the same things over and over again if you're failing near the end of a segment. The great thing is that you can often go right back to where you left off no matter when you quit(you can literally get out of this in a matter of seconds, and in about a minute, be right back where you left off). This does also mean that you can kill yourself and not lose, but gain time/distance. The cinematography is fantastic, and this has very film-like moments in the fighting(especially when someone is dying; the finishers look awesome). There is a meter over the heads of people letting you know if they're starting to notice you, so you can scamper off if someone is realizing that you're not on their side. You can "blend" again, this time with any group of NPCs(that don't raise their weapons at you), and the "feet" thing is now "fast walk"(when will they implement "crouch" or "hug surroundings", you know, to get out of their view?). There is a bit of bloody, brutal violence and disturbing content, and a little strong language in this. I recommend this to fans of this franchise and concept. 7/10

I was expecting to be amazed but this game seems to be one of the most overrated games in history. I played every entry bar Ezio's 3 games and this is definitely up there with odyssey in terms of how dull it is. The first entry was better if purely because it's not boring as hell to complete.

AC2 is extremely and tediously repetitive. Finishing the game felt like an actual chore as the missions didn't feel fun nor meaningful. The only missions I enjoyed wee the assassins tombs and they were was better than anything the game offered. The characters are uninteresting. Instead of going to Rome for the last act they decided to add a random miniboss that had nightmarish missions.