Game review - Assassin's Creed II

I loved this game. Straight up loved it. I loved the first one too, and this one just expanded on that. Seriously, I think this is my favorite new series from this generation. Here's my spoiler-free review.

This game picks up right where the first one left off, continuing the story of Desmond Miles. At the beginning of the game, Desmond and Lucy (who now looks a lot less creepy and a lot more like her voice actor, Kristen Bell) break out of the Abstergo building and get back to an Assassin safehouse to do more digging into the past. This time, instead of the Crusades-era Middle East, we visit Desmond's ancestor Ezio from Renaissance Italy.

This game doesn't feature a hub, like the original's Kingdom. Instead you can pay to travel directly to and from any city you've already visited. Yes, pay. There is a money system in this game, and it actually adds a lot to the game. There are a ton of different things you can buy. You can buy an assortment of main weapons and small weapons. As opposed to the standard sword and short blade you had in the first game, you can now pick from a number of different kinds of swords, each with different stats, or even hammers. You can also pick a number of different daggers. There's even a cestus you can buy to give your fists an extra wallop. Aside from the weapons there are a number of different pieces of armor you can buy and a handful of upgrades to your item pouches. Need more throwing knives? Buy a bigger knife belt.

There are other things to buy, also. You can spruce up your home by buying paintings, or change the color of your outfit with various dyes. Or you can choose to spend money improving your home town by renovating the buildings there. The best part is, spending money on most of these things adds to the value of your town and therefore increases your income. If you keep up with it, by the end of the game you'll never want for money. It's very similar to the system used in Fable II.

In fact, I'd say this game is very much like a cross between Fable and Grand Theft Auto. The gameplay itself is pretty much exactly like the first Assassin's Creed, which is to say nearly perfect. The Fable part comes from the money system, and the GTA part comes from the mission structure. In the first game you got your missions directly from the head of the Assassin Order, and you went and carried them out with some help from the local Assassin's Guild. In this game missions pop up on the map and you go to them and start them, very much like GTA.

I loved this game to death, but there are still a few flaws. First, the control is still missing that little bit of polish that would make it perfect. You will wind up running up walls you didn't mean to, or getting stuck climbing structures in spots you shouldn't. It's a minor irritation, but I hope they fix it for the next game. Plus, some of the combat has issues. The timing needed to pull off counters is demanding sometimes, and doing some of the new special moves like throwing sand in people's faces or sweeping people (both of which have achievement associated with them) can be tricky to pull off in actual combat. Also, there's not as much Desmond in this game. There are only three times in the game you get to control him, the beginning, the end, and around the midway point of the game. Some people may find that a plus, but I enjoyed the Desmond breaks in the first game. Each one was like another little clue to what was going on.

Speaking of which, this game features some nasty puzzles! This was one of my favorite parts of the game. Hidden throughout the programming of the Animus are twenty glyphs, placed there by the mysterious Subject 16. Before he died, 16 apparently figured out the truth behind the Pieces of Eden and what the Templars have been doing with them throughout the centuries, and he left the information behind in these glyphs. When you find one, you have to figure out a puzzle, then you're shown a snippet of video. After you finish all twenty puzzles, you get to see the whole video and discover the truth of the Pieces' origins. These twenty puzzles, loaded with information on the Templars' nefarious activities, easily provided the creepiest moments of the game.

I'll say it again: I loved this game. If you liked the first one, you'll definitely like this one too. It's better in almost every way. Now please, please Ubisoft, bring on Assassin's Creed III! I need to know what happens next!