Assassin’s Creed II
- Explore the deadly, shadowed world of the assassin with new assassin Ezio
- Roam freely through the lush and dangerous world of Renaissance-era Italy
- Do whatever it takes to complete your missions in the game’s all-new open world and mission structure
- Thrive in an environment rich with power, revenge and conspiracy
- Practice your assassin’s art with all-new weapons and instruments created by Leonardo da Vinci
Product Description
The world of the assassin is one cloaked in shadow and steeped in danger. Ensnared in a web of revenge and conspiracy, the assassin embraces power at its most elemental, acting as the dividing line between life and death. As an assassin confronted by perilous new challenges and difficult choices, what path will you choose?
Features
The world of the assassin is one cloaked in shadow and steeped in danger. Ensnared in a web of revenge and conspiracy, the assassin embraces power at its most elemental, acting as the dividing line between life and death. As an assassin confronted by perilous new challenges and difficult choices, what path will you choose?
 Stunning Graphics View larger. |
 Roam Freely View larger. |
 All New Weapons View larger. |
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 Synopsis Key Game Features:
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The Assassin’s Creed II by Techno Chat|Tech Blog!!, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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November 22nd, 2009 at 7:18 am
I haven’t finished it all the way yet, but so far this game is everything that the first game wasn’t!
It is quite a bit harder than the first, and if you didn’t play the first one you’re going to have a little bit of a learning curve on the story and controls, but it’s not too bad.
Anyway, maybe this type of game doesn’t appeal to everyone, but it’s a blast for those of us who like a good single player game that has depth and a good plot!
Rating: 5 / 5
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:20 am
Assassins Creed 2 is the kind of experience that one likens to the kind of game that people say would be a great game, and then laughs about because no developer will ever actually make it.
Ezio is the debutante son of a “banker,” and after a few brief scuffles with a rival italian family, Ezio’s watches his father and two brothers hang. Fast forward, uncle, Assassins, family vendetta, yakkity yak, you know the rest. But, as anyone knows, there’s the other layer of Abstergo, the megacorp that’s kidnapped you and is forcing you to live through your genetic memory. You are subsequently broken out and then slapped in another genetic memory machine, except sedated so you can’t leave as often, and this one controlled by the Assassins. I could easily see myself reaching for the “no, thank you” button on that basis alone, but the story quickly picks up in a major way. In that theres actually a story involved apart from “targets over there, kill they ass.”
Ubisoft continues to take the third degree to the third degree in terms of graphics. Photorealistic barely does it justice in the was distant vistas seem as crisp and pristine as the tower from which you are leaping to your characters 32nd death. Rooftops and other top layer accouterments are rather repetitive, but given just how gorgeous the scenery looks, its not worth complaining. Also, environments flow better, and you don’t have to waste half the time crossing vast empty wilderness to reach the game parts of the game.
Audio is also topnotch. Frequent use of Italian without large bold subtitles marks the 56th time I’ve screamed at the heavens in vain that 360 games need subtitles that a person without cybernetic implants can actually read, as I really don’t want to learn Italian, even if most of what they use are curses. Characters feel real and life-like, and there’s several moments where the voice actors are so good, you can feel the on-screen character entering brown trousers mode.
Gameplay has improved 10000% from Assassins creed 1. Remember all those insanely annoying search quests that served no purpose other than to give undervalued achievements? Well, that guy was fired, and hopefully his house was burned down. In its place are a plethora of new search quests, some annoying and some not, but all of which serve as useful game aids, finding cash for a variety of stores, finding other subquests, or trying to rescue your mother from a grief induced fugue. And in the 15th century, they’ve discovered the map, a wonderful piece of technology that gives you a general idea of where things are, and then mark important locations on these maps to make them valuable commodities. Combat has gone up and down. New techniques and new gear, not to mention gear that you can buy from stores, including new varieties of old standbys makes combat more entertaining, but they didn’t add much to the core combat, which boils down to counter and dodge and slash, though several new attacks, namely the double hidden blade takedown, had me giggling for hours.
Notoriety is the same way, in that you can lower your visibility to guards by blending into small crowds, bribing heralds to say the charges against you were acquitted, or tearing down wanted posters, but that feels a bit like time travel, when you kill a guard, gain notoriety, round a corner, see your wanted poster, tear it down, lose all your notoriety, and go back to being incognito.
There are a handful of nits. Some of the jumps are a pain, given your propensity to jump to the one location where there is no ledge. While more surfaces are climable, sometimes to sole one that will work its the one that looks and acts like background till you hit just the right spot. Some of the game requires DLC or preorder only content, which is about as fair as saying those who bought the regular version got an “expanded demo.” While maps are a good improvement, they’re too nailed down, and having GPS coordiantes for treasure hunts defeats some of the purpose, and there are no maps for some of the side quests. I know I sound like I’m trying to have my cake and eat it to, but I didn’t think a mechanic for “Go to this general area” would be impossible to pull off over two games. Improving the hideout is nice, but you can turn it into Trump Tower in less than forty minutes.
Overall, this game is fantastic. Entertaining side missions, a main storyline that’s an actual story that you can get into, gorgeous scenery, wonderful dialogue. If not for a few points mentioned early that make me pray Ubisofts VP of marketing is torn apart by wild animals, this would’ve shot all the way up to #3-4 on my all time list.
Rating: 5 / 5
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:56 am
Just so you know, I really liked Assassin’s Creed. The first game was a joy just to run around in; especially exploring the various cities and countryside. That’s why this game was such a dissappointment; exploration is a tedious, frustrating experience and, because of the new monetary system, MANDATORY.
Firstly, story. I don’t know what game the other review sites are playing, but it’s not the one I’m playing. This story is a ridiculous stereotype of bad buddy cop and action movies with a healthy dollop of tired conspiracy thriller; EVERYONE is betraying everyone else; there, I just spoiled it for you. The characters are just as stereotypical: Ezio is basically a drunken, whoring moron who is too stupid to understand anything beyond drinking and violence but we’re supposed to excuse that because he’s handsome and physically able; the writing is just full of terrible garbage in a similar vein. All villains are either fat or old. Everything is a just a huge neon sign blaring WE CAN’T WRITE. I just cannot get across how really, really poor the whole thing is.
The health system has been re-worked so, rather then just regenerating health if you find a quiet spot, you actually have to break off from the mission you’re currently on and seek out street doctors to heal you. This would be fine if it wasn’t for the horribly oversensitive, paranoid guards in the game which pretty much attack you on sight now. Instead, it just ends up being a immersion breaking task similar to an annoying fetch quest. Happily you can buy some medicine vials to use on the fly though which aleviates the annoyance; of course, you still need to hunt up money to buy them.
The guards bring up my other big problem; I can’t explore anymore. They’re so senstive that even running by them will trigger a huge chase and they’re so numerous that you can’t get anywhere without having to deal with them. They make the whole game seem terribly claustrophobic and not free roaming and non-linear at all. The messy combat system is back simply with additional options making it even messier; lacking even a basic tutorial unmtil well into the game (other then control pop-ups hints which, if you stop to read, you’ll end up dead because they don’t appear until you’re IN a fight) fights end up being sloppy, button mashing dissappointments. Even with all the bizzare, rock-paper-scissor weapon match ups they’ve added, the only effective way to kill EVERYONE is still simply the same move as the first game; Counter Kill with Hidden Blades, which makes all the weapon buying in the game nothing more then decorations for your villa.
The free running system in this version is touted as improved; in reality it’s totally broken. You’ll find Ezio constantly veering over 45 degrees off your course to make jumps he doesn’t even need to do; he overcompensates ridiculously when jumping so you’ll repeatedly find yourself plummeting to the streets below, usually triggering yet another guard chase or need to find ANOTHER doctor, and Ezio’s feet are apparently magentically attracted to posts, probably so he can do that lame “crouch on a high place” pose as often as possible. I actually had Ezio TURN COMPLETELY AROUND at one point to hop onto a pole he had just passed rather then simply leap across a small alley to the platform on the other side. He’ll also frequently get hung up on regular six inch steps; the whole character will freeze and refuse to move at all as if he was on the edge of a steep precipice.
That’s not to say the game is devoid of improvements; the new Blending system is neat (and necessary since the guards are complete turds), buying new dyes, armour and weapons is fun and the graphics are as good as they were in the previous game; albeit very similar. There’s really no telling you’re in different cities then any from the first games at most points; Venis is beautiful tho.
When you do manage to explore, the game is as fun as the first with TONS of things to find but they’re hard as anything to find; most are sourrounded with a white glow that almost perfectly matches the sky and roof shingles; if what you’re looking for is on the roofs, either wait until night or you’ll only find it if you trip over it.
So, if you liked Assassin’s Creed for the exploring, this game pretty much kills it and the story is reason alone to never even look at the game case on the shelf. Yes, there’s lots of new things added to the game but it’s like a spaghetti sauce that started out good but then had way too many ingrediants dumped into it to try to make it better.
Rating: 3 / 5
November 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
If you liked the first you’ll like this, it plays the same, but has more side missions and options and a more in-depth story.
Rating: 5 / 5
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I bought this for our son who is 27 and he’s going nuts about it. LOL..he loved the first one in this series and is wonderfully pleased about this one as well. I recomment this to all the gamers out there. Great graphics and precise and exact places where the game takes place as well! Actual places for that time period. GREAT GAMES!
Rating: 5 / 5