Assassin's Creed II (PS3 - 1st completion)
I just completed Assassin's Creed II for the PS3 including all DLC. Can't say how long it all took but I reckon over 30 hours to do and look for everything, save for a few treasure chests. I found this game to be a good improvement over the first Assassin's Creed though the original was still a great game in its own right. To watch the awesome trailer go here or below (remember to watch videos in 720p HD and fullscreen). Too bad the cute bear is the first to be assassinated:
Click to viewAssassin's Creed II begins immediately after the events of the first game in 2012. Desmond Miles is still trapped by Abstergo Industries (the modern-day face of the Knights Templar) after being forced to use the Animus device, which allows him to revisit genetic memories. In the previous story he became the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and has discovered prophetic warnings from Subject 16 (a previous captive) describing the end of the world. He is soon rescued by Lucy Stillman, a mole for the Assassins within Abstergo. She takes him to meet two other Assassins: historian Shaun Hastings and computer expert Rebecca Crane. They request that Desmond use their version of the Animus, dubbed the Animus 2.0, to relive memories of another Assassin, Ezio (pronounced “Et-Zee-O”) Auditore da Firenze, to train Desmond in the ways of the Assassins through the "Bleeding Effect" of the Animus.
Ezio's memories begin during the Renaissance in 15th century Italy, where his family is ensnared in a political plot, and his father and brothers are hanged. Ezio, following his father Giovanni's last advice, finds his father's Assassin tools and flees the city with his mother and sister to the safety of his uncle Mario's villa in the countryside. Mario assists Ezio in discovering the people behind the conspiracy, the search leading Ezio from all over Italy. As he identifies and assassinates more and more political figures, Ezio also gains several allies including Niccolo Machiavelli and Leonardo da Vinci, the latter of whom helps Ezio improve his equipment using schematics found in Altaïr's Codex pages. Eventually, Ezio identifies the mastermind of the plot (below): the Spaniard Rodrigo Borgia - who will become Pope Alexander VI!
To watch the opening cinematics and first hour of gameplay go here or below:
For Part 2 go here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.
Some of the review is pretty much written the same as the first Assassin's Creed review from last year. It helps save me time and in any case, I would be agreeing/disagreeing with some of the same things.
Graphics/Art-9
+ A pretty faithful recreation of 15th century Renaissance Italy.
+ Like in the first game, the architecture and buildings look great. Also people's clothes and styles are pretty accurate for the time period. The way people move around and converse in their everyday life gives a pretty authentic feel.
+ Great graphics in textures and realistic lighting. The animation is spectacular.
+ It's fun to watch Eizo climb the buildings and look for ways to climb higher. Awesome city views!
+ Unlike the first game, you can enter some select homes and environments instead of always being outside. The vast majority you are outside though.
- In battles, the camera can work against you and give the enemy free-reign to hit you. While this has been fixed a bit from the first game, the problem still exists in some situations.
- There can be draw-in problems. This is very evident with shadows appearing on buildings as you get closer to them. The slowdown problem from the first game has been mostly fixed but can exist at times.
Sound/Music-9
+ The voice acting is better with ethnic accents and the use of Italian phrases.
+ Eizo's voice acting has more personality than Altaïr's.
+ The music is pretty good and kind of soothing.
+ They fixed the problem of citizens repeating the same lines over and over. While it can happen at times, you won't be as irritated as the first game.
Control-9
+ Not very difficult to learn as the game gives you tips consistently on how to pull off some of the gameplay elements. Controls are basically the same as the first game.
+ There are some new moves you can do. You can assassinate while hanging on a ledge with an enemy just above you or even assassinate two people near you at the same time.
+ Unlike the first game, you can now sheath your weapon and run away from battles.
- Controls during combat can still be wonky when you attempt to target an enemy or perform a counterattack or evade.
- When fleeing soldiers, doing races, and trying to climb structures, the controls can work against you because you are going so fast. For example: I want to keep running and may accidentally hit a wall, prompting Ezio to attempt running up it as if he were trying to reach something. Since obviously there is nothing to grab hold, he falls back down. When I try to leave the wall and continue on my way, he will once again try running up against the wall! Of course, with all those precious seconds wasted, my pursuers catch up to me and I'm forced to fight them or I lose time on a race. It is extremely frustrating and has happened at least a few times.
- When put into battle, there can be a disconnect between Ezio still acting like he isn't in a battle (free movement and not being able to defend) and trying to force him into battle mode (slower movement and being able to defend, counter, etc.). I'm not sure why the game does this.
Gameplay-9
+ The game still feels a like Prince of Persia though without all the traps and acrobatics. It's a little more realistic but has its own flavour.
+ Your primary objectives are to travel to different parts of Italy and trace the memories of Ezio and sync them together. Unlike the first game which was hampered by the same usual objectives, this game is more structured and mission based. You can continue the story at your own pace and do side missions. Once a DNA sequence is complete and a new area opens up, new side missions will pop up and you can handle them before continuing the story. It's not as a repetitive as the first game.
+ Combat is quite fun.
+ The game doesn't over saturate the player by opening the entire game world to you at first. There is a white fog that prevents you from accessing other areas of a city. As you complete DNA sequences, they will open up for you to explore and continue the story. You also have a map that tells you where almost everything is and how far you are from it in steps.
+ The game will shorten your travel time through travel kiosks. You pay a small fee and they will take you to any city you've been to before.
+ Everywhere you travel you are being watched. As long as you don't bother people, they will leave you alone save the musicians who will get in your way (it's funny knocking their instrument out of their hand to get them to fuck off). If soldiers see you do something bad or you are notorious, they become more paranoid and may at anytime start to give chase. When you are being chased, you have to break their field of vision by hiding in certain places or blend in with groups of people to throw them off and revert everything to normal.
+ There is a new notoriety system, with guards more alert to Ezio's presence depending on his behavior, location, and current mission. This infamy can be reduced through bribery, removing wanted posters, or assassinating corrupt officials.
+ When you synchronize with the area on the very top of the many lookout points, most of them allow you to do a “leap of faith” off the point and land into a pile of hay below. It's a lot of fun and piles of hay are one of the places you can hide.
+ You have some weapons at your disposal (swords/hammers/maces, daggers/knives, your two assassin blades, poison, and even a pistol!) but unarmed you can disable your foe's weapon and use it against him and others. This can be tricky to do but successfully pulling off a counterattack can get you a temporary new weapon.
+ The game has a currency system. You get money from stealing, chests scattered about, stopping pickpockets, looting corpses, completing objectives, doing side missions, etc. You can buy weapons, armour, paintings, treasure chest maps, medicine, etc. You can also heal yourself through a doctor, repair your broken armour, and change the dye of your outfit.
+ You can hire different groups such as mercenaries, courtesans, or thieves and these groups can be used to fight, distract, or lure guards, respectively.
+ The Auditore family's countryside villa, located in Monteriggioni is Ezio's headquarters and safe haven. The surrounding property can be upgraded, drawing income for his use. There are several outlets for using currency, with vendors selling items such as medicine, poison, weapons, repairs, upgrades, paintings, and clothing dyes. When these shops are renovated, Ezio receives discounts at the shops on the goods they sell. Purchasing weaponry, armor sets and artwork also contributes to increasing the villa's overall worth, in turn generating more income for Monteriggioni.
+ The checkpoint system is pretty good. If you have already collected anything, it will be saved and you don't ever have to get it again, even if you fail an objective or die.
+ You can now swim in this game and do assassination missions on boats too!
+ Eagle vision returns! You can activate it anytime and there are 4 colours to help you out. People in red are bad guys, people in blue are good guys, people in yellow are assassination targets (very helpful!), and objects in white are hiding places or certain objectives you can trigger.
+ There are these "glyphs" in every city in the game, usually found somewhere around certain structures. When you find the symbol and activate eagle vision, you are treated to a bunch of cryptic puzzles that get harder and harder. These puzzles have to do with famous art pieces and historical figures and events with a mix of the game's conspiracy theories and connecting dots. Completing the puzzles nets you a small, weird video. The more you find and pass, the more you add to the collection. When every one is found in the game, you get the full video.
- While the major flaw of "wash and repeat" objectives from the first game is still present, there is a more variety this time and you get paid for doing them.
- The AI on the soldiers is pretty aggressive in this game and at other times, dumb. Some of them are easy to beat while others are annoying. The more armour a soldier has, the more difficult they will wear down from your assaults. Some are downright cheap on how they gang up on you, not giving you much of a chance to defend yourself.
Fun/Story/Misc-9
+ While I'm not much into huge, open-world type games I had a lot of fun with this game. It wasn't too daunting for me as objectives were pretty clear and I liked that not everything is opened up in the beginning but slowly.
+ I liked the story and how the use of genetic memory plays a role between Desmond and Ezio plus the effect it has on their (current) predicament. The use of actual historic figures, though some of their lives fictionalized, makes the story more compelling. Leonardo da Vinci's homosexuality is mentioned by Shaun Hastings, the historian.
+ The DLC features two new DNA sequences with new missions. These include more difficult assassination missions and Knights Templar places to go through.
+ Unlike the previous game, this PS3 version does have Trophy Support. The majority aren't difficult to get and you can use Youtube in helping you search for things. I even managed to get my first Platinum trophy!
- Some of the historic research can be a bit shoddy and at times, the game can be slightly preachy. For example: in one of the codex pages you collect and can read, which were written be Altaïr, he compares Jesus Christ to Krishna, Dionysus, Mithra, etc. If the game's writers did their research, they would find that the similarities between Jesus and other pagan gods are minimal, some are plain false, and some have a different meaning (ie. physical versus spiritual resurrection). All of it ignores critics of such outdated research. Also, at the end of DLC Sequence 13 Ezio makes a dumb speech in front of a crowd after he assassinates a mad monk (sparing him a torturous death) that they were going to burn at the stake. His message is humanistic, based on the philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli. It's the tired message of not following a prophet or book (obviously hinting at The Bible) and instead, thinking for yourself. Sigh... are these people injecting 20th century post-modernism ideals in the 15th century?
Total: 45/50 (Grade level: A)
For a few more gameplay videos go here, here, and here.
Because of the soon-to-be-released Assassin's Creed III, the Assassin's Creed II website is no more. The Wikipedia article is here and Gametrailers.com video review is here.
Next game: Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PS3)
Currently playing: The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road (DS)
