Zap gives us his opinion on this cloak and dagger adventure
Version reviewed: Xbox 360
Reviewer: Zap
Assassin's Creed 2 picks up where the original left off, although I highly advise playing the original first there is however a few cut scenes at the beginning to bring you up to speed on the storyline.
As it was in the original, you take control of Desmond Miles, a young man caught in an ongoing war between the Assassins and the Templars. Although the story is centered to Desmond, there is no escaping the fact that the person we're interested in is Ezio, Desmond's ancestor.
Desmond is able to relive and take control of Ezio's memory through a device known as the Animus. Set during a 30 year period spanning from 1470 to 1500 in Renaissance Italy, Assassin's Creed 2 tells an awesome story of revenge and corruption.
There has been a great amount of thought and effort into bringing Renaissance Italy to life, the mood of the period and setting have been captured perfectly. On your journey you'll even get to know such historical figures as Rodrigo Borgia, Leonardo Da Vinci and Marco Barbarigo, all adding that little bit extra to the game.
The game mechanics are pretty flawless, free running meshes seamlessly. One of the flaws with the original has been addressed, no longer can you simply hold a button and become invincible, dispensing foes without the blink of an eye. However! Even with the diverse additions to the combat and AI the game has just been made too easy. Not a single battle met me with any level of difficulty, most of the time it was a simple case of running up to the target from behind, pressing X and escaping without so much as a scrape.
The missions are somewhat varied, unlike its predecessor. In this outing we'll see our hero steering a runaway carriage and even flying over the beautiful city of Renaissance Italy in Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machine. Despite these clear alterations to make the game less repetitive than the first, it all seems a waste of time with the ease of the combat system.
Free running, parkour..
I played through so many missions where the fastest route was by ground, few were the moments where the game required me to take a path along the rooftops as opposed to just toddling along the ground, isn't parkour supposed to be the huge selling point of this title?
All be it I have a few niggles with this game, don't let that put you off, overall this is indeed a fantastic game with a captivating storyline. Definitely one of my favourite titles.
Score:8/10.
Average User Review Score: 7.5/10
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