Circuit Jerk

Assassin’s Creed 2, takes the convoluted storyline from the first game, makes sense of it, and then pulls you into a 35+ hour revenge plot that you won’t want to stop until completed.

The environments are still gorgous polished time machines into an ancient world. The free running capabilities of the assassin have been improved into an experience that feels mostly natural. (Although, there are still some camera angels that will cause you to run or jump the wrong way.) Combat’s improved, stealth is improved, and all the new additions are welcomed.

There are a lot of religious themes and locations. The writer’s did a great job of writing a Da Vinci Code like mystery through the ancient world of Christianity. This, much like Da Vincii, starts off with a murder. The main difference is, if Tom Hanks were staring in this show, he’d do a lot less clue solving and a lot more baddy killins’.

Speaking of The Da Vinci Code, Leonardo is a huge part of the plot. He’s not some bit character that is sort of referenced in the background, but he’s a believable ally, building various tools and machines throughout the game to aid in your quest.

The Assassin has a few new gadgets and moves. You have access to a pistol, poison, smokebombs, and my personal favorite, the double shanking device. On top of that you can now upgrade armor, change the color of your clothes, and use other main weapons like maces and axes. Also added are the abilities to disarm enemies and hire NPCs to distract, rob, or fight guards.

The game is much more dynamic than the predecessor, which largely turned into a button masher. There are enough options to where stealthily attacking a stronghold is not only very possible, but your best option. Instead of having thousands of guards constantly attacking you and slowing you down, the guards are in realistic places. Archers cover the rooftops and most of the ground troops are either guarding a treasure or are on patrol in a busy area instead of being posted every 15-20 feet.

Instead of visiting three overwhelmingly large, similar looking cities, Assassin’s Creed 2 has five medium to large cities, all with unique personalities. You don’t get the stagnant wear down of traveling to yet another dusty Middle-Eastern city. On top of the cities actually being different, the game now has night and day and water.

Assassin’s Creed 2 takes everything that was good about the first one and made it better and took everything that was bad with the first one and made it right. Ubisoft Montreal has always listened to message boards, emails, and general complaints and try to pull the good suggestions out and fix it. It shows in Assassin’s Creed 2.