Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

The first Assassin's Creed was a bold attempt to stretch the frontiers of gaming. With an innovative control scheme, unique historical setting and frame narrative, it was one of the most daring titles of 2007. Moreover, it also featured top-shelf presentation values and a historically accurate dramatis personae. All of these factors certainly contributed to its tremendous commercial success. Despite coming out in the same time frame as Mass Effect, Halo 3, and Call of Duty 4, Ubisoft's original IP soared to over 8 million in lifetime sales. It remains the best-selling franchise debut of this generation.

Of course, that doesn't mean the game was flawless. After the initial wonder wore off-and who can deny that Altair's free-running animations and the massive cities of the Crusader kingdoms weren't impressive?-gamers realized that Assassin's Creed had its warts. The combat was a bit lackluster thanks to its ease, and the gameplay became somewhat repetitive due to a limited variety of set-up missions that were preludes to your main assassinations (which themselves were often quite exhilarating affairs).

Well, two years have passed, and the developers at Ubisoft Montreal were highly sensitive to the criticisms of the first game. If Assassin's Creed tantalized with hints of AAA potential, Assassin's Creed II fulfills most of the first game's promise-and then some.

The storyline and setting of the Assassin's Creed franchise are a love-it-or-hate-it kind of thing. Historical narratives are pretty rare nowadays outside of World War II. And the rest of games coming out seem to be in the space-marine or science fiction genre. Normally, when you see a sword in a game, you immediately expect someone else to start casting fire or ice spells. But that isn't the case here: while there are definite and dramatic liberties taken with the historical milieu, this is no fantasy game. There is, of course, its science-fiction angle. I won't elaborate, lest I spoil it, but suffice to say that the mystery and conspiracy that were the hallmarks of the first game only become more entangled and more exciting in this installment.

The gameplay in the first installment didn't always live up to the huge ambitions of Ubisoft Montreal. Some of the advancements were truly revolutionary: the introduction of free-running and the fluid animations necessary to make that more than a gimmick in particular. But other parts, such as the mission structure, didn't meet expectations. Thankfully, the sequel has improved in many different ways. Combat is more complex now, with a greater variety of weapons and moves, including blocks, counters, dodges, and disarming moves. There are a ton of side missions to complete-beating up the adulterers and spouse-abusers of the city, racing, and even stealing. The stealth dynamics have become more fully fleshed out with the introduction of more organic blending techniques. And there are even crucial side missions known as tombs which are essentially Prince of Persia-like platforming challenges.

After finishing it, I was reminded of why I loved the first installment of the series and was astounded by how much the game had improved. There was a little frustration and tedium in the beginning as I struggled to grasp the control scheme once again, and of course there are the tedious 30 seconds or so between mission locations where you run like a madman through the streets of Venice or Florence. Overall, though, I have to say that Assassin's Creed II was the best open-world game I've ever played: it has an intriguing premise, robust storyline, and plenty of epically heroic and anti-heroic deeds to reenact along the way.