Platform: Xbox 360 Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Rating: MA Players: 1 Genre: Action/Adventure Released: 20th November, 2009

Website: http://assassinscreed.uk.ubi.com/

[starreview tpl=16]

Florence Italy, 1459 during the height of the Renaissance period is home to Ezio, the latest character in the story behind Assassin’s Creed 2. Fans of Assassin’s Creed will probably know that ACII differs a fair bit from the previous game. Altair, the dark and brooding Assassin from the first game is gone and is replaced by Ezio who has a whole new background, history and timeline to discover that includes conspiracy, betrayal and murder.

Although it helps to know how the game mechanics of Assassin’s Creed work, you won’t need to have played Assassin’s Creed to play ACII. However, you might find some parts of the game a little disorientating and/or confusing without the understanding of how the game is structured and why (although the beginning segments may help a little here).

In ACII we understand what the Animus is and what it’s capable of which in alot of ways, takes away some of the ‘mystery’ that was ever-present in the previous game. Part of the enjoyment of Assassin’s Creed was discovering everything for the first time which of course, you can’t really do in ACII. That said, Assassin’s Creed 2 has seriously expanded on the storyline of the main character to include alot of new content and less linear gameplay with more choices to do what you want, when you want.

The ‘free-roaming’ gameplay features in ACII as ‘side missions’ that you can do which deviate away from the main ‘campaign’ or storyline. Some of the missions may be really short (and even strange) such as being born as a baby Assassin (we kid you not!) and others might be missions that earn you more money. It’s all part of the bigger picture to get you more involved in the game and interacting with more NPCs and it certainly works well. Assassin’s Creed was a great game but really did feel restrained in terms of what you could do. That is now a thing of the past and you’ll have alot more to experience and discover in Assassin’s Creed 2.

The game mechanics are largely the same as Assassin’s Creed. You’ll still be able to scale walls and all manner of buildings as you did previously (and there are quite a few side missions that require you to do this). But you’ll also be able to do alot more in terms of interacting with the environment. As the game is set in Florence, you’re surrounded by water so it seems only logical that you should be able to take a dip. You can also use the boats to travel around the city.

The ease in which Ezio can get around the city also makes for a much more enjoyable game than the previous. It’s now alot easier to blend in and hide (although, not too easy) and mingle with the crowd when you need to. Enzio can also use his influence to manipulate courtesans (which is fun) and throw money around to act as a diversion.

Combat has also been completely rehauled with more refined assassination moves to master and use on various opponents. The system to recover health has also been adjusted slightly to make it more interactive. As you advance in the game, you can also modify aspects of Ezio’s appearance with additional content being added via XBL.

Admittedly, the addition of Leonardo Da Vinci in the game had to be one of the highlights for me. It’s kinda trippy to think that your character is interacting with one of the greatest artistic and creative minds in history!

Assassin’s Creed II has alot to deliver in terms of what fans were expecting and has more than exceeded all expectations. There’s more action and less repetition (which really killed the momentum in the first game) and the storyline is seriously kick ass. It’s great to see the sequel to a great game take things one step beyond to become nothing short of epic. Another strong contender for GOTY? Hell, it’s got my vote!

Check out the trailer:

Hot off the press from Monaco (distributors of Ubisoft in NZ) – Assassin’s Creed 2 has now been pushed back to Q1 2010. There is no confirmed date at this point but we’ll keep our ears to the ground.

I was very much looking forward to playing this but now it seems we’ll all have to wait. That’s OK, as long as Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 stays on track, I’ll be happy

Assassin’s Creed 2 is on it’s way with a tentative release date of November 20th in New Zealand. And we can’t wait to play Altair again…

Here’s another TGS video clip of the game, courtesy of Gametrailers:

The latest trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2 hits the internet… check it out!

Source: Ubisoft