Assassin's Creed 2 - Xbox 360

Ubisoft Gets The Sequel Right

Matt Miller — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:00:00 GMT

Assassin’s Creed II shatters expectations. It’s bigger, more complex, better looking, and more fun to play than its predecessor. That first game set the bar for innovation in action games, establishing a unique control mechanic, a nuanced and clever approach to plot development, and an overriding concept unlike anything in the gaming milieu. In many ways, the sequel is far less innovative. Ubisoft Montreal improved all of the standout features, but it didn’t push the envelope. Instead, the team used this go-around to fix problems, perfect their strengths, and, perhaps most importantly, model some of the tent-pole ideas of other games. The pacing of open world crime games, the upgrading mechanics of a great RPG, the reward-based hidden items and unlockables of an exploration game, the puzzle elements of a classic adventure game – they all merge flawlessly in Assassin’s Creed II.

Ezio’s adventure builds on the journeys of his predecessor, Altaïr. The repetitious missions that marred the first entry are replaced by a seamless flow of story events punctuated by a plethora of side missions players can tackle at their leisure. Structurally, the main plotline is more linear, but players might not notice as they move between varied activities. Hundreds of collectible items are scattered throughout the Italian Renaissance cities. Every one of these pick-ups either increases your wealth or ties directly into developing the story. Half a dozen fantastic platforming levels hidden throughout the game world are the best palette cleansers; these brief stages are a blast, and lead to one of the game’s most desirable unlockables. A short puzzle game is implemented for those who want to embrace the conspiracy theory angle of the Assassin’s Creed Lore – the less spoiled about this intriguing plot the better.

World navigation, exploration, and free-running remain the highlights of the game experience. The puppeteering control model has been tweaked to be more intuitive, which makes running across the rooftops of Venice and Florence an amazing experience. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the backdrop is one of the most architecturally significant and breathtaking locations in the world. Ubisoft Montreal has done a stellar job of capturing the mystique of these fabled cities.

By adding an economic system into the mix, the game employs a role-playing approach to upgrades and character development. Weapons, armor, medicine, clothing color, and even an extensive collection of actual Renaissance art are all available for purchase. The game also offers players the chance to simulate an entire town’s construction over the course of the decades-long storyline. The rebuilding of Ezio’s villa becomes an extension of his character development, and also provides some major monetary gains.

The story also feeds off Altaïr’s adventure, rewarding devoted players who know the fiction well while at the same time presenting infromation in ways that allow new players to pick up the thread. The wider plotline hinted at in the first installment is torn open this time around, revealing an interconnected storyline that stretches across history – one that is so well told and integrated into the true events of the past that there are times that it is hard not to believe the beautifully wrought lie. Ezio Auditore is a brash new protagonist – part Casanova, part ninja, and part Michael Corleone. He looks dangerously cool and his personal development into a master assassin across the game is believable and engaging. Like many open-world games, the story has the potential to feel fragmented as you play a mission and then do something else; this disconnection is exacerbated by the vast spread of time over which the game unfolds. Transitions between major sections sometimes feel abrupt, but it’s the worst that can be said about an otherwise engaging narrative.

As the franchise moves forward with a brand-new historical hero, the futuristic tale of Desmond steps up in intensity. Though there are fewer sequences in the near-future world of Abstergo and the Animus, the sequences that occur are more meaningful and give exciting insights into what lies ahead for the franchise.

Combat features strong new additions like disarming techniques and an expanded array of weapons. Countering and special kills remain a blast, and the new techniques and weapons make defensive fighting more enjoyable than ever. However, enemy AI is often questionable; guards will stand and stare without attacking for too long or ignore you completely when they’re fighting your allies. In addition, I’d love to see a more engaging way to handle attacks initiated by the player. Most enemies auto-block any frontal assaults, so it’s hard to bust out into a flurry of motion to take them down. The combat is still thrilling, but it needs some work to stand toe-to-toe with the best action games.

Stepping back from the many disparate elements of the game, the picture that emerges is impressive. Assassin’s Creed II is a complex, mature, and engaging journey from beginning to end. It stands as a benchmark for design that combines innovative ideas with tried-and-true techniques to create one of the great games of this generation.

A New Kind Of Assassin

Matt Miller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:52:00 GMT

We’re only a week away from the release of Ubisoft’s biggest holiday title. Assassin’s Creed II is an incredibly ambitious game rooted in great ideas of the first game, but with some major changes to the formula established in that 2007 blockbuster. Whether you’re eagerly anticipating the sequel or skeptical of it due to problems you had with the first game, it’s worth your time to take note of the biggest changes to the second installment.

Setting
This should be obvious for anyone who followed the development of Assassin’s Creed II, but it remains one of the most fundamental shifts for the franchise. Unlike the Crusades-era Holy Land of the first entry, Assassin’s Creed II catapults 300 years into the future to continue the conflict between the Assassins and the Templar in Renaissance Italy. Italy during this period is a hotbed of artistic expression, architectural wonder, and constant growth. It’s also a cauldron of shifting alliances and warring factions. These elements combine to create a stunning dichotomy of beauty and violence. Following many actual historical events, the game inserts the fiction of the Assassins, and makes it integral to these pivotal moments. Cities like Venice and Florence are meticulously mapped and presented as they appeared during the period. At one point during our time with the game, we couldn’t find a particular landmark we had missed. We hopped online and found a modern visitor’s map to Venice, located the historical building, and sure enough, it was right where it was supposed to be in the game.

More than place has changed; the flow of time is a more prevalent component as well. In the first Assassin’s Creed, Altair‘s journey took place over a single summer in 1191. Assassin’s Creed II stretches across years of the life of Ezio Auditore. His growth into a master assassin carries more, as you drop in on important moments of his life, only to fade away through a haze of the years between those events.

Structure
If there was one pitfall that plagued the first game in the series, it was repetition. Even some fans that loved the game felt there were too many repeated side-missions, and major assassinations often felt too similar to each other. Ubisoft Montreal took these concerns to heart, and has pumped out a sequel with a completely different approach to progression and overall game structure.

Emulating many other successful open world games, Assassin’s Creed II delivers a freeform approach to story progression. Players tackle the story in a more linear way than last time; as they move from one mission to another, each plot event feeds into the next. However, between each major mission, an overwhelming number of other non story-missions, activities, collectibles, and places are available to explore. The main story completely abandons the previous approach of static investigation sequences (like pick-pocketing and eavesdropping) in favor of meaningful story missions that build up to a big assassination. Very few of the missions feel like something you’ve done before. In fact, several missions go out of their way to do something profoundly different, such as a dangerous cross-country carriage journey, or the maiden flight of a certain famous inventor’s flying machine. Meanwhile, the other activities you might attempt to complete are far more active and reward-driven.

Money
One of the other big complaints leveled at the original Assassin’s Creed was the lack of meaningful rewards. The many side missions and collectibles rarely offered any in-game connections to make them worth the time. In Assassin’s Creed II, that will be a hard complaint to level, thanks in large part to the new economic system. The amassing of a fortune in florins is a constant feature of the game – and nearly every activity awards you with currency. Finish a major assassination mission, and you get money. Complete a side-mission race through the city, and you get money. Find one of dozens of hidden treasure chests throughout the world, and you get money. Your collected florins are essential for meaningful progress through the game, and every activity that provides you more cash gives you increased options to spend in a way you desire. Spend how? Keep reading to find out about upgrades and collectibles.

Extra Activities
There is plenty to do in Assassin’s Creed II, even if you chose to only tackle the story missions. For more completist players, Ubisoft Montreal integrated a far more robust set of extra activities. Employers offer assassination contracts via pigeon coops. Races through the town and country let you test your platforming speed and skill. Unhappy wives beg you to beat up their cheating husbands. Hidden tombs hide special secrets from the history of the Assassin order. Mysterious images hidden on the sides of ancient landmarks reveal a major revelation. Guarded documents tell the story of Ezio’s most famous ancestor. Lost statues are scattered about your home city, waiting to be reacquired. Heck, you can even establish a detailed and exhaustive collection of actual Renaissance paintings!

The Future
One of the most intriguing but untapped areas in the first game were the sequences set in the future, where players learned about Desmond, Lucy, and the strange illicit activities of Abstergo, the modern-day branch of the Templar organization. Ubisoft has gone on the record as saying that the Assassin’s Creed story is ultimately about Desmond, and that belief is on display in the second console installment. We don’t want to ruin anything, but it should be enough to say that players see a lot more of this future world than a single room with an Animus machine.

At the same time, there are actually fewer instances where players return to the future in between major events in Renaissance Italy. In the rare instances that you do interact as Desmond, it’s because the game is revealing a major developing plot point and something important happens to Desmond. Instead of the constant returns to the future, most of the content related to Desmond is now handled in the pause screen, otherwise known as the Animus Desktop. Here, an incredibly extensive database of historical information builds up as you explore the world. Templar conspirators are indicated and described. Documents that Ezio finds in the world can be read or examined. Through this desktop, Desmond’s handlers in the future communicate information all the time. Consequently, you’re always in the action with Ezio, but you never lose touch with the wider adventure of Desmond.