GameInformer

All I can say is that the beginning scene starts out really strangely. That's just one setback. You get out of the Animus, you sneak, you fight a bunch of guys, you hide in a car trunk, and then you get back in another Animus. Kind of fast-paced for the plot, but after that minor downside, this game gets increasingly better. I found myself almost startled by some of the naked women scenes and the "special" scene where Ezio gets some (there's no real nudity, just really close, and the art of course includes breasts, grow up). Interestingly enough, after the vast amount of gorgeously animated cutscenes I had seen at that point, I was impressed by how well they made the character's lips actually move with the voice perfectly, and it feels like everything they say has a tone when they physically do something. The AI of the people and the guards has been enhanced brilliantly. I found myself with a poison blade, thanks to Leonardo, and thankfully, I got to test-drive it on some unsuspecting soldiers hiding gold. Sure enough, I hide behind the one at the rear and inject him. He started flailing his sword around and actually killed his partner by mistake, and I laughed so hard when I saw him fall at the exact time I had just double-assassinated the other two guards. They actually study your whereabouts, though, and the bribing for notoriety is tough work. However, the blending effect is interesting to look at. Just walk with a small random group and you're somehow invisible to the soldiers. It's a lot easier, although another setback is that the musicians jump in your way and start playing their crappy guitar. I just kill them, but that's frowned upon, so whatever. The new mode of distracting makes it SO much easier to be a real assassin. From tramps to thieves to brute mercenaries, all of these factions at your disposal can eradicate any problematic defense in your way. The Assassin Tombs, the Statuettes, the Codex Pages, feathers, and collectible weapons and art add up to a lot of fun to catch them all (Pokemon) but it's harder than it looks and it can get tedious at times. I've already found half of the viewpoints today, but when it comes to the other stuff like feathers and randomly scattered gold chests, it makes me think "walkthrough" instead of "enjoyment". Sure, I can find most of them, but there are so many that it just takes so long, like the pigeons in GTA IV. Anyway, the storyline is rather ornate, but it's hard to keep up with, especially if you forget to turn subtitles on. The Italian names are hard to get used to, but if you have a good audio memory, you shouldn't have any trouble. Your opposer in this one is the Pacci family, and all you learn is that you despise eachother. You will fight to the death of course, but I'm rushing the storyline too much. I might spoil it by accident. The landscaping is well done as well. The building rooftops feel like a real Renaissance city and the new hiding spots can provide excellent cover when under attack. There are plenty of missions, too! Races to Assassinations to Beat Up events to Pigeon Message events and there are so many missions for the campaign itself that I'm surprised to see so many. And the best part about them? No repetition. It doesn't feel like the same old fight. The game seems to change their location or your location if you do really bad, and the fight can sometimes be impossible or easy as hell. I was surrounded by 6 guys and didn't get hit once. The next mission, I got attacked by 3 guys and almost died. Their fighting style is almost by luck; you can't tell who will be dangerous and who is the easiest, but it's definitely not boring. The wall-climbing still have a few bugs for me like in the last one, but the controls are smoother, and Ezio is much easier to control when you're jumping from a ledge 50 feet in the air than Altair ever was. I still have some trouble with some jumps, but it's not the end of the world and if you nail your jumps right, you can pull off some of the sickest parkour combos ever. I wish he could wall-run, though, just for a bit, but not like Mirror's Edge where you can wall-run for 5 seconds. The new view jumps are impressively tall as well. There are some amazingly large drops that even if you had the world's biggest trampoline underneath you, you'd still hit the ground. Jumping down at such a height is so cool, especially from the very top of the map. The economic system is easy to get. Go to the store, buy what you need, reach your limit, go away. Simple as that. However, when you retreat to your home, your sister Claudia gives you this book of the family income, and it's confusing at first glance, but catching on to it isn't impossible. The horse-back riding is still the way it was, and the carriage mission is a challenge itself, but again, I spoil you. All in all, the story will shock you and drop you on your feet, the missions will keep you on your guard, the graphics aren't the best but it tops its predecessor and Prototype by a long shot, and the animation and the tone of the cutscenes are gorgeous. The fighting is improved along with some classic assassinations and new brandished weapons, the parkour feels like a smooth ride, and the longevity of the game may equal out to a good half of a year if correct. The gameplay is of course, phenomenal, and it relishes in the special features it held on to before. The good old classic charm with a new upbeat personality and motion. 9.5/10