Assassin's Creed returns with many improvements.
The story both picks up directly after the first game and anew. Desmond and Lucy escape Abstergo and make their way to an Assassin hideout. When there, they meet two more Assassins, a historian named Shaun and an engineer named Rebbecca. Rebbecca has made a new Animus and Desmond gets in and visits his ancestor Ezio Auditore to learn how to be an assassin himself.
Ezio's story is more the focus here. His story focuses on a revenge mission. Ezio's father and two brothers were publicly executed by the Templars. In despair, Ezio discovers that his father was an assassin and Ezio takes up his role in order to get revenge for his family. Ezio obviously finds himself in over his head and in a deeper plot. Ezio's story isn't as interesting as the first game's story, but it's still great and well written and keeps you playing to see what happens next.
The gameplay has been vastly improved over the first game's. The combat is still pretty simple, but still entertaining and the climbing has been sped up nicely. The way the story is told has been improved beyond belief. Instead of keeping everything in game, there are now cutscenes and sophisticated missions to progress the story. The mission variety has been vastly improved by adding story elements alone. There are still collectibles around the 3 large cities you travel to and there are plenty of side missions to complete and you no longer die when you fall in the water since you can swim.
Exploring the cities is still a complete joy. Even now, there is nothing like walking the busy streets as civilians talking to each other or shopping. The game play is loads better than the original game's.
The music is still fantastic and the game's title song is one of the best this generation. The voice work is top-notch and Ezio is a great new character. The music makes prowling the streets a complete joy as in the first game.
The visuals have also been improved vastly. The cinematics look great and add to the story greatly and the animations are still amazing. The combat is still brutal and looking out over the city is still as mesmerizing as it always was. Not much to say about the visuals other than they are amazing.
PROs
- Ezio is a great new main character
- The gameplay has been greatly improved
- Audio is still fantastic
- Combat remains brutal
- Animations are fantastic
- Cities are beautiful
- Still nothing else like it
CONs
- Some repetition still remains
- Combat is still simple
- Story is not as interesting as the first game's
Overall, Assassin's Creed II is the sequel we were waiting for. It has been vastly improved to the point of amazement. The gameplay is still mesmerizing and the cityscapes are still beautiful. If you even had a shred of like for the first game, try this game. You will not regret it.
Story: 9.0/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Audio: 10/10
Presentation: 10/10