RipTen Review: Assassin’s Creed 2 (PS3)

Assassin’s Creed was my favorite game on 360 for two years. It used the crusades as a backdrop for Altair’s story: a controversial tale that, while somewhat conspiracy-filled, was somehow believable at the same time. Although I considered it ideal at the time, the repetition was eventually impossible to ignore.

For the second installment of the series, Ubisoft listened to the complaints from the first game and used them to make a game that is exponentially better than the first in every way. The repetitive “find information – assassinate” pattern was discarded and replaced with a variety of different missions, as well as more realistic AI and a several environments that literally made my jaw drop.

Ezio Auditore, the main character of Assassin’s Creed 2, has a personality that is strong throughout the game, but unlike most games, you can tell where he acquired this trait, or what led to his rage in any given situation. He is quite the womanizer, and quite blunt, but he is also passionate about everything he does. Due to the incredible background story that’s provided for Ezio, you want to help him exact revenge on his foes because it’s easy to understand where he’s coming from.

There are also new abilities, such as being capable of swinging around corners, swimming, poisoning guards, and tossing money, dust, or smoke bombs to distract anyone who might be tailing your hide. A few groups can be hired to the same effect. This helps especially when you’re notorious – the guards will come after you if they see you, even if you’re just minding your own business. They don’t lose track of you as easily as they do in the first game, either. If you run and sit on a bench, they don’t automatically lose sight of you. The gameplay is much more difficult due to this, but much more convincing as well.

The majority of the game takes place in renaissance Italy, with majestic architecture dominating the scenery. You can either weave through the crowds of civilians or clamber to the tops of well-known cathedrals. Either way, you will encounter friends and enemies, who are now much more sensitive to their surroundings. If you run around killing people, the guards will recognize you and come after you, even if you aren’t breaking any laws at the time. Luckily, even if you don’t have a weapon, you can steal the guards’ weapons and use them to your advantage. This makes the game more demanding, but it also heightens the realism and separates the second game from the first.

Although the approach to obtaining missions in Assassin’s Creed 2 is virtually the same as its predecessor, the missions themselves vary much more. Instead of a straight line from mission to mission, you can decide the order in which you want to take them on. This made the game much easier to beat, since I could distract myself with other parts of the game instead of getting distracted by other games. Many of the side quests involved collecting things, but unlike the unreasonable flag collections from the original, the most difficult collection to finish in this game is 100 pieces. It’s not nearly as frustrating as the first one in that regard.

There are a few things that are frustrating about Assassin’s Creed 2: the details and shadows frequently pop in, so the shadows or barriers will appear when you think you’re halfway to your destination. The camera was frustrating because, while the puzzles and tombs are awesome, the camera sometimes made it seem like Ezio should be jumping straight ahead — instead, he goes left, or just jumps off a building. The game would also freeze sometimes while traveling from city to city. It’s really unnerving to think that you might have lost 30 hours of gameplay because the game froze while saving.

It would be very difficult to surpass the graphics, story, and improved combat in Assassin’s Creed 2. The vast cathedrals are stunning, the twists and turns of Ezio’s life keep you captivated, and the combat keeps you trying new things each time. All in all, this game is beyond just entertaining – it’s setting the bar higher for every game that succeeds it.