Customer Reviews

Assassin's Creed II - Greatest Hits edition

5 star:		(232)
4 star:		(99)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Fans of the previous game will be very impressed with Assassin's Creed II. I must say that the previous game was quite disappointing. I felt it had a lot of potential as a game but the repetitive gameplay and frame-rate issues made it a big let down. This time though things have changed drastically for the good. I have yet to complete the game but have played enough to formulate a review.

The first thing you'll notice is that the game has a very cinematic feel. The cutscenes are a bit lengthy and drive the story very well. The voice acting is pretty good and the lip syncing is almost spot on. Graphically the game is stunnning. The first Assassians creed looked very pretty but this one seems a notch above it. There is no denying the beauty of it all.

The gameplay has a very GTA style feel to it. You go from place to place to do a variety of different things. Unlike the last game where the gameplay was very reptitive where each section of the game required you to gather information in order to assassinate your victim (which only consisted of 3 or 4 different ways). Ubisoft have completely revamped that flawed style into a more enjoyable experience. Basically, think GTA but in the 15th century.

The freestyle movement is well done and easy to use. Although sometimes I had difficulty jumping up walls, Pressing the X button sometimes makes Ezio jump outwards rather than up. Having said that, its still an enjoyable experience, very much like the last game. Its also quite easy to navigate around your map.

The combat system hasn't changed that much. There are a few minor modifications. Ezio can do a few different things this time round like snatch enemy weopons while fighting and thrusting them down there body. The combat is a lot of fun and quite easy to learn. Also Ubisoft have added a currency system in the game. You can steal money from passing citizens or search enemies for money or earn money by doing errands and missions. The money can be spent on buying weopons and armor or upgrading current items. It makes the game much more enjoyable and interactive.

One thing of note is that this game is not for kids. There is a lot of sexuality in this game. Ezio can hire whores to distract gaurds and there is a bit of dirty talk. Its fun but some might feel it to be offensive. The ESRB does rate it at 17+, young children should stay away from this game.

There are a few minor glitches in the game but nothing major. I had a problem picking up boxes in the beginning of the game but nothing major so far. Hopefully these issues will be fixed with a patch.

Overall this game is a lot of fun. Its way better than the previous game. Anyone who enjoyed Assassins Creed should pick this one up. They will not be disappointed.

I have been looking forward to this release for a long time. While I was a fan of the first Assassin's Creed, the original game felt sort of unfinished. The concept was there, but the game felt like it hadn't been fully fleshed out. The game was beautiful but repetitive, fun overall, but you can only pickpocket or eavesdrop on someone so many times before it gets boring.

This game fixes many of those issues. While I am still playing through the game, obviously, I can already see huge improvements. Water doesn't instantly kill you. I have yet to run into a lunatic or beggar, for which I am extremely grateful. You have many more choices for weapons. These are just for starters. The game just has a better feel to it, the storyline and the characters have more depth. You will evolve into the role of an assassin with Ezzio, instead of "re-earning" the title with Altair. They have also added a monetary system to the game, and things like blacksmiths, tailors, and doctors to go along with it, which the first game could have used.

As for what they kept, the beautiful graphics and sweeping vistas are still there, you will still find yourself climbing to dizzying heights to peer out over cities from a new viewpoint. You still have your hidden dagger, in fact they've given you a second one to play with. The graphics have, of course, been improved, and look even better than the first one. The world is still a very open, free roaming environment, your standard sandbox game, and you still get to climb and vault all over everything, which is immense fun. The quintessential core of the original game is still there in all its glory, they have just filled in the details and improved the game play for you.

That being said, there are still one or two things in the sequel that annoy me. Most importantly, running still get everyone's attention. I would understand that if I was talking about barreling through streets and knocking people over left and right. I'm not. Just running will draw the guards' attention, which gets old quick. Apparently no one was ever in a hurry in the Renaissance. This has been slightly improved by giving the player a fast walk mode, but it can still take forever to get from point A to point B at that speed. This part of the AI could use some tweaking, since there is a difference between challenging and annoying.

In my opinion, the coolest feature they have added is the database function, which gives you all sorts of interesting and amusing facts about the regions, cities, buildings and people that you will be interacting with. This does a great job of drawing you further into the period and culture that you are exploring, and really helps you relate to the story. This feature adds a lot of detail to the game that most developers would have simply left out.

Bottom line, I am thrilled with the game. It is exactly what I was anticipating, and if you enjoyed the first game, you will love the sequel.

First off, I haven't played AC I and a newbie to open world themed games. But reading all the positive reviews of AC II prompted me to try it and I have to say I hugely enjoyed this game. I really enjoyed this game broadly for its story, pacing, attention to detail of the environments, character development, voice acting, rich color pallet and varied missions. But what really stands out are Renaissance era Italian cities. They are literally living, breathing characters in this game. I have to commend the developers at UBI Soft for painstakingly recreating these cities and their architectural marvels in gorgeous detail and staggering scale. In my past life I had dabbled in Architecture and been fascinated with Italian, Greek and Egyptian architecture. Just being able to run around these cities, scale all historic buildings and take in the magnificent cityscapes from top of view points as the camera revolves around you, was the next best thing to actually being there in person. The experience is quite visceral and astounding. If you scaled the Florence Duomo Cathedral, you know what I'm talking about.

Apart from that, the missions are quite varied and don't seem repetitive at all which was a big complaint against AC I. The voice acting with Italian accents and dialogue for most characters are spot on and added more authenticity to the game. Character development for lead character Ezio Auditore and other important characters are quite well done and the actor giving voice to Ezio seems to have really put some effort into it and it shows. Other than that, the population of the cities have colorful PCs and NPCs from thieves, brigands, mercenaries, prostitutes, nuns, annoying minstrels, merchants, announcers, messengers and normal citizenry. The navigation and combat controls are not that difficult to get used to and navigating the cities and climbing felt natural. Navigating using the map took some time to get used to in the open world but once down pat, felt quite comfortable. You will get lost in the cities unless you use the map! The AI system seems better than most other games and not that forgiving that you feel unchallenged.

Pros:

1. Gorgeous and detailed environments.
2. Lengthy game and huge cities to explore.
3. Excellent voice acting and character development.
4. Interesting storyline - Integration of real life historical figures and incidents into the storyline is nice.
5. Monetary system - Earning money and spending on upgrades added an interesting aspect to this game. But midway/three-fourths through the game you will have money to burn and nothing to do with it afer all the upgrades.
6. Apart from main story line there are non-essential side missions like assassination contracts, races, message delivery, beat ups, finding feathers, unlocking futuristic conspiracies etc. which adds a ton of replay value.
7. The developers have achieved a lot of breath in game elements variety and little less in depth.
8. Decent AI.

Cons:

All accolades aside, there are some blemishes in this well-made game.

1. A lot of characters look blocky in close-ups and dating back to PS2 standards of rendering while the environments themselves are gorgeously rendered making this a glaring anomaly. In doing the inevitable comparison to Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 in terms of overall graphics, AC II going to come off as second best.
2. Combat leaves much to be desired. The choice of weapons and how you earn them is interesting. Its not for lack of variety in combat moves and weapons but its just that combat could have been more fluid. I guess I'm less forgiving in this aspect as the bar for combat has been set very high after playing the God of War series. (I know, I know I should not be comparing a hack and slash with a third-person action adventure :))
3. Much as I try to get into it, the Animus concept just doesn't fly.
4. The final boss fight felt a bit tame and the ending abrupt.

I'm at a stage in life where family and professional obligations don't allow for playing at a stretch where day turns to night and then back again. I found Assassins Creed II to fit the bill perfectly and I played this on and off for a couple of months till I finished it at my own pace.

While the tedious 'do this 30 times over' style missions are gone, and the regular missions flow a bit better, the game around the central plot is lacking. Instead of many 'sit here and listen' missions, you race, beat up cheating husbands, and complete assassination contracts. These make it a generic platformer, and horribly repetitive.

The inclusion of money into the game is interesting and nice. Upgrading your armor as well as your villa/home base. Sadly, once you've completed this and your villa makes money, collecting every little treasure box for gold. Soon after you finish upgrading your blacksmith/brothel and everything else, you will gain all sorts of income, but have little to spend it on. I find myself about 3/4 of the way done with the game, and have about half a million (no exaggeration) in currency I will never use.

The controls seem a bit off compared to the first one. The camera movement is clunky and i find myself jumping straight up even though I'm holding in a different direction. It gets sort of annoying and is killing what replay value the game would have for me.

Also an interesting inclusion in the game is the notoriety system, making you more noticable to the guards. The problem with this however, is it goes away quite easy. Rip down 4 posters with your picture on them, and you're done. Or bribe a herald, (500 gold), and it goes down 50%. Of course you can steal your gold back from him as soon as you pay him. It's an interesting concept, but horribly flawed.

All in all, it's a fun game to play for the story, which is relatively short, but very little replay value, unless you're heavy into collecting 100 feathers and treasure boxes. If you enjoyed the first one, it's definately worth getting. If you only tolerated the first one, i wouldn't recommend it.

An interesting redoing of the main game, but lacking anything worthwhile besides a short continuation of the first game.

ACII should be summarized as great story telling mixed together with fun, realistic game play.

The story really flows from the beginning and draws the players into the history and the intrigue. The amount of detail and effort put into the game environment is amazing. And the open world reminds me of the play in GTA4 where you can jump onto basically anything, swim in the water, run around the rooftops and hide in all sorts of places.

In addition to the main game story and missions, there are a ton of side quests!

If you are into action/adventure games, ACII is definitely worth getting!

I'm clearly in the minority here, but I do not like Assassin's Creed 2. I'm only at the part where I was just introduced to the home base and departed to the next town via my first horse ride (maybe about 4+ hours into the game?). But in a rare instance, I'm going to hang a video game up well before I'm finished...I am just not compelled to play anymore.

The main problem that I have with the game is the controls. Admittedly, most of the games that I've played are some kind of shooter where the controls are pretty basic: aim, shoot, reload, jump, punch, run. And with Assassin's it's almost the same, unless you press R1, which makes all the buttons for what I said above either do something entirely different or do something a little differently. Oh and if you hold R1 and X at the same time it makes the move you're trying to execute different again.

The other thing that I found bothersome was having to outfit Ezio. I'm the simple type that wants to find the best armor and weapons along the way. In AC2, there are stores where you have to decide what you want Ezio to wear and which weapons (so far only blades) to use. Then frustratingly, whatever you pick seems to automatically outfit your future enemies with weapons that are just as effective or almost as effective as what Ezio is equipped with.

The game wasn't all bad. It was interesting and even somewhat fun at times. But climbing around on rooftops all the time started to wear on me. And having to unlock the maps by climbing to designated highpoints was annoying....Especially with the discombobulated controls that had me jumping when I didn't want to jump...once or twice to my death.

It's been almost two weeks since I've plugged AC2 back into my PS3. I think that I've played enough games to know that I've come across a game that I just don't like. Look, I loved InFamous, and I think that there are some similarities between Assassin's Creed 2 and InFamous. Both are sandboxes. Both have side missions including races, finding hidden objects and finding story enhancers. But, I don't know, InFamous was cool and compellingly addictive. In my opinion, Assassin's Creed is not.

Now...you may assassinate me by no-vote.

I'll say I was not a HUGE fan of the original Assassin's Creed. It had beautiful graphics, a great open-world environment and a fun gameplay engine, but was hampered by level repetition and a horrid use of a dual story. Thankfully this sequel not only fixes these issues but surpasses expectations as a game itself.

Like the original, AC2 begins in the future with an escape from the first game's institution. Thankfully this segment is acton-packed...and short. Within minutes you're back in the Animus (the "game" world) and in the late 1400's of Italy. This is where AC2 mostly takes place. If you're like me and absolutely HATED the bits in the future/present of AC1, don't worry. You spend maybe 10 minutes a piece split up into three segments outside the Animus. I still hate that you have to leave the game world proper at all but at least it's only for 30-40 minutes in an otherwise 30+ hour game. Yes, the game's THAT LONG!

Your hero in Assasin's Creed 2 is Ezio Auditore, a young Italian noble. Ezio's sort of cross between Nathan Drake, Casanova, and Batman. The story (ignoring the bits outside the Animus) is a great revenge-conspiracy plot set through over 20 years of Ezio's life. While I won't pretend all the character's are memorable, they're all played with personality and wit and the voice actors never strike a false note (you can even switch to playing the game in Italian with english subtitles!).

The gameplay is also MUCH more fun and more varied than AC1. Gone are the investigation bits of an assasination but added are more story-based, action-packed missions for you to work through up to your assassinations. These, again are VERY fun and each mission you go on feels completely unique to the one before it. Even the optional assassinations have more rules and complexities as you work through them.

Speaking of varied, aside from the basic story missions which will see you fighting, flying, riding horses, piloting boats and escorting/protecting characters there's also a villa you can upgrade to get discounts on weapons/armor/clothing/medicine etc. I've never played a game that gives you so much to do in so many different ways. While none of the custimization and mission structure is new to video gaming I don't think all of these elements have been brought together so seemlessly before which is the big reason I like Assasin's Creed 2 so much!

Also, if Assassin's Creed 2 isn't the best game of the year it easily has the best soundtrack! The music is not only original and cool it changes perfectly to match the action in the game (chase scenes, flying, hiding etc). The developers really went out of their way with this one.

From open to close Assassin's Creed 2 will hook you and never let go. I still think the Animus is an intersting but failed idea, but it doesn't even remotly take away from the awesome things you can do in this game. There's still time before the end of the year but I can't think of too many games that will be able to top this one.

Assassin's Creed II makes massive improvments over the original. The main improvment is it's NOT repetitive. There are many more mission types. Ezio can do so much more than Altiair like swim and fly. The cities are so much bigger and more vibrant. There is an economy where you can earn money and spend it on upgrades. The people are more interesting and real, including Ezio himself. The sounds of battle and cities are as real as they can be.

OK, let's start off with the big man Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. He is the son of a father with two sisters and another brother. At first, you start off running errands for your father like delivering a message or letter. To make a VERY LONG story short, your father and brother are killed and you vow to extract vengence on those who were involved. This includes anyone from a poor theif to an extravagant noble. The voices and actions of the people are very realistic. They sound like they're right in the room. As you walk through the town, citizens cough, sneeze, fight, sing, talk, and rob. Pickpockets will steal from you. If you catch them, you can get your money back along with more. Sometimes some guys will come up to you and start singing. They are really annoying because they stand right in your way and won't move, so usually I grab them and hurl them across the street.

What's there to do? Plenty. Of course you have your main mission types were you tail someone, beat them up, pickpocket them, or assassinate them. The side missions have really changed from the first. Courier is one where you deliver a letter ASAP. Beat up events are where you beat unfaithful husbands to persuade them to focus their attention back to their wives. Assassination contracts enable you to do a quick job and wipe out from one to ten targets. Races allow you to show your skill in roof hopping. All of these main and side missions give you money. More money for harder missions. That's right. There's an economy. You earn money for missions, pickpocketing citizens, and finding chests. There are shops scattered around too. The blacksmith repairs your armor after its been damaged in a fight and sells you new weapons and ammo. What ammo? Throwing knives, smoke bombs, and bullets for your wrist gun (Ya it's cool). The taylor sells bigger pouches for your health, poison, and knives. He can also dye your clothes if you want to look extra fly. Artists sell you paintings to increase your uncle's villa's value and sell treasure maps to show you where hidden chests are. Doctors either heal you on the spot or sell you potions for later. These can help when you're in the middle of a battle and need health. Doctors also sell poison for your poison knife (ironic isn't it?). There are also cortesans, theives, and soldiers that are around the city for your to hire. They either distract or fight guards with you.

There are also 6 assassin tombs in all the cities. Complete these and at the end of each one there is an assassin seal. Bring these back to your uncle's villa to unlock Altiair's special armor (that's right they still dragged him into this). It is twice as strong as anything else and can't be damaged. Your uncle's villa gains value and earns you money. Buy paintings or renovate buildings there to make it make more money for you.

The weapons are excellent. Ezio has two hidden blades and can use both at once. He also can carry a sword, dagger, knives, health etc... The enemy AI isn't bad for a typical game. If you don't keep your guard up, they will take advantage of the opportunitity and strike. But they're not too hard to defeat especially if you have hired help.

Assassin's Creed II is a must play for every action gamer. Everything looks and feels real. There is much more to do and see. The ending is much more suprising than the original too. You might even learn a little italian too.

I just finished this game today. In total it took me 22 hours to finish with about 70% synched. So to get 100% in this game i would imagine its going to take someone 30+ hours. At the price you can find this game today it is a great bargain.

Story: This game starts off right where the first one left off. You are Desmond Miles, who in the first game is captive by Abstergo and they do experiments on you. I dont want to spoil the story, as I think it is the most interesting part of this series. In short you have escaped from Abstergo and now must train to become an Assassin by reliving the memories of your ancestor Ezio, in Reneisance Italy. You will really get into Ezio's story, and will follow him from a teenager, until he is a grown man at the end.

Graphics: For an open world sandbox game AC2 has very good graphics. Taking place in Italy, there is much more color on the screen than in AC1. It really looks incredible when you consider how huge the cities are, particularly Venice is a sight to see with the water all around. The only gripes is that there is screen tearing every once and a while, and there are framerate issues here and there. However none of those issues are gamebreaking, and can hardly be noticed.

Gameplay:
Free running: the free running in this game is very smoothe for the most part. Just moving through the city rooftops is very easy and smoothe. However when more precision is needed the controls do show their flaws. Particularly in Assassin's Tombs, which are platforming rooms/puzzles(which you should do because you get sweet Altair Armor), the controls show their inprecision.

Combat: Combat in this game is quite easy. In the beginning your just going to mash away on the square button. But later you learn counter, dissarm, evade and other special moves that make the combat in this game quite easy.

Stealth: Although stealth in this game is not necessary to beat. Imo playing it like this is the best way. Not only do you feel like a badass when you air assasinate 2 gaurds from the rooftops, but c'mon this is an ASSASSIN game. This is how the game should be played. The most awesome you will feel in this is when you assassinate one of the bossess without them even knowing you were there or alerting any gaurds.

Extras/Side missions: This game has tons of side missions. From races, to assassination, message deliveries and beat ups. I have done a few of each and particularly the assassinations are the ones that will keep you playing.
There are also alot of things to collect in this game. The most interesting to me was the 20 glyph puzzles throughout the cities by Subject 16. This is a must if your into the scifi part of this series. The puzzles themselves start off rather easy. But be warned they do throw some mindbenders later on(I had to use a guide a few times I admit). Theres also 100 feathers to collect. Another big part of this game is rebuilding your hometown. By upgrading your shops, and renovating your city, you will receive money. You can then use your money to buy paintings, armor upgrades, weapons, and lots more. Buying these things will also improve your town. (hint: dont waste your money early on in the game, use all your money to upgrade all your shops, and renovations. within no time you will have enough money to buy everything in this game with plenty to spare)

Overall:
+Great Story
+Great Atmosphere
+Lots of bang for your buck
+Solid Graphics
+Solid Gameplay

-Minor graphics issues
-Controls are not reliable in tight situation
-Starts off slow

*If you even kind of like AC1, get this game. I would recommend someone new to the series it play the first game, or at the very least watch the cutscenes on youtube because this will keep you coming back for its deep story.

I was on the edge about getting this game for a long time. I finally caved and bought it for $20 on PSN. First off let me say that most of the reviews of this game are being made by casual gamers that don't know any better or by people that REALLY liked the first game and are therefore too focused on the improvements to realize that this game is just not that good.

GRAPHICS: The game looks ok but not anywhere near how it should for a PS3 and 360 game. It seems pretty dated in such a short time. There's a lot of pop in textures/graphics, the lip syncing is awful, and the animations are average. The voice acting is great though.

The character models are terrible. They look awful and don't have as much detail as I've come to expect. Games like Uncharted, God of War, Gears of War, or Infamous are WAY better. That's considering that these games are older.

GAMEPLAY: This is the WORST part of the game. I really wanted to have fun being an assassin but what I got instead were frustrating controls and the way combat was handled is BORING. Allow me to explain. The climbing mechanics in this game are AWFUL. They basically ruin the entire experience. You pretty much hold down a button and Ezio is supposed to climb whatever you point him at. Sounds simple but it's not so. He unexpectedly kicks off of walls you are climbing, sometimes he won't respond, he climbs when he feels like it and does it SO SLOW. This is unacceptable. Play a game like Infamous/Infamous 2 and you will see how climbing should be handled. This alone makes the game a pain to traverse in.

The combat is ok but overall it's pretty slow and not very responsive. The game does not manage to make me feel like a true assassin. It takes you out of the experience when half the time you are fighting the controls and the combat flow moves very slow.

I appreciate what they tried to do with this game but it is FAR from perfect. They need to redo combat and reintroduce and "Infamous 2" type of climbing system for the next game.

I like that you get invest into your home town and make a profit from the investments. This made the game a lot more interesting.

STORY: The story is the best part of this game. I like what they are doing with the whole historical characters and what not. I won't go into details so as to not spoil the plot.

Over all I would say I personally don't like this game but from a critical stance it is passable. I suppose the key is playing it a lot until you get use to the awful controls, then you may have a few moments of fun before it breaks down and takes you out of the experience again. If you are that curious go for it if it's $20 or less. Judging from a lot of the reviews here, chances are higher you may end up liking it and if not, then you certainly can learn to like it.

DO NOT LET THE HYPE FOOL YOU. People that love this game do so because they don't know there is better out there. If you don't know better I'm sure you will love this game too.