assassin's creed 2 is the brilliant culmination and synthesis of the current state of the art in videogames. relying on the bink and havok engines, with facial animation by impersonator, it does nothing that can't be done in other games (including assassin's creed 1). the genius and beauty in this game is specifically what it has chosen to adopt from other games, how it has improved on what it borrowed, and how it has woven the pieces together into a "best of class" entertainment.
the marketing hype has it that ubisoft "listened to its users" when writing the second game. that may be true for the marketers, but it's clear that the scriptwriters and engineers played other games, and borrowed from them:
* GRAND THEFT AUTO -- the style of visual narrative, with many cut scenes and the basic premise of the crime and punishment of conspiracy, feels very much like GTA 4. there are many side missions, each involving somewhat different tactical or technical challenges, as in GTA. and the landscape and atmospheric rendering is also very similar, including the full diurnal (day/night) cycle of light and the distinctive, somewhat darkened and overcontrasted color palette of niko's liberty city. even niko's pigeon hunt is here, sardonically replaced by a hunt not for 100 birds, but for 100 bird feathers.
* FABLE 2 -- many details small and large have been adapted from fable 2: in narrative, from the "childhood" origin of the story to the developmental and moral changes across adulthood, including changes in appearance, and the presence of thieves, whores, brigands and pickpockets, who form a dynamic part of the landscape; in the game play, from the "timer" mechanism used to extract wealth from hidden treasure chests and in the mechanism of the assassin's firearm. more, AS2 borrows the conceit of a village that the hero nurtures through property investment, the "rents" the hero receives as a result, the RB selector wheel that the hero uses to choose one or another weapon, the creepy setting of a swampy, half submerged landscape (in AS2, the area outside forlì), and dank catacombs that contain game tokens and complex puzzles. omitted (thankfully) are the expressions or japes that the hero must perform in fable 2 in order to win friends and unlock secrets.
* OBLIVION -- finally, AS2 adapts the landscape sandbox from the oblivion games to give the romanga and tuscan cities a rural setting. although there isn't much to do out there but run around on side missions or treasure hunts. but free running over these fields provides a welcome contrast to the cramped environment of the early renaissance city.
the urban settings -- florence, forlì, san gimignano, the walled auditore family villa in monteriggioni, and venice -- are beautifully realized, each with a separate palette of stone, light and architectural metaphors. though some landmarks (the piazza di san marco in particular) are delightfully realistic, the city layouts are only metaphors for the actual buildings of the era: the rialto fish market is here, but the gorgeous ca' d'oro just across from it is missing; the towers of san gimignano are not so closely spaced. even as 15th century settings, these cities will seem inaccurate to people who have actually been there. and while the history is highly fabricated and the conspiracy theory elaborately far fetched, it is nevertheless fun to have leonardo and machiavelli as side kicks and to assault the borgia pope. it's no exaggeration of history to say that he deserves it!
aside from all these theatrical improvements over the original AS, a major pleasure in this game is the wider range of physical (climbing and jumping) capabilities at ezio's disposal, and the much more complex combat moves and battle opponents. the fights are also more arduous and realistic (ezio's gnads take a lot of punishment), and the various ways in which enemies can be dispatched are unexpected. my favorite move was the "disarm" maneuver when fighting an enemy with bare hands: it's the most effective way to put down a "brute" or heavily armed solider, though difficult to pull off when other soldiers are also attacking.
puzzles play a large part in the storyline; searching for glyphs and the intellectual or combinatorial puzzles they create are necessary to unlock the video "truth" segments (which end up showing that adam and eve were actually creations of alien beings, with the illusion creating teutonic weapon of AS as the edenic apple); physical climbing and leaping puzzles, some of them under time pressure, are necessary to unlock the armor of altair -- very handy, as it provides full health and never needs repairs. these are not really taxing for an advanced gamer, though they may require several attempts to figure out.
in fact, one of the things that AS2 does right is judge the skill level of an accomplished gamer. there were a few places in GTA4 or in dead space where i bascially gave up on the game for a month because i had reached a task or side mission that i found impossible to complete. this does not happen in AS2. i "died" only about 30 times, which happened primarily from physical falls during climbing puzzles (and the game spawns you immediately in place again). puzzles have numerous saved checkpoints, so you do not (as in GTA4) have to rebuild the task from the beginning. though i was severely tested several times (the last assassin sarcophagus is a difficult physical puzzle), i got through most tasks on the first try, and the most difficult after two dozen or so attempts. the point is that, by carefully adjusting the task difficulty, the game acquires a cinematic flow and narrative power: when ezio dies you are not embroiled in doing an impossible chore, but in living a virtual life. to reinforce this flow the "animus interruptus" is drastically reduced: the abstergo plot is limited to brief opening and closing episodes and to just two interruptions of the fantasy narrative. this flow is perhaps the greatest attraction in the game.
there are many charms and innovations in this game that i haven't mentioned. but i will say that AS2 clearly reveals the biggest flaw in current videogame technology: the impersonator facial simulation. as advanced and impressive as that is as a motion capture and animation technology, there is something hideous and creepy in the glossy, cadaverous hues in which most faces are painted, the weirdly illuminated glints of teeth in the mouth, and the bizarre effect of looking up under a beard that seems to be a curved piece of cardboard. i did miss the honeyed light and floating flecks in the air that made AS an atmospheric experience, but it's the waxy animation of human speech and the plastic rendering of human skin that grates each time, every time, it swims onto the screen.
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Excelente. Quedé encantado . Muchas gracias.
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