Better in every which way
I gotta say, I'm ridiculously impressed at this franchise's sophomore offering. Quite possibly the largest leap forward from sequel I've seen.
+'s
The combat system is fun and versatile. The combat is rhythmic with attacks, parries, dodging, disarming and a bunch of running around. You'll be in battles against upwards of 10 enemies at once and on some occasions, there'll be a huge fight going on all around you with multiple factions fighting. The combat is improved from the first game and it works very well. It's entertaining and you can do a lot of different things.
The parkour style free running and climbing is done very well. Basically all Assassin's Creed 1 had was it's parkour free running and this game improves on an already great system. You run around and climb buildings like a freaking spider and it all looks great. Every now and again you'll stop because there's nothing above you to grab onto, but after a while you start to take notice of what's a good path to take and what's not.
The graphics are top shelf. If you see any screens or videos of this game, you can tell it looks very pretty.
The different environments are actually pretty different and accurate to the real deal. You go to multiple cities and they all look very different from each other. I could tell you which one of the cities I'm in by just running around a bit in the streets. Each city has a distinct flavor.
All the little throw ins with historical figures was nicely done. You'll meet plenty of historical figures and it's not all in your face. Most of the time they're just in the background but it's cool that they're there.
Almost everything in the game has a moderately detailed description just in case you're interested. From historical people to art works to buildings, there's an incredible amount of information available to read. If you do actually read it, it really gives the game a sense of history and makes it all the more immersive to be running around in these locales.
Collection in the game yields rewards. Running around and picking up the various collectibles actually give you something in game that's worth having. I'll just leave it at that.
The Villa you own and upgrade is a nice touch. You can spend your money on upgrading areas in your Villa. It's not very deep but it's a fun side quest of sorts.
The voice acting in the game is incredible. Not only is it great in english, if you choose to you can have them speak Italian w/subtitles. And even if it's in english, they have an Italian accent. Great voice acting all around.
The story was very good and kept things moving along. I really liked this game's story and powered through the main quest just to see how it ended.
The ending was one hell of a mind fuck. And what a freaking ending it was. Try to avoid any spoilers having to do with the story of this game if you plan on playing it. Craaaaazy ending.
='s
The character model's faces were a bit off. This is only noticeable because of the high quality in the rest of the games visuals. Mainly, I'm kinda weirded out by the Veronica Mars chick's face in the game but that's because she's a real person and I think they tried to make the model her. Still, some weird faces in the game but most are solid.
Sometimes running from one end of the city to the other would take a bit too long. These cities are HUUUGE and when you have to run from one end to the other. . . it can take almost 10 minutes just to make a beeline to the other side.
The game can't help it but the loading in between cities. Yea, loading sucks. . . but it's typically only between cities so it's not that bad.
-'s
Can't think of anything overly negative. Everything is at least average with most of it being excellent.
So I came into this not expecting much even after having seen a couple glowing reviews. This game pretty much does everything you wanted the first game to do. It's no longer the same mission over and over again, and you don't just sit around on benches waiting for people to talk about stuff. The game is a great step forward and I'm actually looking forward to the next one in the franchise. That's not a normal thing in video games as far as I can think of. Maybe movies I'll want the next one to come out so I can see it, but games tend to be contained to where I don't think about what's next. . . maaaaybe Mass Effect wanting Mass Effect 2 but right now, I just want Assassin's Creed 3.
4.5/5
Steve
