Sometimes it's the simple things in life
Having scratched my head about how the first Assassin's Creed sold so well after hearing the numerous criticisms, I approached this game with a healthy dose of skepticism. Having finished the lengthy quest after picking up and putting down the game over the course of several months, I can say that there is a lot to love here, although I'm not sure the things I loved were the things the developers wanted me to love.
Loved
-Reaching the viewpoints - while it seems crazy that my favorite part of the game involved climbing up a wall//tower/high place and standing there, I can say without hesitation that they were my favorite part of the game. The music, the gorgeous environments, the sweeping camera, the feeling of freedom: They all work together to create an amazing series of moments as you progress through the game.
-The Assassin's Tombs - There are six hidden tombs in the game that offer a variety of gameplay from puzzles, to platforming, to stealth assassinations. These are easily the best missions in the game by a mile. In fact, the game could have just been Assassin tombs, and I would have been completely satisfied. They simply must be played to be appreciated and I commend the development team for the excellent level design.
-The Environments - This game is really gorgeous. While it is a simple statement, words can't do justice to the breathtaking cities, landscapes, and lighting detail throughout the game. Although I'm sure there are games that have more graphical horsepower under the hood, the overall visual impression left by the game was probably only matched by Uncharted 2 in my mind.
-The Movement System - The game controls are very well designed and perfectly suited to keep you quickly moving through the city at a nimble pace while somewhat grounding the feel on movement in realism (although Ezio can climb like a monkey in certain moments). I had more fun just running between buildings and scaling walls to get to the next viewpoint than I would have guessed and few other games can match the shear joy of experience by just moving around the world.
Hated
-The Story - Having spent many hours with this game, I find it surprising that I would struggle so much to describe what actually happened. Other than Ezio, the main character, the game is a mess of throwaway characters and horrendous dialogue mashed together with a confusing Sci-Fi plot. I definitely finished this game in spite of the story as I quickly grew bored of the story Ubisoft threw in front of me. The best example of this is the poor way the game conveys the passage of time. The game takes place over several years apparently, which is only really told to the player towards the end of the game rather than revealed during the course of the game. It was just one example of the poor storytelling throughout this game.
-The Combat - While I think they are onto something with the counterattacking and over-the-top assassination animations, the system just doesn't work as advertised. Unless you can coax the enemy into attacking you and thus initiating a one-hit kill counterattack (which takes too much effort), you will be stuck hacking away for a minute just to cut down one guard. While I appreciate that the counterattack is the focus of the combat, the timing of the input needed isn't precise or consistent enough to make the player feel empowered. Given that games like God of War have figured this formula out years ago, I was surprised that this game struggled so much in this department.
-The load times - while I can appreciate the technical achievement in this game, I am really just sick of load times in general. The load times here are annoying and present more than I would have expected. While they won't appear while you're staying in a single town (thank god), I feel like we should be beyond load times this long at this point.
-The pacing/game length - considering the rubbish story I got, I don't understand why they had to drag things out so long. Much of the game consists of stupid fetch quests that artificially add length to an already long game. The only mitigating factor is the fact to movement in the game is so fun, taking some of the sting off of going back and forth.
-Not getting my trophy for finishing the game - while a minor gripe, I was kind of miffed by the fact that the game is buggy enough that I didn't get my trophy for completing the game when I beat it.
Assassin's Creed 2 has some very high highs and low lows. Overall, the things the game gets right were very memorable and unlike many things I have played before. While I wouldn't universally recommend this game, I can see why it sold so well and why so many people enjoyed it.
