Assassin’s Creed II PS3
Posted by on Saturday, July 3, 2010 · 5 Comments
| Renaissance Italy isn't the usual sort of setting for a video game, but then Assassin's Creed isn't one to play by the rules. Ezio Auditore di Firenze is yet another ancestor of modern day Desmond Miles - a nobleman out to avenge the death of his family in the guise of a shadowy assassin.
Like the last game you're given total freedom to explore multiple cities, but with greatly improved parkour skills and the new ability to swim. There's also a lot more variety in the missions you undertake - the main complaint with the original game- so you'll never feel you're just doing the same tasks over and over again.
Combat has also been completely overhauled, with dozens of different weapons and a new health system. With no less than Leonardo da Vinci acting as your very own Q style gadget master this stunning sequel improves on every element of the original. - Renaissance man: Play as an all-new character in 15th century Italy, with new abilities, new weapons and a whole new world to explore.
- The spice of life: Massively improved mission variety, with new freeform mission structures and many more random events.
- Tools of the trade: All-new combat system lets you steal weapons from your opponents, use dual hidden blades and even an early form of pistol.
- Real history: Meet historical figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Niccol Machiavelli and Lorenzo de' Medici, all of whom can offer you their own unique brand of aid.
- Tourist spots: Explore real world locations including Rome, Venice, Florence and Tuscany, as well as specific landmarks such as the Grand Canal and St Mark's Basilica.
....read more £49.99 £13.99 - UBISOFT Assassin's Creed 2 [Xbox 360]
Average Customer Rating
 4 out of 5 |
115 |
Andiamo
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this game. The graphics and setting are excellent, with fantastically realised towns and cities alive with people and atmosphere. Good mixture of missions, varied gameplay, a good story and likeable/enjoyable character to play.
I like the idea of the factions battling across time but personally find the modern day aspects reminding you are not actually Ezio break the mood.
Some of the later puzzles are really very cryptic, had to resort to the internet for help
Some have mentioned the combat is too easy. I think I get what the developers wanted to convey, that you are stronger, faster and more skilful than your opponents, and that the fun is in revelling in this, orchestrating the fights. However, I do think they went too far, it is virtually impossible to be defeated. When you can take on a dozen men and be surrounded with no thought of losing, it makes the blending/hiding aspects of the game almost redundant.
Nevertheless, glad i bought it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Highly recommended
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Enjoyed every bit of this game. One of the best I have ever played. I feel like revisiting Italy. Although its a reasonably long game but I wish it never ended.
Superb, Albeit Rather Straightforward
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
Although personally I loved the first Assassin’s Creed, it did come under some scrutiny, primarily for its slightly linear and repetitive approach, which I could fully understand. However, Ubisoft have clearly noticed this and taken action. AC2 is far deeper, considerably more entertaining and generally a lot more enjoyable to play than its predeccesor. A very impressive sequel, which is far superior to many of it’s closest rivals. However, despite it’s numerous positive aspects, I was slighty dissapointed at how easy the game was to complete fully. Although this may be seen as a good thing, i.e. no irritating obstacles to overcome, the game never truly becomes challenging. For example, I managed to get the platinum trophy within 21 hours playing time, without having to work too hard, which was a dissapointment considering the game costs £40. A small annoyance, but one worth mentioning.
As for the storyline, AC2 follows on directly from the original, with players maintaining the role of Desmond Hume and assuming the new Assassin role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Set around 300 years after the events involving Altair in Jerusalem, Ezio is a descendant of the great assassin himself, and seeks to continue the work left unfinished by the hero of the original. The setting is fairly similar to the first game, although is now in numerous parts of Italy, with the busy cities primarily consisting of stone houses, traditional shops and some extremely tall buildings! Guards still litter the streets everywhere you go, which can sometimes be a nuisance, although Ezio’s far superior fighting skills and jumping abilities mean that evading capture is never too difficult. The plot is both dramatic and tense, leaving players immersed in the action and always wanting more. Although towards the climax of the game the plot does become rather far-fetched, in general AC2 is well engineered and well thought out, and should be enjoyed by all players.
Like the first game, the actual gameplay and controls are easy to understand and highly enjoyable; one of AC2’s strongest aspects. Ezio has the ability to run and jump almost anywhere throughout the vast landscape, and scaling 200 ft high buildings before performing a leap of faith from the top never gets tiring. Combat is particularly effective right the way through the game. Your sword skills steadily improve as the plot unfolds, and the ability to buy improved weapons, armour and equipment contribute heavily to the enjoyment. The soldiers you are up against are tough and well equipped, although not particularly bright; it is rare for more than one soldier at a time to attack you for example, meaning that slicing through 10 soldiers with Altair’s sword is never too difficult, yet still remains satisfying. Other points of interest include finding other Assassin’s graves (usually involing you to solve some form of puzzle; themselves being absoring to complete), the usual bartering for goods, travelling on horseback, gaining money, and my particular favourite: the unusual and disturbing ‘glyphs’. These are basically clues left by the infamous ‘Subject 16′ which Ezio must hack to discover ‘the truth’. A very worthwile and interesting sub-plot to the main story.
The cut scenes interwine effortlessly with the action, making the game look and sound excellent, as current PS3 games should. The graphics are first class, although do not make as big an impact as the original did, most likely because games such as MGS4 and Uncharted 2 have raised the bar to another level since. I have not discovered any technical glitches thus far, and the gameplay for the most part is smooth and flawless. Overall, AC2 is in most ways a big improvement on the first game. Missions have far more variety, and a interesting, intruiging plot drives the game forward. Should be played by anyone familiar with thrid person action games, and is a blast from start to finish. As stated earlier though, the game does not provide a big enough challenge and is quite simply too easy. Or am I being too padantic?
Avanti da qui!
AC2
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Assassins creed 2 is of course the sequel to the Altairs adventures in number one. The first game had a lot of critics due to repetitive gameplay, glitches and the cut scenes taking forever, thankfully these problems have been resolved and ubisoft have pushed the boat out to thank all those who have returned , and too get an understanding of the back story and feeling of the game i would recommend the first game, its very cheap and a nice playthrough, but this isnt a review for that so lets go…..
===Story===
Well carrying on from the last game, in the present you are desmond miles, an ordinary man who has been taken to a research lab and thrown into the animus, a computer which allows him to playthrough his ancestors memories, however the lab is under-attack from the aincent templars and their control of the pieces of eden.
In the animus , you are Ezio Auditore from florentina , son of a banker and known for his womanising, drinking and general mischief. Ezio is not an assassin , unlike altair. and learns the ways from codex pages decrypted by leonardo da vinci and his uncle mario. As things occur Ezio becomes more of an assassin and goes on the trail of those who have sinned against him in many different cities in rennaisance italy.
===Controls===
The control system takes getting used to if you havnt experienced the first game , but soon becomes very intuitive. The action buttons control the body:
The triangle button controls your head (Eagle vision, headbutting and talking)
The square button controls your weapon hand ( fighting and assassinations)
The circle button is your non weapon hand (grabbing people, interacting and pushing through a crowd)
The cross button controls the legs (running , jumping)
Along with the use of r1 and l1, you can then sprint , counter and much more.
===Gameplay===
The gameplay is very smooth and fighting mechanics work very well. Ezio moves with ease as you take him running through the streets and jumping from one building to the next. When fighting in big groups you have to really time your actions and you even have the ability to disarm your enemies (which come in all different classes) and use their weapons against others. The assassanations can be done in two ways stealth and planning or killing everyone in your path, i prefer the stealth as it feels rewarding to get in and out without many people noticing.
The cut scenes are also not as long as the first game and they seem to serve much more purpose.
The repetitiveness is also lowerd as there are many more different missions to such as delivering packages , doing assassinations outside of your story and the noteriety system means you have to work harder to be another face in the crowd. When your level of notoriety rises , guards are more alert to you and so to lower this you should rip down wanted posters , kill high ranked guards or bribe the heralds so they speak about other things.
The use of money now means you can buy groups to fight with you , or women to distract guards, it also means you can buy different weapons and armour, or pay off the annoying bards who will follow you singing songs.
You can also now blend into any group which is much improved from the first game where you had to wait for monks to walk by.
===Graphics===
The graphics are very good in this game , the buildings , the cities and the people are all very realistic and it makes it so exciting to be running around in the knowledge that the levels are based on true maps and designs. Add to this the bustling streets and the different areas you just become overwhelmed and i have many a time , taken a break from my killing spree and just wanderd the streets looking at the hard work of the developers. The way shadows and clothes move are amazing and cause the game to be quite intencse, when your hiding and see a brute of guard and his axe shimmering against the wall near you/
The cut scenes in this game are actually worse looking than the true game which seems strange , this does take a little away from the experience but as they are not too long it does not ruin it.
===Sound===
Ahh the sounds of renaissence italy , as you walk the streets you will see how good the sound is , everyone walking past has their own conversations about their lives and own reasons for being in a certain area, again it is sometimes fun just to relax and follow a group seeing what they get up to as they go to church and shop at stalls or go and see the criers.
The sounds of weapons clanging against each other is also exciting and fun, the clarity of the words is also great as usually there is alot of action going around, the option of subtitles is there too which comes in handy as their are sections where they talk alot of italian.
===Overall===
Overall this is a great game and to complete fully will take a long time , especially if you search for the feathers and statues.
The game is very good but the small things like the cut scenes and the room for development in the next game (yes this is a trio of games) means there is something to look forward too
A fun game to play
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
It is very like the first game and what Ubisoft has tried to do is to make it perfect. Like you can but weapons and armour and repair them when they are damaged in fights. My problem is, the movement is still not great. Its very like old Prince of Persia’s and not like Mirror’s edge, if youve played with. So, in the end I would say its fun to play with but not a game you will remember after you finished it.