In 2007, Ubisoft released “Assassin’s Creed.” It received positive reviews from critics and gamers alike. As a result of selling copies, Ubisoft immediately worked on a sequel titled, “Assassin’s Creed II.”
Assassin’s Creed II was released in 2009. (same year Uncharted 2: Among Thieves came out) It received positive reviews from critics, fans and gamers alike. The game spawned two sequels related to Ezio Auditore Da Firenze in “Brotherhood” & “Revelations.” “Assassin’s Creed III” marked the end of “The Desmond Miles Saga” followed by more sequels. “Valhalla” is the most recent installment of the series.
Netflix has green-lit a live action television series based on the franchise. Before the show comes outs in the future, I want to share what’s good or bad about the second entry of the franchise.
Today’s review contains no SPOILERS. Feel free to read my non-spoiler article.
Positive & Negative Elements
Positive: Nolan North (my favorite voice actor) & Kristen Bell reprise their roles as Desmond Miles & Lucy Stillman. They did an excellent job for their respective voiceover performances.
Roger Craig Smith did an excellent job for his voiceover performance as Ezio Auditore Da Firenze.
Graphics still hold up for a game that came out in 2009.
The Sequel has drastically improved on a lot of things innovating more features such as a combat giving you a ton of weapons like swords, maces, axes and daggers. A currency system you can spend your money on equipment, weapons, armor, medicine, hire mercenaries, floozies and thieves assisting you in a hairy situation, bribing to reduce your wanted level and renovate businesses giving you an opportunity to collect money every 20 minutes. a database giving you info about characters, landmarks and tips that’ll provide you on missions. You can swim in water. Eagle Vision allows you to stay in third person. As you know, Eagle Vision highlights enemies as red, friends as blue, objects as red and targets as gold.
Main Missions are told in 12 Chapters (14 in DLC/The Ezio Trilogy) focusing on Ezio’s journey as he becomes an assassin.
Ezio’s origin story is quite interesting fleshing out details about his life. He’s similar to Batman. I guess Ubisoft watched “Batman Begins” as an influence to the game.
Characters helping Ezio are fascinating including his uncle named, Mario. His uncle utters our “It’s me Mario!” A reference to Nintendo’s mascot.
Leonardo Da Vinci factors in as he plays a role like Q from “James Bond” inventing gadgets and a flying device.
Ezio’s catchphrase, “Requiescat In Pace” means “Rest In Peace” in Italian.
The game’s sessions with Ezio is set in 1476-1499 during “The Italian Renaissance.” The game with Desmond is set in 2012.
Shaun Hastings serves as The Comic Relief.
Side Quests contain more variety than the first game. More additional targets you can hunt down, solving puzzles by uncovering an ancient conspiracy, beating up unfaithful husbands, collecting feathers, tracking down codex pages, opening treasure chests, partaking in races, climbing on top of a building to reveal a portion of a map and exploring a tomb or Templar lair for a key to unlock Altair’s armor or treasure.
The sequel is set immediately after the first game. Due to spending time inside The Animus, Desmond acquires “Eagle Vision.” Allowing him to see hidden messages. Lucy is actually an assassin going undercover as an Abstergo employee. She helps Desmond escape the company. Meets new allies Shaun & Rebecca. In order to become an expert assassin, Desmond is tasked to relive memories of his Italian ancestor Ezio using an upgraded version of The Animus that’ll allow him to acquire every skill faster than last time.
As Desmond acquires the skills, he begins to experience “side effects.”
In some missions, quick time events pop up. So be wary.
Soundtrack is very memorable. Hearing a selected track, immerses you as an assassin stalking your prey.
You can explore cities including Florence, Venice, Monteriggioni, (main hub) Tuscany & Forli. All take place in Italy.
The Assassins’ motto is “Nothing is true, everything is permitted.”
One character said, “Why So Serious?” A shout-out to Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight.” Speaking of DC Comics, “Batman: Arkham Asylum” came out in 2009.
Character Development involving Ezio. As the game progresses, he becomes a full fledged assassin. Desmond also acquires Ezio’s skills.
There’s a few twists and turns.
If you complete all Glyph Sections given by Subject 16, your jaw will drop.
Like the first game, an artifact known as “The Apple Of Eden” plays a pivotal role.
The Ending sets up another installment known as “Brotherhood.”
Negative: To be honest, I couldn’t find nothing wrong with this game. I’m giving Ubisoft an Extra Point for making a flawless game as possible.
The Final Verdict: A, FOR APEX!
Assassin’s Creed II is one of the best games of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. A massive improvement of the first game. The positive things I’ve listed, indicates why it’s arguably a masterpiece. If you want to relive your gaming memories, go right ahead.
Nickthemoviecritic.com 