You can’t see me. I’m there in the shadows, crouched down on the roof above you, dangling on the ledge below you. Maybe you know I’m nearby. Maybe you’re afraid for your life. You should be. Because by the time you realize where I am, you’ll be dead.
That’s the promise of Assassin’s Creed, a promise the original 2007 game failed to keep in nearly every way.
Assassin’s Creed II, released Tuesday for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 (reviewed), totally fulfills that promise. The sequel is as vibrant as the first game was repetitive, as compelling as the original was boring. The gameplay is rich and varied, blending assassinations with puzzles, acrobatics and stealth. It has a fantastic original story and setting — a tale of family, conspiracy and betrayal in 15th-century Italy. Assassin’s Creed II finally delivers everything the original promised and then some.
You spend most of your time in the Mature-rated Assassin’s Creed II playing Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Florentine nobleman with a penchant for getting in trouble. Unlike Altaïr, protagonist of the first game, Ezio doesn’t start out as a professional assassin who went to assassin school or anything. He’s just some guy who enjoys getting into scrapes.
This everyman approach really helps the story, because before you’re asked to buy in to Assassin’s Creed II’s convoluted conspiracy theories and secret Knights Templar plots, you’re actually caring about this family. It’s a much more human tale than in the original, and that works to the game’s great benefit. In general, the story is told much better this time around — the cinema scenes are more fun to watch, the script is tight and occasionally hilarious.
Even your assassination targets are more human this time around. It’s more meaningful when you sneak up behind someone and knife them in the spinal cord if you truly hate their odious personality first.
Luckily for Ezio when he reaches the city of Venice, he can swim. And jack gondolas.
Images courtesy Ubisoft
But it actually wasn’t the people of Assassin’s Creed II that hooked me. It was the place. The vast majority of the game takes place in four large Italian cities painstakingly modeled after Florence, San Gimignano, Forli and finally, Venice. Exploring these cities, mostly by way of running across rooftops and climbing up massive towers, was a joy. It was always fun to see what was hiding around the next corner; each new viewpoint revealed stunning new aspects as the city spread before me.
The music of Assassin’s Creed II is paramount to this experience. Whether listening to a quiet choir as I scaled a tower or hearing soft but up-tempo tinkling piano as I skipped across the tiles of a roof, I found the dynamic soundtrack keeping up with me, its intensity varying with my actions. (Hear a bit in the YouTube clip embedded right.)
Every element of the presentation in Assassin’s Creed II drew me further and further into the fantasy.
Great new gameplay
None of this would matter much, however, if the gameplay stayed the same as in the first game. But Assassin’s Creed II doesn’t just improve on the original — it starts over from scratch. The city missions now are much more varied, challenging and integrated with the narrative. Ezio doesn’t just go out pick-pocketing or eavesdropping for information; his missions are lengthier affairs that engage many of his talents simultaneously.
The controls for Ezio aren’t much different from those for Altaïr, the chief assassin from the last game. Running, jumping and climbing are all handled nearly automatically — you hold the right trigger down and run in the direction you want to go, and your assassin will start automagically navigating any obstacle in his path. The challenge isn’t in timing your moves with precision, it’s in scanning the area around you and locating a path that will carry you safely to your destination.
The gameplay is truly addictive because it keeps dangling carrots in your face, urging you to play just a bit more. In fact, it’s not just carrots but a whole cornucopia of root vegetables: Want to do a story mission? If not, how about carrying out a contract hit? Or engaging in a rooftop race, finding a hidden MacGuffin or climbing to another magnificent viewpoint? Your options are wide open, and more often than not I chose “all of the above” until it was 2 in the morning.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the story that’s laid over Assassin’s Creed II’s main gameplay. You’re not a 15th-century Italian assassin; you’re actually a 21st-century American assassin playing a computer simulation of a 15th-century Italian assassin.
This was also true of the first Creed but didn’t affect the gameplay much. In this version, though, someone in the modern world has hacked the simulation, and one of the main mission types involves hunting down the little love notes he’s left you, which come in the form of puzzles that give you clues to the overarching story that connects the games in the series.
In one mission, you will pilot a flying machine designed by your pal, a young Leonardo Da Vinci.
Images courtesy Ubisoft
These puzzles add even more variety to the gameplay. Another way Assassin’s Creed II does this is with Assassin’s Tombs, six indoor levels that hide some important artifacts. These are linear, Prince of Persia-style levels that challenge you to use your free-running skills with pinpoint precision, a type of challenge the first game sorely lacked.
While these segments are welcome additions to the game design, the parkour controls don’t quite work in this context — it’s easy to fall off if you don’t put the brakes on Ezio at the last second, or if you’re not pointing him quite the right way.
This gets more complicated when the game introduces a new timing-based climbing mechanic that lets you leap up walls. Climbing is easy before you learn this and difficult after, not because the timing is hard but because the button that causes you to let go and fall to your death also serves as the button that lets you catch the wall above you, and there aren’t enough contextual clues to let you know which is going to happen.
What really makes Assassin’s Creed II work is that the assassination missions are much better. Staying undetected is easier since you can formulate better strategies to blend in with crowds, take back entrances and keep out of guards’ way. There’s more incentive to learn how to stay out of sight, because some missions end if you’re discovered.
Considering its genre, Assassin’s Creed II is a long game — it took me about 20 hours. But it never felt like too much: The gameplay grew and evolved as things progressed, avoiding becoming too repetitive as things drew to a close.
If you agreed with me about the first game, know that every problem has been fixed and then some. I simply could not stop playing. Assassin’s Creed II feels like Crackdown: Renaissance Edition. The first Assassin’s Creed had a bold, brilliant concept; the sequel delivers the execution.
WIRED Gripping story, beautiful presentation, addictive gameplay.
TIRED Imperfect controls can introduce pockets of frustration.
$60, Ubisoft
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