Review: Assassin's Creed 2

[Susan Arendt]

Review: Assassin's Creed 2

Assassin's Creed 2 è molto, molto buono (is very, very good).

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[Lord Krunk]

Huh. First official review I've seen on the site that doesn't actually tell me whether to buy it or not.

Seems overall positive though.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me. So I give them a nice punch to the face so they run off and everyone treats me like I'm Douche-Bag of The Year. Like they never wanted to punch those mandolin-playing chickens.

But I loved the game, it jumped up on my 'Best Games Evarrr' list, right below Portal, and just above Chrono Trigger. It's flawed, sure, and the combat sucks donkey-bum, but all the things I loved about it made up for it. And there's a lot to love.

 

[Kermi]

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

 

[Eagle Est1986]

I love the combat! Sure it's easy but I'm an Assassin and these chumps are just guards, of course I can kick their ass while making them look silly.
My new tactic with the minstrels is to throw some gold at them, they promptly drop their lutes and I just carry on.

Does anyone else now want to stab their way to the front of queues with some hidden blades?

 

[Tears of Blood]

Man, I don't think Susan and I can agree on anything besides liking this game.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

I found them fun, but the controls made them somewhat painful. When I want to jump to the right, Ezio jumps left into a haystack. When I want to jump right-forward to a platform, he jumps down to the right. Thanks, that's what I want, repeat the last half hour of getting up where I was.

But I loooooove the black armor you get later. It's so fu***** awesome!

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Yeah. The game is very good.

Requiescant in pace

 

[Booze Zombie]

This game may not be perfect, as the article says, but it's a damn good game, nonetheless.

 

[HentMas]

well... since i loved the first one, this on is more of the same but sligtly improved, i will buy it once i finish paying the special edition of MW2...

damn night vision googles...

 

[Carboncrown]

This and modern warfare 2 makes me a weeery sad panda.

Now i really, really need a new PC

 

[Susan Arendt]

Huh. First official review I've seen on the site that doesn't actually tell me whether to buy it or not.

Seems overall positive though.

"Yeah, the first one was aggravating, I know, but don't hold that against this one. You'll find a lot to love, I promise. Assassin's Creed 2 is the best kind of sequel."

That seems like a pretty clear recommendation to me...

 

[DaxStrife]

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

 

[Susan Arendt]

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

I think you'll care more about Ezio than you did about Altair, but you don't actually go back to see Desmond in between levels.

 

[-Drifter-]

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

I think you'll care more about Ezio than you did about Altair, but you don't actually go back to see Desmond in between levels.

Well, you do, but not even close to as often. Besides that, the Desmond sections are much more fun, as they now consist of more than walking around 2 small rooms.

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

I found them fun, but the controls made them somewhat painful. When I want to jump to the right, Ezio jumps left into a haystack. When I want to jump right-forward to a platform, he jumps down to the right. Thanks, that's what I want, repeat the last half hour of getting up where I was.

This is my main issue. The game often demands more precision than the controls allow. When you're jumping across the rooftops in any direction you want, it works great, but when you're confined to a narrow corridor, platforming your way across beams and broken architecture, it can get more than a little infuriating. Also, while I really liked the combat in the first one, I thought it sucked pretty hard this time around. Disappointing, considering how they improved every other aspect of the game. The combat in particular seemed like it had a lot of potential to be great, if they had just made the enemies smarter, but this did not happen. In fact, they may have gotten dumber.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

I think you'll care more about Ezio than you did about Altair, but you don't actually go back to see Desmond in between levels.

Well, you do, but not even close to as often. Besides that, the Desmond sections are much more fun, as they now consist of more than walking around 2 small rooms.

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

I found them fun, but the controls made them somewhat painful. When I want to jump to the right, Ezio jumps left into a haystack. When I want to jump right-forward to a platform, he jumps down to the right. Thanks, that's what I want, repeat the last half hour of getting up where I was.

This is my main issue. The game often demands more precision than the controls allow. When you're jumping across the rooftops in any direction you want, it works great, but when you're confined to a narrow corridor, platforming your way across beams and broken architecture, it can get more than a little infuriating. Also, while I really liked the combat in the first one, I thought it sucked pretty hard this time around. Disappointing, considering how they improved every other aspect of the game. The combat in particular seemed like it had a lot of potential to be great, if they had just made the enemies smarter, but this did not happen. In fact, they may have gotten dumber.

It's like they're trying to work up the courage to attack. "Okay, I can do this. I will attack now. I will attack now. I will... Oh, that guy's going in. I guess I'll go in after."

 

[Woodsey]

I always grab the mandolin guys by the the shirt and give them a seeing to with my fist (har har).

OT: Really REALLY love the game; the third can't come soon enough, the shit is gonna be sprayed all over the fan.

 

[-Drifter-]

Spoiler

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

I think you'll care more about Ezio than you did about Altair, but you don't actually go back to see Desmond in between levels.

Well, you do, but not even close to as often. Besides that, the Desmond sections are much more fun, as they now consist of more than walking around 2 small rooms.

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

I found them fun, but the controls made them somewhat painful. When I want to jump to the right, Ezio jumps left into a haystack. When I want to jump right-forward to a platform, he jumps down to the right. Thanks, that's what I want, repeat the last half hour of getting up where I was.

This is my main issue. The game often demands more precision than the controls allow. When you're jumping across the rooftops in any direction you want, it works great, but when you're confined to a narrow corridor, platforming your way across beams and broken architecture, it can get more than a little infuriating. Also, while I really liked the combat in the first one, I thought it sucked pretty hard this time around. Disappointing, considering how they improved every other aspect of the game. The combat in particular seemed like it had a lot of potential to be great, if they had just made the enemies smarter, but this did not happen. In fact, they may have gotten dumber.

It's like they're trying to work up the courage to attack. "Okay, I can do this. I will attack now. I will attack now. I will... Oh, that guy's going in. I guess I'll go in after."

And it feels like they wait even longer this time around. Not only that, but counter kills are even easier to pull off, so any challenge there was pretty much left the room as soon as you were allowed to carry a weapon. Oh, yeah, and the strafe ability is useless. Sure, you can get behind your opponent and finish him with one quick stab, but when you compare how often that actually works to how often you'll get hit in the face trying, it hardly seems worth the effort.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Spoiler

The gameplay of AC always bores me, but I muck through it for the story. I didn't give two craps about the jerk in the last game, I just played through the levels to get back to Desmond. How long are the levels in this one compared to the first game?

I think you'll care more about Ezio than you did about Altair, but you don't actually go back to see Desmond in between levels.

Well, you do, but not even close to as often. Besides that, the Desmond sections are much more fun, as they now consist of more than walking around 2 small rooms.

I too have a compulsion to stab the minstrels. Seriously, whenever they run by they just disturb me.

Once I got tired of throwing money on the ground, I found drawing my sword to be an effective technique. One minstrel ran up to me, I quietly draw my sword, and he dropped his lute and changed direction.

Little touches like that fill in the gaps nicely, for me. If anything the thing I like least is finding the seals. I'm finding the jumping puzzles a bit tedious.

I found them fun, but the controls made them somewhat painful. When I want to jump to the right, Ezio jumps left into a haystack. When I want to jump right-forward to a platform, he jumps down to the right. Thanks, that's what I want, repeat the last half hour of getting up where I was.

This is my main issue. The game often demands more precision than the controls allow. When you're jumping across the rooftops in any direction you want, it works great, but when you're confined to a narrow corridor, platforming your way across beams and broken architecture, it can get more than a little infuriating. Also, while I really liked the combat in the first one, I thought it sucked pretty hard this time around. Disappointing, considering how they improved every other aspect of the game. The combat in particular seemed like it had a lot of potential to be great, if they had just made the enemies smarter, but this did not happen. In fact, they may have gotten dumber.

It's like they're trying to work up the courage to attack. "Okay, I can do this. I will attack now. I will attack now. I will... Oh, that guy's going in. I guess I'll go in after."

And it feels like they wait even longer this time around. Not only that, but counter kills are even easier to pull off, so any challenge there was pretty much left the room as soon as you were allowed to carry a weapon. Oh, yeah, and the strafe ability is useless. Sure, you can get behind your opponent and finish him with one quick stab, but when you compare how often that actually works to how often you'll get hit in the face trying, it hardly seems worth the effort.

Yeah, I think that sums it up quite well, really.