As I posted previously, I received Assassin's Creed II (AC2) for Christmas and I had intended to write about my first impressions of it but, as I've played over twenty hours to date, it seems a little late for that. I reckon I'm only just over halfway through the story, so this isn't a full review (which may - or may not, to be honest - come later) either. Rather, this is a comparison with the first game, which was also a Christmas present from a couple of years ago (what is it about Christmas that makes me want to assassinate people?).
I will say at the outset that AC2 is better than the original in pretty much every way. While I enjoyed the first game, I had the feeling that it had been a little rushed, probably in order to hit the Christmas market and that it did not live up to the pre-release hype that Ubisoft had generated for it. AC had looked and sounded like it was going to be a benchmark in gaming but in the end turned out to be a better than average (and therefore disappointing) action adventure game.
This time around -
There's more to do
In the first game, just like in Celebrity Big Brother, you could experience all it had to offer in the first hour. After that it was just repetition of those same experiences. Now, those experiences included killing people with a hidden blade in your wrist guard and jumping off tall buildings, so it wasn't unpleasant repetition but still..... Anyway, AC2 has many different types of side missions to keep you occupied when you want to veer away from slavishly following the story.
There's less Desmond
I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the central conceit of the AC games is that there are a couple of secret societies that have battled each other for hundreds of years. The player's experience of Altair/Ezio (the main character in the first and second games, respectively) is actually via a present-day member (Desmond) of one of those societies (and descendant of those individuals, I think - sometimes I drift off when being told the plot through cut scenes) replaying Altair/Ezio's 'memories' using some sort of pseudo-tech time psycho-time-travel device. At regular intervals during the first game you'd be transported back from Outremer to take control of Desmond instead. Desmond wasn't in the least bit interesting and there wasn't really much you could do with him, other than wander aimlessly around a couple of rooms, be told the plot by the NPCs present in those rooms, completely fail to use the toilet or shower (and believe me, I tried) and eventually be transported back to the 'proper' part of the game.
This time around, after the initial scene-setting Desmond-age, he is mercifully absent for much of the game. I next took control of him after I'd played nearly twenty hours and that was just about bearable. Admittedly, I'd been faffing around with the side missions a hell of a lot (treasure map + treasure chests + my collecting OCD = twenty hours to get to halfway) but even if you'd raced through the story, you probably wouldn't get too fed up with Des.
Personally, I'd be happy if there was no present day aspect of the games at all and Desmond was just a discarded idea from the development process, nestling in Ubisoft's waste basket alongside giving Ezio a jetbike, or turning him into a rentboy (Ass Assassin's Creed, if you will. Ahem). Being able to play as an assassin in Outremer or Renaissance Italy would have made for fine games on their own, without the science fiction trappings.
There's more internal logic
In the first game, when running away from guards, you could only blend in with the crowd if walking with a group of monks - normal city folk obviously becoming transparent when you are in amongst them. AC2 remedies that - you can now blend in with any group of 3/4 or more people wandering through the streets. This is just one example, there are plenty of others - the cities that Ubisoft has created seem more 'real' in how their inhabitants behave and how you can interact with them.
The platforming is more difficult
The free running of Altair looked fantastic but was actually very easy to achieve - pull the left stick in one direction while pressing a button. There is still an element of that in AC2 but you need to give far more thought to your pathfinding up the side of a building; this makes for far more rewarding gameplay. There are also several sections (no spoilers) that are actually straight indoor 3D platform sections, like Prince of Persia (particularly Sands of Time). These can be quite tricky and are a welcome break from the majority of the game, which is set outdoors.
There are more weapons
The first game had a limited number of weapons. In AC2, as the game develops, Ezio becomes more tooled up than than a Basildon chav on Saturday night. Special mention goes to the use of poison and your ability to use it to create 'Georgi Markov' moments.
More familiar surroundings
A selfish one, this. I've never been to Jerusalem or Acre; I have been to Florence and Venice. I like playing games set in 'real' places (although none of the settings are carbon copies of an actual city) that I have visited. I liked PGR (even though I was really bad at it) because I could zoom through the streets of central London where I work, thinking things like 'Ooh, that's Horse Guards Road', as I span out and the opposing cars flashed passed me.
and
They haven't thrown out the good stuff
Unlike some sequels (Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, I'm looking at you), the developers haven't discarded the good parts of an original game in their desire to make the sequel different. The central idea of being an assassin and killing folk is interesting and that is maintained. As in the first game, the graphical style is very impressive and they've also kept climbing towers to better ascertain your surroundings; jumping from high places into haystacks and the hidden blade weapon, all of which were great in the original.
Hopefully, I'll complete the game in the next couple of weeks and then be able to post a full review.
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