Assassin's Creed 2

I recently reviewed the game Dead Space on this blog, which to me felt like a sort of "greatest hits" combination of survival horror games, for better or for worse. Assassin's Creed 2 also felt like a combination of a few games I've played before- the open world exploration of the Grand Theft Auto series, the platforming of Tomb Raider, and the free-running of Mirror's Edge, but it's really greater than the sum of its parts. Assassin's Creed 2 tells the story of Desmond, a man from the not-too-distant future who is placed in a device called the Animus in order to relive key memories of famous assassins in his family's history. In this case, a majority of the game is played during the Renaissance as the young Italian nobleman Ezio Auditore. Ezio enjoys his carefree lifetyle until the day most of his family is murdered and he finds out his Dad wasn't exactly "just a banker." Ezio unravels a conspiracy that leads him across Italy, cutting a swath of destruction and assassinating everyone who was involved with his family's murder. It was nice to see Ezio as a different, multi-faceted character from the silent protagonist that would have been so easy to use here. Sure, he's a cold-blooded killer, but he's not afraid to voice his opinions or charm a woman or two along the way. Ezio does his work in several different cities, and all are beautifully recreated and show off several different sides of Italy. The game flows from Ezio's hometown of Florence to the Apennine Mountains, the rolling hills of Tuscany, the canals of Venice, and finally a fatal visit to Rome. The Pope doesn't live through it. The cities are tightly packed, allowing for effective transportation across rooftops, which is really the meat of the game. While Grand Theft Auto needs great driving to stay interesting in between missions, Assassin's Creed 2 perfectly uses Ezio's ability to free-run up walls and from rooftop to rooftop, completing death defying jumps with ease. The controls are incredibly simple, and Ezio always went where I wanted him to. Combat is deep enough to stay fresh- satisfying assassinations, or the slower, more methodical swordplay. As long as no one sees you, an assassination is possible, and they were consistently awesome. Ezio can jump down from the rooftops and land on two men, stabbing each of them in the face for an instant-kill. Or, if you'd rather not be seen, throwing knives are available to kill from afar. Perhaps the best of all is assassinating someone on top of a building. There's nothing quite like hanging off of an edge and having a guard absent-mindedly walk towards you, only to get stabbed in the stomach and tossed off the building before he knows what's happening. When an assassination isn't possible, a bevy of weapons are available for some close range combat, where Ezio often finds himself up against 10 men, relying on countering opponent's attacks much more than an all-out offensive. Ezio's not alone in his endeavor either, interacting with several historical figures to gain information or hatch plans, but the most well-used is Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci not only plays an integral part of the storyline, but periodically provides Ezio with prototypes of his latest inventions to help him along the way. One of the best missions in the game involves piloting da Vinci's flying machine across the city, gaining height by catching updrafts from bonfires. All of the other historical facts in the game seem extremely well-researched, but presented well enough that it never feels more like a history lesson than a game. The whole game just felt flawless- beautiful graphics, captivating storyline, fun gameplay. I'm trying to come up with anything I didn't like, and all I've got is that the X Box Live achievements seem a little poorly thought out. So, yeah. It's pretty good. Seriously though, if it wasn't for Uncharted 2, I think this would have won plenty of Game of the Year awards last year. It was so good that I played all of the side missions and looked for all the collectibles, despite my mission to beat every game in my backlog. Well, I guess I'll just have to get through my next game even faster. Onward!