Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Lots of improvements from its predecessor,  graphics eye candy is gorgeous, tons of diversity, side quests are fun to play around with and earn money.

Thumbs Down:

Nothing in particular.

Inside the Trunk:

• Price $44.00 – $58.99 for Xbox360 and PS3
• Publisher: Ubisoft
• Developer: Ubisoft
• ESRB rating: Mature
• Platform PC/PS3/Xbox360
• Recommended system requirements for PC: Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz (Intel), Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (AMD), graphics card – Geforce 8800 GS (Nvidia), Radeon HD 3800 series (ATI), 3 GB RAM, 12 GB free hard disk space, DirectX 9

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

When Assassin Creed I came out, the graphics engine was quite similar to Prince of Persia – The Two Thrones. But we welcomed it as we couldn’t get enough of Altair jumping seamlessly on roof toops and killing with those sexy maneuvers. Assassin’s Creed II is here and they have made it even better. The improvements made in this will make you wonder why Ubisoft didn’t do all this in first title.

Ubisoft made lots of money from Assassins Creed which because it was selling like hot cakes due to the eye candy put in. Our hero in this game is Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who is a spoilt 17 year old son of a wealthy banker. He spends his time and money on women and fights with local gangs in the beautiful city of Venice.

However things take a turn around for the teenager when he finds out that his father isn’t just a banker. His father later on gets killed along with his sons (except Ezio, of course) and now Ezio must avenge his brothers and father.

ACII still has the free roaming principle which we loved in the previous version of the game. You will spend most of the time on the rooftops since it is easier to hop on from on roof to other. Walking on the streets will be slow and boring. There are more archers in this game which threaten Ezio constantly but the boisterous lad can take them easily with his sleek moves. Just don’t get carried away and refrain from killing all the people that you see, because there is the notoriety meter which has to be kept below the limit. When you push the meter to the limit, the guards will attack you as soon as they see you.

You can tear the posters down, kill off officials or bribe them to reduce your notoriety but this seems a bit easy to do in the game. You go down on the meter by offering 500 florins (the currency in the game) to the officials. And there is no shortage of money in the game.

Completing missions gets you money and you can use it to change appearance of the hero. You can dye his clothes, buy weapons, armor from the local blacksmith. ACII has lots of side quests and you can get wealthy by achieving your targets. You can collect feathers, statutes, treasures and all of these set your pocket jingling with money. If you think you are lighting fast, go ahead and participate in the rooftop race to add money in your kitty. Our favorite was when you explore the dead assassin’s tombs. But we think this belongs more to the murky environments of Prince of Persia rather than AC. In the previous installement there is was no stealth and thankfully Ubisoft has provided mission which needs employment of your stealth skills which sometimes feels better rather than stabbing a knife on the face.

The combat missions are still there and it has been packed with more eye candy. You can disarm your enemy of his weapon and then use it against him. This is better than purchasing a weapon from the market and you also get variety of weapons at your disposal. Just like POP3, Ezio can take multiple enemies a time, he has hidden blades for doing this and it is really cool. For killing off your foes, you get to purchase axes, swords, hammers, pistols and lots more.

Another highlight of the game was that you can hire cunning thieves and local courtesans to distract your enemies. And then there are the local mercenaries who are willing to kill for you if you pay them enough.

Ubisoft has really given a lot in the game and it will keep you hooked to your console for hours. Every aspect of ACII like progression, navigation and combat has been revamped to give a better playing experience. The city of Venice has been gorgeously designed and you can check out everything you want with the free roaming principle.

Nitty Gritty:

Assassin’s Creed II has everything that we wanted in its predecessor. Don’t waste time, buy this game now!

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