Action-Adventure Video Game Review: Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II is probably one of the hottest and most interactive open world action-adventure video games available today for Playstation 3 (PS3) and the Xbox 360. Once again we get to see our favorite friend of Assassin's Creed, Desmond Miles' and the Animus come back for new and enhanced open world game play.

As in the original Assassin's Creed, the Animus is used to view the genetic memories of Desmond's ancestors, which is a long line of assassins. In Assassin's Creed II the Animus is used to view the memories of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, young nobleman-turned-assassin.

Story Line Setting

The story line takes place during the late 15th and early 16th century in Italy, during the Renaissance period. This amazingly graphic open world game incorporates numerous real-life historic events, people, and places throughout the Italian Renaissance period. The best part of about the story line setting is that this real-life history plays a critical part in the plot and in Ezio's journey to uncover a hidden conspiracy after his family was brutally murdered.

What's New with Assassin's Creed II

Assassin's Creed II has more new features that make game play remarkable compared to its predecessor Assassin's Creed. For example, the health system has been made more dynamic, with synchronization to the Animus allowing Desmond Miles to recover only from minor injuries. More grievous injuries require visiting a street-side doctor for medicine.

In addition, Desmond may swim in water, and eagle vision (the ability to identify specific people and landmarks) is now used in third-person view. Even better yet, Leonardo da Vinci is present in the game, assisting Desmond by creating new weapons from translated "codex pages" that Altair, the original game's main character, left behind for future assassins' analysis and insight. While Leonardo Da Vinci provides the player with new weapons, such as a poison blade and a miniature firearm, there are also a variety of swords, cutlasses and maces, as well as axes, spears and daggers. Furthermore, the combat system in Assassin's Creed II is more complex. Desmond has the ability to disarm opponents and steal weapons from the enemy.

There are hundreds of new additions to Assassin's Creed II that make this game one of the most remarkable open world games on the market today.

Assassin's Creed II Reviews

Assassin's Creed II received incredibly positive reviews, with critics praising the game's stronger emphasis on open world exploration and interaction, nonlinear game play, and greater mission variety compared with the first Assassin's Creed. In addition, Assassin's Creed II was highly recognized for the improved artificial intelligence, a new in-game history for buying items, weapons, and armor, and a deeper, more finely-tuned combat system. Overall, Assassin's Creed II was given a 92.5% rating for Xbox 360 and a 91.44% rating for PS3. Pricing for Assassin's Creed II is $59.92 for PS3 and Xbox 360 and $49.82 for the personal computer (PC) edition.
I hope you enjoy Assassin's Creed II as much as I did.