Assassin's Creed 2

A few things (this will be a long semi-review, so feel free to not read it or skip to the end)…

First off, that mission Tragos describes, I *think* it's a scripted event (I could be completely wrong though). I couldn't catch the guy and had to chase him for quite a long way through the tunnels after that spot. The thing that makes me think it was scripted that way is that the long section the chase goes through would be pretty boring if you weren't trying to catch that guard.

The cut-scenes can't be skipped, that's true. But they're pretty short and far between and also well done. It's not like a damned Metal Gear Solid game where half of the game is spent in cut-scenes you can't skip past.

Compared to the first AC there is a LOT more variety in the main story missions. I'm not going to give spoilers but it's much better than the first game here.

There are 4 side mission types:
Courier (deliver letters in a time limit) and Beat up (beat the hell out of a cheating husband) have just a couple of each to do in each town and are pretty repetitive but there are only a few of them so they were all fun to me.

Races (timed checkpoint races over roofs,etc where you have to hit each checkpoint and still make the final time)…I have no clue how many of these there are since the very first one frustrated me so bad that I haven't completed it or even tried any of the others.

Assassinations…there are (for obvious reasons) a ton more of these missions than any of the other side mission types. Now obviously they are all "go kill x (or x's)" type missions…so the word variety is subjective here. But they have anything from 1-10 targets, some have time limits, some have restrictions like don't get seen doing the kill, or don't use any weapons, or don't get seen by the target before killing him (which makes no sense to me but whatever). There is enough variety in these missions that they've never felt repetitive to me (and rarely difficult enough to really get frustrated).

Non-mission things to do (judge for yourself if they're repetitive or not…I've enjoyed them all):

Climbing all the vantage points to open up the maps (these are pretty much mandatory).

Catching Pickpockets & Couriers that sprint/climb around in the towns (a little extra money and fun once or twice, but then pointless and not worth bothering).

Collecting the 6 Seals from Assassin's Tombs. These are pretty much long and somewhat varied platformer/jumping puzzle areas, some of them have guards thrown into the mix. Some of the jumping puzzles in these areas are fairly challenging. I don't do platformer type games but I've enjoyed these anyway.

Finding treasure chests, feathers & codex pieces stashed around the map (just mindless collection stuff…still fun if you like that kind of thing).

Finding the hidden Truth pieces that unlock various puzzles. These "puzzles" range from turning concentric wheels to line up an image properly to just scanning for a certain hidden image, to figuring out a cryptogram code. As interesting as these could be…they all pretty much suck. They are nothing but annoying and logic free garbage. But the story that you unlock by doing them is actually pretty cool stuff I think.

Restoring your family Villa. Nothing here really, just buying upgrades for the Villa which will lead to the Villa making more money over time (you can come back and empty the chest whenever it gets full). Once you do this completely money is pretty much irrelevant in the game.

The combat is fun if you learn to use all the moves you get (which you can practice in an arena at your Villa anytime you want). Even without mastering the moves it's still not very difficult though.

There really is no stealth in this game. To me stealth is what you do in the Thief games. The extent of stealth in this game is walking behind something that block line-of-sight to the guard(s)…or hanging off a ledge out of their sight. That's not really stealth IMO but it can still be fun.

I'm 14-15 hours or so into the game and I'm about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through it I believe (that's doing all side missions except races) so it's not too short.

Overall I'd say it's a LOT better than AC1 (which I got bored with and never finished). Thief 1 (& T2 with all the fan missions) is probably my favorite game ever and this does not even come close to that type of gameplay or variety…but it's still pretty fun for what it is. If you absolutely hated AC1 there's no point in buying this…it's the same type of gameplay with some additions and improvements. I got it for $30 after trade-ins and it's definitely well worth that.
 
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Oct 19, 2006
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Nice summary Majnun, thank you. I also got bored with AC1 and never finished it. Even though I didn't hate the first game, I probaby won't get AC2. There's just too many good games being released in the next few months.
 
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