Assassin's Creed II Review

If all of that's not enough, there's the incredible choice of things to do from exciting story-related tasks to intense and challenging side missions. One of the most compelling things for me was venturing deep into secret parts of the cities to complete special Prince of Persia like challenges. Suffice it to say, every venture in this regard is rather rewarding. If you play these you'll know what I mean. It also represents a nice change of pace, beyond all the killings and rooftop chases. While we're on the subject, other city-based side-missions include races, courier missions, different assassination contracts, searching for missing codex pages (these are connected to the main story mind you) and so on.

Screw this, I'm off!

Wheeee!

We admire the great deal of effort that went into the game's art and overall visual presentation. Florence, Venice and other prominent locations of Italy were recreated with incredible devotion to detail. Famous landmarks, buildings of historical significance and other locations simply look astonishing (although you'll only get to fully appreciate their beauty if you're playing on a huge TV screen). The sound effects and the quality of the voice acting match the visual splendor of this game. There's simply nothing bad I can point out about the audio or the visual aspect of Assassin's Creed 2. Good work on that, Ubisoft.

There was one glitch that bothered us a bit. The map system gets a bit choppy every time you access it. It's not something to be concerned over, but it can get a bit annoying at times. Otherwise, this is a technically sound game.

Most gamers are bound to like this one. If you're a fan of the previous game, there's no doubt you're going to enjoy the ride. On the other hand, if you were disappointed with the repetitive mechanics of the original, all of the improvements made in the sequel should restore your faith in the franchise - it certainly has for us. Taking into account the enormous choice of challenges, missions, the new economic system and other enhancements, Assassin's Creed 2 will be remembered as one of the finest sandbox-based action adventures we've seen for quite some time.

The ending is, of course, something I do not wish to spoil for you guys, but it needs to be said that Assassin's Creed 2 comes to a decent conclusion. So much so that I cannot wait to find out what the folks at Ubisoft Montreal have prepared for the franchise's next outing.