If you think there's nothing else to buy apart from Modern Warfare 2 (which you must have by now) than you're wrong as Assassins Creed 2 has slashed through this month and not delaying it to next year. Hurrah! If you haven't played the first Assassins Creed yet than do so now. If not than here's a recap. You play as Desmond who was kidnapped by a secret organization and are using you as means of taking over the world (as per usual). Turns out that throughout history there has been a huge clash between the Templars and the Assassins who are looking for mystic artifacts that have the power to control people. The first game had Desmond linked with Altair with the help of a machine called the Animus and found out the location of the artifacts as well as the birth if the Assassin organization.
Assassins Creed 2 starts straight off the first game with Desmond now being rescued by the modern day Assassins and now has to go into a new Animus to train as one of them. You than play the role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze (yes that's his whole name) in the late 15th century in Italy, during the Renaissance as he tries to find out the people who killed his father. However, not all as it seems as there is more to his father's death as a huge conspiracy will lead to the destruction of the world as we know it. Sounds confusing but don’t worry as it gets interesting.
As you start off the game you will notice how huge the cities and towns are. The atmosphere is littered with life as you see people walking to buy things to the busy districts of shops and street parades. The interaction of Assassins Creed 2 has also improved as you can interact more with your surroundings such as blending with a crowd to the reactions of guards reacting to what you are doing. This than gives you a feel of what's yet to come as you progress into the game. The story is also an improvement from the first one as it is more diverse in how you want to tackle each mission. Rather than the first one where you had to the same chore of gaining information to pull of the assassinations, you now can follow a more linear and focused plotline that doesn't repeats itself.
The graphics are utterly breathtaking as you take a look of the whole city in awe of its vastness and beauty. Although the people themselves seem copied each one does a variety of different movements and expressions. The actual buildings themselves are exactly like the real ones from every detail have been layered out to give a sense of realism and excellence as you climb up them. Really this game is like a painting brought to life with detail and actions bursting at the seams to make you feel like you're actually there. The game also cycles from day to night which presents a change to the atmosphere, as people go to bars or parties to give you a sense of what it was like in those days. Even the countryside is like a painting with a combination of crop fields and farms scattered around with lush green scenery to large plains of land that have flooded during the rain.
Which brings onto the game play as in there is a lot of. As mentioned before unlike Assassins Creed 1 where you had to do a certain number of jobs before doing an assassination, you can now choose to follow the story or do a range of side missions. These side missions range from going through tombs, collecting feathers and codex pages to helping women beat up their cheating husbands (yes this is an actual side mission) which give bonuses that will help you with the story. The combat has improved from the first game but slightly, as I found it to be quite constraint rather than free flowing such as Batman Arkhum Asylums combat. However, the chance to climb up buildings and free running from balconies and rooftops is more thought-out; although the controls are abit annoying especially as you have to hold the right trigger with the X button to free run which made me purposely run up a wall and jump to my bone crunching death. This didn't happen most of the time but it all comes into focus once you get used to the controls and pretty soon you will be gleaming with excitement as you run away from guards.
This than leads to the final gem of Assassins Creed 2 and that is the economy. In Assassins Creed 1 you only had a sword and throwing knives to help protect you from guards. However, this time you can now buy upgrades for your armor for better protection; also a huge variety of weapons from small weapons such as daggers and knuckledusters to big weapons such as sword and hammers. Let me tell you that it's quite pleasing to seeing your latest sword thrust into someone or to hear the sound of a warhammer cracking someone's head in a bone crunching smack of their necks. Another major difference in Assassins Creed 2 is you now have your very own town with which you can spend money to renovate shops (which you can buy goods for discounted prices), a church and even your very own brothel. This plays a major part as the more things you have the more people will flock and spend their money to which you can collect for your pocket. You can also buy famous paintings and see them in your private mansion which also holds your weapons and armor like a great museum.
Apart from a few problems with the combat, controls and a couple of barely seen glitches Assassins Creed 2 is a huge improvement from the first game. This should make a great purchase as it contains so many things you can do and see. So what are you waiting for go down to your local game store and buy a copy today.

Verdict: 9/10

Review by our Tom Pearce