Assassin's Creed 2

Date Acqured: March 2010

Date Completed: March 4, 2012

Thoughts: I thought the first Assassin's Creed was a very good game but it didn't seem like everyone shared that opinion. A lot of gaming website and messageboard meatballs seemed lukewarm on it. I was never totally sure why, I saw the game's flaws, sure, but the things it did right far, far exceeded these. And as it turns out, it was a starting point for a franchise. With Assassin's Creed 2, the series trully reached AAA status, and those same websites and meatballs that hated the first game, loved the second.

While I didn't understand the underwhelming response the first game got, I also don't understand why everyone thinks the second is so much better. Yes, it addresses and fixes some of the problems with the original, starting with my biggest gripe, Ezio (the protagonist of this game) can swim, it was beyond frustrating that Altair couldn't. Gone too, is the identical set of optional side missions found in every town, though that didn't bother me that much. It's an understood evil of sandbox games, there are going to be repetitive missions, get used to it. And AC2 does have these, they just aren't as predictable and telegraphed as they are in the first game.

I would say the first half of AC2 especially feels more polished than the first game. For me AC2 peaks with the introduction of the flying machine. So I was baffled when it was only used for 2 memory strands and then went away. After that point, the game kind of fell off a bit for me. I got stuck for a long time on a capture the flag segment that was beyond irritating. The goal was to race a NPC to the flag and get it back to your base first, and you had to do it 3 times. If one of you gets the flag first, the other just has to touch them to take it away. This proved to be very difficult, when the NPC has the flag he travels at the same speed you are, and he knowns where he's going and doesn't mess up. I was never able to get the flag from him. To win, I had to get the flag first, but of course, the game cheats when I have the flag. I would evade the NPC and watch him sprint past me, at which point he has to stop, turn around and then run after me. If I ever did that I'd be staring at his back from 100 yards out or further until he eventually got to his base. But the game employees Mario Kart physics for him, and he is instantly teleported right behind me, he can make up the distance between us in less than 2 seconds, and then he travels at the same speed I do. The controls started to bother me more in the second half. I actually preferred the combat in the first game, I found it a lot easier to perform counters, and I loved the throwing blades, they were far more plentiful in the first game and very powerfull. They are more limited in this game and you get them later. I never really used them, which is a shame.

I think I probably wasn't fair in my play method for this game. I spent too much time away from it, and wound up playing it in 3 segments that were all several months apart. I initially played the game immediately after I finish the original game. I was so curious and interested about what happens next, but I was worried about getting burnt out on it, so even though I really enjoyed it, I stopped playing and wouldn't pick it up again for 8 months. When I picked it up again, I got right back into it and was really loving it. I stopped when I ran into that capture the flag segment and wouldn't touch it again until this week when the news of AC3 came out. I am really excited for that game, and it reminded me that I have some catching up to do if I want to be ready for it. All that time off between the game caused me to forget a lot of what I needed to know. I never upgraded my weapon or armor until the last chapter (although even when I did, I didn't see a huge difference weapon-wise, the armor greatly boosted my health and probably would have been nice to have for the memory strand 11 fight when I went through a ton of potions and took a couple tries) Playing the game through all at once might have made the 2nd half of the game better, as it is, I have 2 distinct impressions of the game: Joy and bliss with the first half, and frustration and annoyance with the last few memory strands. It's not a mistake I intend to make with Brotherhood. I am determined to play that in a much more timely manner.