Assassin's Creed II

Ubisoft

Assassin's Creed II is something I have been anxious to get my hands on since I first beat its predecessor, the much lauded, but still somewhat maligned, Assassin's Creed. It seemed that for every two or three good points reviewers and your average gamer had, there was a disappointment of some sort to go along with it. I'll be honest, while I definitely understood where these people were coming from and recognized the same flaws they did, -- disjointed story, repetitive missions, less than challenging combat -- I was too deeply in love with the damn thing to care about a single one of them. My only real complaint was that you were required to replay a memory (mission) once you had beaten the game in order to jump into a city and start free-running, which is where the game absolutely fucking shines. I purchased it right when it came out and, a few chunks of time when I wasn't playing anything at all aside, never stopped playing it until I traded it in towards the purchase price of its sequel.

I'm hoping that by now you have come to understand that I really dug this game, so when I say that ACII improved upon the first in every way possible you know I am not merely blowing smoke, but expressing my great pleasure and amazement at the feat Ubisoft Montreal accomplished. All of those people who liked the first one but had a problem with this thing and that? The developers listened and took great pains to make the story of Ezio Auditore di Firenze and Desmond Miles an even better experience, and it paid off like you wouldn't believe. No longer are you bound to unlocking memories via the same three mini-missions over and over again in order to gain access to an assassination memory. Which is not said to say there aren't sub-quest style missions, many of which branch of into several smaller missions, ranging from pretty run of the mill races (except you're bloody free-running, so it's awesome), assassination contracts from Lorenzo di Medici, and you can always get the guards off your back by tearing down some wanted posters or bribing the town crier. And that's not even half of what you can do outside of the main story, which is, itself, a big step up this time around. And the ending, don't even get me started on how excited it has me for the next installment.

By now there are hundreds of reviews up online detailing the story, the triumphs and the downfalls, and all the specifics of the game if you're really curious, so I won't waste your time by going into great detail on any of those things. Instead, I will tell you that if you take the time to sit down with this game, having played the first or not, you will be in for a treat and a half. Even if your game selection begins with shooters and ends with sports, there is something in here for you, and if you give it a real chance you will find yourself addicted to running around -- and atop -- Renaissance Italy, untangling the plot of the Knights Templar.

An incredibly enthusiastic A+

Dave Conkey / MovementNorth