Product Details |
- Explore the deadly, shadowed world of the assassin with new assassin Ezio
- Roam freely through the lush and dangerous world of Renaissance-era Italy
- Do whatever it takes to complete your missions in the game's all-new open world and mission structure
- Thrive in an environment rich with power, revenge and conspiracy
- Practice your assassin's art with all-new weapons and instruments created by Leonardo da Vinci
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Video Reviews |
 No video reviews found for this product.
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Customer Reviews |
 One of the best games of 2009! |
| Review Date: November 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jason Bean, Iowa City, IA |
I'll say I was not a HUGE fan of the original Assassin's Creed. It had beautiful graphics, a great open-world environment and a fun gameplay engine, but was hampered by level repetition and a horrid use of a dual story. Thankfully this sequel not only fixes these issues but surpasses expectations as a game itself.
Like the original, AC2 begins in the future with an escape from the first game's institution. Thankfully this segment is acton-packed...and short. Within minutes you're back in the "game" world in late 1400's Italy. This (like the first game) is where AC2 mostly takes place. If you're like me and absolutely HATED the bits in the future of AC1, don't worry. You spend maybe 10 minutes a piece split up into three segments (though the middle one seemed a bit longer) in the future world. I still hate that you have to leave the game world proper at all but at least it's only for 30-40 minutes in an otherwise 30+ hour game. Yes the game's THAT LONG!
Your hero in this game is Ezio. He's an Italian noble and has alot more personality and is alot more fun than Altair from Assasin's Creed 1. He's sort of cross between Nathan Drake, Casanova, and Batman. The story (ignoring the future bits) is a great revenge-conspiracy plot set through 30 years of Ezio's life. While I won't pretend all the character's are memorable, they're all played with personality and wit and the voice actors never strike a false note (you can even switch to playing the gamein Italian with english subtitles!).
The gameplay is also MUCH more fun and more varied than AC1. They leave out all the investigation bits of an assasination but add more story-based, action-packed missions for you to work through up to your assassinations. These again are VERY fun and each mission you go on feels completely unique to the one before it. Even the optional assassinations have more rules an complexities as you work through them.
Speaking of varied, aside from the basic story missions which will see you fighting, flying, riding horses, piloting boats and escorting/protecting characters there's also a villa you can upgrade to get discounts on weapons/armor/clothing/medicine etc. I've never played a game that gives you so much to do in so many different ways. While none of the custimization and mission structure is new to games I don't think all of these elements have been brought together so seemlessly before which is the big reason I like it so much!
Also, if this isn't the best game of the year it has one of the best soundtracks. The music is not only original and cool it changes perfectly to match the action in the game (chase scenes, flying, hiding etc). The developers really went out of their way with this one.
Aside from a slow first few (story based) hours Assassin's Creed 2 will hook you and never let go. I still think the Animus is an intersting but failed idea, but it doesn't even remotly take away from the awesome things you can do in this game. There's still time before the end of the year but I can't think of too many games that will be able to top this one. |
High quality entertainment
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| Review Date: November 18, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mr. Hui Cheng, Oakland, CA United States |
ACII should be summarized as great story telling mixed together with fun, realistic game play.
The story really flows from the beginning and draws the players into the history and the intrigue. The amount of detail and effort put into the game environment is amazing. And the open world reminds me of the play in GTA4 where you can jump onto basically anything, swim in the water, run around the rooftops and hide in all sorts of places.
In addition to the main game story and missions, there are a ton of side quests!
If you are into action/adventure games, ACII is definitely worth getting! |
Great game but a couple of minor dings
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| Review Date: November 26, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Peter Marreck, Boston, MA USA |
Incredibly captivating adventure/fighting/3D-platformer game with tons of real Renaissance history, artwork and architecture. Batman:AA didn't hook me, and I haven't finished Uncharted 2 yet, and I never even finished Assassin's Grind 1 =) , but everything is going to wait until I finish Assassin's Creed 2. This game is certainly worth your gaming time! I won't restate what everyone else who gave this game a good review has mentioned, so I will focus on...
A COUPLE OF DINGS NOBODY HAS MENTIONED!
1) Savegames are COPY-PROTECTED. I am visiting my family for Thanksgiving and I wanted to bring this game to show my nephew while making a little progress on my latest savegame, only to discover that I cannot copy them to a USB stick! Ubisoft failed here. What if my PS3 hard drive dies? I've been able to back up EVERY SINGLE OTHER game's files but this one's. That's pretty sorry!
2) A few times now my character has, in the middle of running across a floor portion of a map, acted as if he's at a roof edge, and "looked over the fake edge"... right at the floor 6 feet away. And come to a complete stop! I would have to wiggle around to get unstuck. Unfortunately this seems to crop up when least desired such as timed courier/race missions!
3) Some of the timed race missions are extremely hard with very little margin for error (at least for me). Combined with the ease with which you can screw up a jump or accidentally climb a wall you merely wanted to run past, 1 error and you pretty much have to Abort Memory.
4) Big battle axe and pike, which you can disarm from an enemy, seems unobtainable in-game. (The disarm ability is cool as hell, though! Try the pike, watch what happens when it breaks!)
5) In-game mace weapons suck. A sword was almost always available that was better. What if I prefer to bludgeon instead of gut enemies? :) I think each weapon type should excel at 1 stat... Maces for damage, daggers for speed, and swords for parrying, but that wasn't really the case.
That said, my favorite parts are certainly the map details (Venice is amazing!), the fighting variety, the historical footnotes, the Renaissance art, having a "home" you can upgrade for more income, and basically being made to feel like a total badass while within an unfolding story. Love the "suddenly there missions" like catching thieves, offing messengers and whatnot. Some people like the extra information-gathering stuff (codex pages etc.) but I'm more into the action and attention to detail. ;) Scaling a wall using any handhold available and leaping from rooftop to rooftop doesn't get old!
As far as they went with the fighting, I can tell it can get even more interesting with well-timed combos and whatnot, I hope they push the next game in that direction more! |
Immersive Experience
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| Review Date: December 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: cybergel78, Singapore |
This is what an action/stealth/role-playing game should be. In fact, as I was playing this game, my thoughts harkened back to the days of Ultima. This game should have been what Ultima 9 was. A pity that EA had to bury that franchise.
After completing this game, I felt an immense epiphany; it is as if I have just finished viewing an epic onscreen. The story itself is epic. Following the grand tradition of movie sequels, this one picks up right after the first game. As Desmond Miles, you find yourself captive in a research facility run by modern day Templars. This time round, one finds himself transported back to the Renaissance era in 15th century Italy.
The sandbox world itself requires many moments of just gazing at its beauty. The various synchronisation points offer the gamer a kaleidoscopic view of the various Italian cities. The views are simply breathtaking and spectacular. Venice deserves special mention. The scope of the city is really immense.
Ezio Auditore, the protagonist, is a likeable rouge. More so than Altair. He starts off as somewhat a rich playboy but progressed into a master assassin through extraordinary circumstances. I like the fact that historical characters and even architecture features figures largely in the game. It's a joy interacting with Leonardo Da Vinci, Il Magnifico, Rodrigo Borgia (Pope Alexander IV), even the dastardly Machiavelli makes a cameo appearance!
This review is in regards to the PS3 version. I must say that I'm a bit disappointed with the quality. As [...] pointed out, there were a few visual glitches. Throughout the course of my gameplay, the game crashed thrice. Twice at the same spot, with me performing the same action - double assassination 4 guards in succession. I really do hope Ubisoft addressed the buggy issue and fix them in the near future.
UPDATE (24/1/2010): Ubisoft did a slight upgrade patch and there are no crashes so far. Kudos to Ubisoft for quick response time! I can't wait for the DLC to hit! |
A successful Sequel
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| Review Date: December 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Kenneth Lambert, |
I'll start out by saying that this game is an improvement in every way over Assassin's Creed. I started playing it right after Uncharted 2 so the graphics at first seemed a little rough at first, but considering how much more massive the game is compared to Uncharted 2, it is barely fair to compare. It didn't take long to adjust when the game sucks you in so quick. But don't get me wrong the game is beautiful, and the detail that has gone into each building and city is amazing. It is great to look from a view point and decide where you are headed next, knowing you can reach all of it.
So first off the gameplay is a lot of fun, if you hadn't played AC or just hadn't played in a long time it will take some adjusting again to get used to the control set up. But they do ease you into the controls starting out with the most important aspect, free running. This is the only part of the game I found a flaw in. Ezio has a tendency to jump of things and grab onto things you don't really want him to, you can let go of X to avoid this, takes practice to time it right. It also doesn't help that the buildings have slanted roofs so you can't tell how far a jump is. This isn't Ubisoft's fault, but the mini map does help to see if it is a jump you can make. Other then that, the controls are great and a lot of fun to use.
Now the story has improved greatly. It is slow at first, but toward the end things really start to pick up. I don't want to give anything away, but unlocking "The Truth" is worth the trouble. After unlocking the video I actually had to take a step back and remember that it was just a game and it was actual footage. I can't wait for ACIII to see what happens next. |
A major achievement in video games
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| Review Date: December 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Bobby, |
well I have to say I am 46 year old (yes I have played games since I was 10, yes video games are that old, actually older, the original is from 1958 and I wasn't even born, I started with PONG) and my experience is different from younger people, having had played a lot of games, I mean I actually spent all my allowance in arcades when they were actually busy and that was more like $100 bucks a week in quarters!!!
I look at this differently being in all the cities that this game shows and the reason I bought the game was that I wondered how great it would be if I could climb on top of each and how interesting it would be to see the whole of the city... well in this game I get to do that while playing assassin.
I bought about 14 new games I bought since October with the new PS3 250GB and that includes Uncharted 2, Batman Asylum, Bionic, Tekken 6, resistance 2, infamous, Modern Warfare 2, Mirrors Edge, Hawx etc.... And I can tell you they have done and amazing job of reality in this game and it looks and feel real when you play it and it's a great experience to enjoy when you play and not JUST A GAME, and that was done on purpose it seems and it intends on showing you more than just a video game to play and put away, I mean I finished and it was great but I think it's the first game I am actually going to play again. It's Batman, Drake and Laura put together.
I started playing on WED Night and mostly played 3-5 hours a night but if time permitted I would have loved to keep going but about 2 AM I really have to go to sleep since I wake up at 6 usually so this game does make you hooked and it's enjoyable at every turn and there is so much to do and so much fun included in that you do get to spend a good 3 days of play to go through it all.
The graphics are amazing and I love seeing the same buildings I went to in Venice and Rome and Florence (Its one place you got to visit) and they practically look the same and Venice with the masks and the ball is all so much like the actual parties that happen there, I just loved climbing all the buildings and now when I go back I am going to look for a way to do it in real life, BUT there is no way I can climb that good or would chance it. The game is so real it scares my wife and she doesn't look at it when I do the jumps and etc! that's how real it looks. For those who have not traveled to Italy and haven't seen it, It's a great way of getting to see it and experience it, I rode more gondolas than I did in real life and went everywhere I didn't get to, it is missing the water taxis that are in now and some stuff that are new and the bridge is more built up today, but when you go to Venice you do get to see some pictures on shop walls from ages ago and this looks more real than the actual pictures do.
It also has puzzles that intrigues your mind and is somewhat educational which I think the goal of the makers of this game was, there is so much to enjoy but if you want it just as a game to shoot and kill and etc it works out too, It's the best video game I have played as its enjoyable at every turn. I have about 80 games that I kept and as I said have played them over 30 years and can tell you I never thought we could come this far with the games as we have, I mean who remembers games on Commodore 64? Yes 64 now they are gigabits of info per second. The graphics are more artistic than real as MW2 and Batman seem to have somewhat Different graphics but that does not take away anything from the game, those are more for the story lines that don't look 100% real but no complaints from me.
To make it short (or is that late?): The Ultimate video game experience of my life (so far, as I assume they have to remove the remote from my dead cold hands!)
I want to keep this game to pass it on to my kids when I get one! Or do I have to buy a digital one of those?
OH one complaint, there is not as much interaction with the women, but don't tell my wife I said that. |
Assasins Creed 2... My Review.
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| Review Date: December 12, 2009 |
| Reviewer: JamesRollinsAndClemensFan01..., |
I recieved this game for my birthday, I had long since finished and replayed Assasin Creed, and was anxious to get started...
the graphics of the game, like the first, awesome! verry vivid detail.
the story line was Extreamly Better, no more listening to old wind bag at the beggining. yea!
GamePlay: this is proberly what you all have been waiting for. how's the glitches second time around... there was virtually no glitches in Assasins Creed 2. the only proberlem I had was if I played it for hours and hours the system would freeze, no big deal, most of the time. the only thing I found was the is you double blade assasinate two gaurds right after the first two it would freeze the game. I only noticed it after I had already won the game. after that I exspirenced nothing.
the gameplay was awesome. the sword fighting was alright, to me personally the little life measured the appear above the gaurds was a little unrealistic, but the sword play was, well, deadly.
the dual hidden blade's: they masterd the assasinating techniques with and you can defiantly kill a victim with more varitiy. you can assasinnate the pesky roof gaurds by the drop assasinate. which would have made the first game much more better in those assinine sisuations.
the game Assasin Creed 2 is EXTREAMLY GOOD BUY. I had only one thing I didn't like with the game. the adreniline that passed into you, the player's body, right when you plunge the hidden blade into your victim and the burst of adrenilin from the first game was awesome. really helped me move on in the first game. that thrill was like WOW! in Assasin Creed. I really felt connected with Altir in that. but it was somthing I didn't find the second game, it was just kinda like oh, there I killed him. no thrill. I felt it a few times in the game, but not enough to say hell yeah awesome thrill. it just wasn't there. other than that little did-bit there the game was AWESOME!
JamesRollinsAndClemensFan01...
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Awsome
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| Review Date: December 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Kazangian, LA, CA |
| I was hesitant to purchase this game at first. I have played the first one and unfortunately it came up short in alot of the game play and content. In this sequel Ubisoft seems to have listened to all the fans and have fixed some of the problems Assassins Creed 1 had and raised the bar for the gameplay and content. All in al this game is worth it. It is fun,the graphics are amazing.. waay better than 1 and is a well balanced game. |
The most realistic, lasting, and exciting game I've ever played!!
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| Review Date: December 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Stephen Schultz, Greenville, SC USA |
Assassin's Creed II makes massive improvments over the original. The main improvment is it's NOT repetitive. There are many more mission types. Ezio can do so much more than Altiair like swim and fly. The cities are so much bigger and more vibrant. There is an economy where you can earn money and spend it on upgrades. The people are more interesting and real, including Ezio himself. The sounds of battle and cities are as real as they can be.
OK, let's start off with the big man Ezio Auditore Da Firenze. He is the son of a father with two sisters and another brother. At first, you start off running errands for your father like delivering a message or letter. To make a VERY LONG story short, your father and brother are killed and you vow to extract vengence on those who were involved. This includes anyone from a poor theif to an extravagant noble. The voices and actions of the people are very realistic. They sound like they're right in the room. As you walk through the town, citizens cough, sneeze, fight, sing, talk, and rob. Pickpockets will steal from you. If you catch them, you can get your money back along with more. Sometimes some guys will come up to you and start singing. They are really annoying because they stand right in your way and won't move, so usually I grab them and hurl them across the street.
What's there to do? Plenty. Of course you have your main mission types were you tail someone, beat them up, pickpocket them, or assassinate them. The side missions have really changed from the first. Courier is one where you deliver a letter ASAP. Beat up events are where you beat unfaithful husbands to persuade them to focus their attention back to their wives. Assassination contracts enable you to do a quick job and wipe out from one to ten targets. Races allow you to show your skill in roof hopping. All of these main and side missions give you money. More money for harder missions. That's right. There's an economy. You earn money for missions, pickpocketing citizens, and finding chests. There are shops scattered around too. The blacksmith repairs your armor after its been damaged in a fight and sells you new weapons and ammo. What ammo? Throwing knives, smoke bombs, and bullets for your wrist gun (Ya it's cool). The taylor sells bigger pouches for your health, poison, and knives. He can also dye your clothes if you want to look extra fly. Artists sell you paintings to increase your uncle's villa's value and sell treasure maps to show you where hidden chests are. Doctors either heal you on the spot or sell you potions for later. These can help when you're in the middle of a battle and need health. Doctors also sell poison for your poison knife (ironic isn't it?). There are also cortesans, theives, and soldiers that are around the city for your to hire. They either distract or fight guards with you.
There are also 6 assassin tombs in all the cities. Complete these and at the end of each one there is an assassin seal. Bring these back to your uncle's villa to unlock Altiair's special armor (that's right they still dragged him into this). It is twice as strong as anything else and can't be damaged. Your uncle's villa gains value and earns you money. Buy paintings or renovate buildings there to make it make more money for you.
The weapons are excellent. Ezio has two hidden blades and can use both at once. He also can carry a sword, dagger, knives, health etc... The enemy AI isn't bad for a typical game. If you don't keep your guard up, they will take advantage of the opportunitity and strike. But they're not too hard to defeat especially if you have hired help.
Assassin's Creed II is a must play for every action gamer. Everything looks and feels real. There is much more to do and see. The ending is much more suprising than the original too. You might even learn a little italian too. |
Know The Creed
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| Review Date: December 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Michael O. Walden, Bethesda, MD United States |
| This game surpasses Assassin's Creed in every way. I purchased a HDTV recently and the graphics for this game is fantastic. I like doing side missions to any adventure game and this one has many to choose from. |
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Buy Now
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| Assassin's Creed II |
| List Price: $59.99 |
| Bestbuy Review Price: $55.99 |
| Buy Now |
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