Assassin's Creed II

I played over 400 games in my life,some of them I can't even remember,some I played as a child so I don't even know the names.Only 9 games earned a full 10/10 ranking.AC2 is one of them.When I played this game for the first time,it was special for me.I loved the game from the moment it started.Fantastic story,amazing characters,memorable ost.Gameplay was huge improvment from first one.Parkour was faster,missions didn't feel repetitive like the last one.This time you don't play as Altair,but other ancestor of Desmond.Ezio is one the best characters made in video game,he is likeable.I like how Desmond is getting abilities and fighting skills from Ezio himself.Italy was a great setting,exloring towns like Florence,Venice was fun,rebuilding Monterrigioni was great.Doing 6 areas where in the end you receive Altair's armor was frustrating,but that armor looks so good.This game had everything you want from AC game.I played this in 2022 and I still liked it like the first time.I even went as far as collecting 100 feathers.Yup I was that crazy.Best ways to describe AC2 is simply the best,no AC hits you in emotion like this one.Story is your typical revenge story, but it was still fun regardless.Characters are well writen,ost was fantastic especially Ezio Family.It's funny to me how game from 2009 is still my favorite AC game ever made,but yeah I could talk until tomorrow why it's one of the GOAT games.2000's and early 10's Ubisoft was such a respectul company,it comes from time when they actually cared about what they were doing,playing these games you can see that they were passionate about their games.It's shame what Ubisoft has done afterwards.New developers doing it for money while being passionless,sequels made that literally look like the previous instalment,micro-transcations etc.But yeah this is definetly my favorite Ubisoft game ever made,no wonder they made 2 sequels to this one

Masterpiece

17hrs 38min

Assassin's Creed II is still the most consistently great entry in the series that improves upon the original exponentially.

Visually the game doesn't hold up that well with even visuals of the first entry being more impressive, but what makes it still enjoyable today is the atmosphere - the identity Renaissance Italy is quite apparent from the start, great enviromental design and style makes every location distinct and somewhat charmful to be in and explore. It's not a looker for today's standards, but it is an example of "aged like fine wine" that is still enjoyable.

Gameplay has received a substantional overhaul: more weaponry types and options making the combat more varied, especially dual hidden blade is a useful and an iconic addition, armors were added together with options to color every set in a different color, gadgets and equipment you could use were expanded, you can now costumize a hub area and watch it get rebuild, location variety is much more substantional, metroidvania style catacombs missions are highly enjoyable. Story mission structure luckly now plays like an adventure style game with any next mission could provide some surprises instead of repeat preperation missions of the first entry.

Narrative is easily the most consistant and enjoyable in the series, with a new protagonist Ezio being one of the best protagonists in gaming period. Charmful, dragic and entertaining to follow Ezio gives quite a refreshing experience together with a well developed personal arc. Story is quite good, spanning decades adventure that puts you up against templar targets that are the most memorable bunch in the series and the ones you actually can't wait to see be defeated. Ending though, although it sets up the sequel quite well, is somewhat abrupt cliffhanger in retrospective, would have preferred a conclusive ending for the entry to be more standalone.

To sum up: Assassin's Creed II is still a perfect entry to start the series with, a great example of "aged like fine wine" in nearly every aspect.

A huge leap forward for the series. One of my absolute favorite games in the series. A must play for old and new fans alike!

When I played this game around when I was 18-19 I never expected it to hit me this deeply. This game truly spearheaded my love of the assassin Creed franchise. The music, the concept I love all of it and this one is definitely among the top of the series.

The most AC AC game, will never be recreated