Assassin’s Creed II – PC – Review

Forward into the past …

Firesign Theater used that as a title of a comedy album back in the 1970s, but that phrase seems apropos when talking about Assassin’s Creed II. After all, to save the future, the main protagonist has to travel back into the past, to the Renaissance period, and connect with a distant relative in order to ingrain the skills he will need in his present.

Before traveling too much further down the road that is AC II, it has to be stated that in order to play the game, owners must have constant connectivity to the Internet. It is tied to the licensing of the game, and even though this is a single-player only game, if the connection is not maintained, the game will pause and forward progress through the story arc is interrupted.

Why, you are wondering? It has to do with digital rights management and prevention of piracy.

For those who experienced the game on console in 2009, about the only real difference between those versions and the PC are a couple of sequences that filtered into the console versions via download are available in the PC edition.

(GameZone’s reviews of the PS3 version can be viewed by clicking the platform link.)

The game begins in the shoes of a modern-day adult male named Desmond. Desmond is being held in a high-security lab, where he is being subjected to using a device called the animus that links him mentally to a distant relative in Renaissance Florence, Italy. The templars, the group that operates the lab, are seeking powerful relics that they hope to use to gain a controlling influence over the world. Desmond is a tool, a means to an end, and as such, he is little more than a lab rat. However, another group sees him as something more and he is sprung from jail. The group, which is linked to a past group, or guild, of assassins, are the enemies of the templars and are out to stop the plans of the aforementioned templars.

That’s where Desmond comes into play. His link to the past is Ezio Audituerre de Firenze, a very capable assassin who seemingly was embroiled in a similar battle. By connecting Desmond to Ezio, Desmond absorbs Ezio’s knowledge and combat skills, and that will make him a lethal ally and a formidable foe for the templars.

The game begins with flashbacks to the past, snippets of Ezio’s early life and the progression Ezio made to become an assassin. The way the game weaves those parts together is clever because they serve as tutorials for the game’s controls. The controls are fully customizable, which is good. There are some elements that can be simplified if the player takes time to think though the most used key strokes and then finds the easiest key combinations possible.

However, the depth of the control scheme becomes valuable when looking at the combat. AC II is not always about hiding and striking from dark areas. Sometimes the best way to escape is to lose Ezio in the crowds on the streets. But when it comes to combat, there are simple quick attacks, but there are also many other options that transform the fighting into a deadly dance that is glorious to watch.

New weapons are available from merchants (looting the bodies of the fallen is encouraged), and there is a notoriety meter that comes into play and can affect the way the city vendors view Ezio. Ezio will take damage in fights and that does not regenerate in the manner that most games of this nature play out. Visiting a doctor, or purchasing medicines are the only ways to get Ezio back up to 100% health. And not only does Ezio get to upgrade his armor and gear, but as the story moves along, there are opportunities to upgrade Ezio’s villa or maybe upgrade a vendor’s shop. In some ways, Assassin’s Creed II has a system where what is done in the moment will pay dividends a bit later in the game … or the reverse.

There are quests (both of the main storyline and side quests in nature) that can be queued up to keep the action rolling along and certain places in the game act as save points.

The game is about 20 hours in length, and is entertaining and intriguing from start to finish.

Assassin’s Creed II is a multi-faceted gem; not only does it look good, it plays well and keeps players involved with the story. Ok, that DRM is a pain and Ubisoft needs to think of another way of protecting the game, but generally, this is a game that action PC gamers should pick up if they meet that ‘constant Internet connection’ requirement.