Opinions over Time: Assassin's Creed 2 (Midway Impressions)

While Squash ignores Modern Warfare 2 and Assassin’s Creed 2, I on the other hand am making steady headway into both. I know MW2 has a very short campaign, but I’m currently quite engrossed in AC2. That and I’m currently at my parents house for the holiday and they don’t have a kickass sound system like I do. Assassin’s Creed 2’s sound is cool, but I think I can live without 5.1 and all that other jazz. MW2 though, really has memorable sound design, something the franchise has always gotten right, so I’m holding off. It really has more to do with AC2 than the sound system however, I’m not that big of an audiophile/douche bag.

So in my initial impressions, I said it felt like AC2 hadn’t even started. Well the next day I played for another hour and felt more or less the same. Still I wasn’t dissuaded however because once that third hour or so was done I was finally free to do whatever I wanted to with the world. Not only that, but Ubisoft Montreal throws so many options at you by that point that it is almost overwhelming. I could almost understand why the start of the game was so slow going for that reason except the majority of the things you can do aren’t slowly introduced over the three hours, they are all dumped on you about right before they give you free reign. So the slow start is basically just plot that could have potentially been told in a more interesting way, but if you can endure the beginning, I’m here to tell you it’s worth it.

I read a review the other day saying that if the original Assassin’s Creed was a proof of concept then the sequel is the full fledged game. I can totally see where that reviewer was coming from. The game still very much feels like the original, which was what was bothering me initially, but it eventually offers so much more. The first game gives you this giant sandbox, but gave you almost nothing to do in it. There were flags to collect if you were a masochist, but for the most part there was just the main campaign that consisted of climbing to the top of a tower, syncing and then using that to find and complete a few missions. There were only maybe five mission types and you had to do at least three before you could assassinate your target. After repeating this process nine times you had beat the game! Woohoo! Like I said before, I enjoyed the game, but I can totally see why others didn’t.

Assassin’s Creed 2 fixes that problem. There are so many things to do besides the main story that I am not going to even try to list them. This time around the developers took the sandbox approach more seriously and the result is a huge immersive world that I’ve spent hours exploring. The main missions are fun too, and they actually primarily consist of assassinating people. What a concept! There is still the occasional boring mission, but so far they have either been very short or part of what made the introduction so lousy.

I’ve found the plot a little difficult to follow, partially because I take so much time in between missions and partially because I can’t keep all the Italian named conspirators straight, but the menu has lots of documentation to help keep it all clear.

If it sounds like I’m bashing on the original despite claiming I loved it in the last post is because the sequel shows how good the first game could have been. It’s really what it should have been.

I can definitely say my midway impressions are a good deal better than my initial reaction. I’m excited to finish the game and write up my final thoughts. This game is huge however and I still have MW2 and Borderlands to finish as well as Brutal Legend waiting in my mailbox, so it may be a bit longer than I’d like. Luckily all the distractions are quite good. :)