Assassin’s Creed II

5 Responses to “ Assassin’s Creed II ”

1. Rhinotillexomania
   February 8, 2010 at 2:56 pm

   Well, if you convinced yourself that AC1 was good, then you’ll bite on this as well. As a gamer who has never played AC1 but knows a thing or two about whether a game is worth buying (MGS4,Modern Warfare) this is a big letdown. After all the hype, a sixty dollar investment, and three hours of game play, I’m ready to just give this to a friend of mine for free as a early Christmas gift. The only reason I keep playing is to see whether the game/story gets better, which is never a good sign. Things still move too slow for my comfort. If I wanted a history lesson on the Italian Renaissance, I’d rather get it via documentary or a distinguished professor. This is one of the worst games I’ve ever played. Hopefully, it’ll get better as I move along. If it does, I’ll change this review. Other than that, the graphics and controls are nice, but I still find it weird how Ezio, instead of simply jumping and climbing a wall right in front of him, will instead propel himself to the wall on the complete opposite side in which he is facing. This happens during multiple instances in the game, you’ll want to climb a ladder but instead, will throw yourself in to a haystack….weird, I know the free-movement environment is revolutionary and all but come on Ubisoft, take another six months and perfect this thing. Gamers and audiences deserve it. This game should have a 7.5-8.0 rating, not a 9.0 or higher. Rent this before playing,buy Modern Warfare 2, and some other game that deserves the full price. Sad,Sad day.

   Very nice counter-arguments. Most of my initial comments on this game were based on extremely weak assumptions, heuristics, inexperience, and personal biases. And you are correct, I am no professional reviewer, in fact, I’m not much of a gamer either. After a few more hours with ACII however, I’ve actually found it to be very enjoyable. I’ve moved it up to four stars as a consequence. The only game I really love is Chessmaster,(a Ubisoft title, for those who think I might have something against them) so my viewpoint is admittedly narrow. Nevertheless, please do have the courtesy next time of keeping your comments within the context of the argument/review. For those who did, thank you. My ill-founded review, as un-objective as it was, was never meant to berate anyone in particular. If you were offended, I apologize. I didn’t realize how personal some take video games. My most negative comments came in the form of criticizing a singular instance of consumption and the work behind a company’s product. Simply mentioning the inherent contradiction existing in my quote, “I know something about games that are worth buying” followed by the obvious fact that I had indeed, bought a game which I didn’t think was worth buying would have sufficed. To read too much into a simple, subjective product review is to say that one might want to consider spending their time reading other things more pragmatic. To resort to ad hominems is another thing entirely. There is a saying that comes to mind when I read some of the comments here, all of which I respect despite emotional attachments abound, “The first sign of a weak debater is characterized by someone who attacks the person and not solely their ideas”. That said, I’ll end this without a Parthian shot. I would still recommend renting this product before buying, and for those playing it currently,”Getting to all those assassins tombs are hard!”

   Just finished the game last night so here are my parting thoughts. The storyline really peaks at the end (Rome), great build up and I wish every assassination had this type of tension, but I wasn’t too happy with the “WTF” conclusion…..I don’t want to spoil it for anybody so I’ll just leave it at that and I still have pet peeves with the gameplay mechanics. On the last level, the timing and weaving in-between guards and monks to get to the target really made me feel good, in a very MGS 4 kind of way. A feeling that was missing most of the time. I think the game could be better if more of the boss sequences required this type of cunning, “mission impossible” type of acumen from the player. Calling in a small gang of thieves or courtesans is a clever addition for distraction, but think of how great it would be if you had to go through people and obstacles in an “assassins tomb”, non-linear manner to get to your target! All is well in freedom of movement but when one can just sprint by all the guards and assassinate the boss half the time, it really takes away from the game. A more careful balance between “roaming” and “restriction” should be addressed in the next installment. Dynamic and beautiful visual presentations are what make this game worth keeping, but on the same token, the script needs to be revamped. Too much repetition. In the end, it’s the music that really got me. Jesper Kyd did a fantastic score on this as did Hans Zimmer for MW2. Considering their musical genius, they probably did this stuff during downtime. “Venice rooftops” is gorgeous and the “Notorious” track really sets the perfect mood for giving corrupt officials and annoying lute-strummers their due. Enjoy.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. Craig
   February 8, 2010 at 5:34 pm

   This game is certainly an improvement over the original and is quite a fun game to play which is well detailed in other reviews. I am giving it a lower “fun score” since the story made it much less fun for me than Assasins’s Creed I. While the developers have included a disclaimer that the game is a work of fiction and was developed by people of varying cultures, there is a fair amount of information in the game presented as history. The game is a violent game and deserves the Mature rating. I think most people would probably like this video game, if you like this genre. But in my opinion, if you are Catholic, you may not find it a welcome addition to your video game library. I personally would not have purchased this game if I knew the ending in advance, which is the only reason I am posting this review, as it has not been commented on yet. I have deleted my spoiler about the ending, but I am sure you can find it reviewed online elsewhere.
   Rating: 1 / 5
3. spectateur
   February 8, 2010 at 6:30 pm

   First of all the game is poorly executed (for instance all the combats are a joke – e.g. you attack 10 soldiers and 9 are watching while you bang the 10th one to death) and boring (you have to run around forever over and over again for the same things, feathers, treasures etc.).

   Second of all the game is very disrespectful to the religion that shaped our civilization and society for over two thousand years (you are a muslim hood killing christians culminating in killing the Pope in the Saint Paul cathedral while he is celebrating the mass; according to the game the pope has the bible for nothing and under the cathedral there are no bones of St. Peter but a living pagan goddess Minerva that warns you about “the cross”).

   We all know the outcry of the Muslim world at the publishing of Mahomet caricatures in Denmark. I wonder what would have happened to this Muslim development team were they to move from France to let’s say Saudi Arabia and release a game about a christian killing muslims and religious heads in Mecca sacred grounds and “discovering” that the muslim faith is baloney.

   I am not religious but this stupid disrespect for any religion makes me not to buy any Ubisoft game again.
   Rating: 1 / 5
4. W. Medina
   February 8, 2010 at 7:32 pm

   This game is not compatible with the PS3 firmware v3.1. The game freezes! According to Ubisoft Forums, this is happening to everyone. Don’t waste your money until Ubisoft or Sony fix the problem.
   Rating: 1 / 5
5. George Buchanan
   February 8, 2010 at 9:38 pm

   Didn’t actually play this game, but AC-I was so repetitive that I didn’t bother finishing it. I’ll pass.
   Rating: 2 / 5

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