Assassin's Creed II

Game Info

Publisher: Ubisoft

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Genre(s): Action, Adventure

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: March 9, 2010

Summary

Assassin's Creed II is the product of over two years of intensive development by the original creative team behind the Assassin's Creed brand. In a vast open world environment, the game invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio's subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into an epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new gameplay elements, diverse weapons and a profound character progression that appeal to fans of the original Assassin's Creed as well as entice players new to the brand. [Ubisoft]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: Assassin's Creed: Director's Cut Edition

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 2.8 (out of 10) based on 418 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Matt gave it a10:
I am rating this purely on the game itself, not the Ubisoft DRM (which i didn't need to worry about because i cracked the game[shhh tell no one!]). The graphics, beautiful. The Free running, excellent, some tweaks made to improve it, and endless fun to be had. The story, FANTASTIC, and WAY better than Assassins creed 1. There is more to do, and a wider, more diverse range of directions to go, so it is not the same things over and over again. And the events that are taking place interest you and draw you in. The Combat system remains largely unchanged, but larger scale of enemy difficulties makes for some more challenging and often more enjoyable fights. And I love the cash aspect of this game. Instead of just having a sword and a dagger, the ability to buy and upgrade weapons, to save for the next one, is great! Plus the ability to upgrade the Villa (Sort of home town) in order to gain more revenue is good as. So, based purely on playing the game itself, i give it a 10. I give Ubisoft a 0 for trying their hardest to lose as many customers as they can, but admittedly they've put out a damn good game. I will add that this is an obvious console port, with the menu better controllable with keys, as well as the game telling you to press the "hand" key rather than the shift key (the HUD has an Xbox button style diamond like in Assassins Creed 1, with images corresponding to each button on an Xbox controller). Once you get past this, and the keys become muscle memory, you will have no more issues with it. I would give it 9.5/10 but there's no such option so I'm rounding up.

Chris Müller gave it a0:
Honestly, Ubisoft, what are you doing? As other games already described I also have an incredibly spotty internet connection. That's why I prefer to play singelplayer titels and offline RPGs or action games like Assassin's Creed The fact that I spent € 49,99 on a legit game that I CAN'T play makes me wanna puke! Ubisoft, that's definitely not the way to go! Sorry, but as long as you keep up this DRM, I will spend my money on other games. Fortunately there are plenty out there.

steve k gave it a6:
great graphics, ok gameplay, doesn't let you roam and play as you want - desynchronises when u kill civilians. Also, too easy - still giving game hints "press so and so to jump back etc etc" 20 hrs into the game. Surely you should just be told the controls - and, is this a shock? - work it out yourself! A game that holds your hand every step of the way isn't a game, it's an interactive movie - not what i wanted.

Chris W gave it a9:
The 9 is puerly for the game, as the game is very good, story line excellent, graphics good, voice acting brilliant, fight scenes awesome! It loses 1 point as it is a console port with an obvious lack of PC optimisation as it plays at quite low frame rates (average 30fps on 1920x1200 and all full settings) even on my brand new ATI 5870. I hear that the DRM is a bit of a killer for anyone who paid for the game. It seems Ubi have done exactly the opposite of what their DRM was supposed to do. When will these companies learn that no matter what they do to try and stop people cracking these games, the hackers will always find a way around it. All they do by introducing these DRM measures is to alienate the people who actually buy a legitimate copy. The pirates are rewarded for pirating since they do not need an internet connection to play, the game doesnt lock up and freeze when connection is lost and save games arent lost when the internet goes down, the crack takes care of all that.

Lysander S. gave it an8:
DRM aside, it's actually surprisingly good. Why do i not have a problem with the DRM? I gave up on Ubisoft and downloaded a work around. It worked, to say the least. Now then, as for the game itself: There's no repetitivity like the first game, every mission felt fresh and fun throughout. It took me, according to my stats, 25 hours to get to the end of the game, and i missed out the side missions, which there are plenty of, albeit repetitive, so you're getting your money's worth. I had a lot of fun with the game, i'd highly recommend it if not for the DRM. The voice acting is superb, the graphics are nice, although much like the first game. The addition of money to spend on equipment, health "packs", clothing, paintings, or just to invest in your huge villa is fantastic. The "notoriety system" seems like a work in progress, or a half arsed effort. Every large scale murder, or fight or socially unacceptable action will increase your notoriety, making guards identify you as an assassin faster, which will provoke a fight. That's all well and good, but the ways of lowering it are ridiculous. You can tear down a poster, located in an area the general public will never see, clearly just to give a free running aspect to it. 4 posters will clear your name completely. Or you can murder a "corrupt guard" which will clear 75% of your nororiety. Needs quite a clean up, but it's a fresh change to the game. Now for the downsides: For a start, the PC version is quite clearly a console port in every way. The controls are terrible in some places, such as having to repeatedly tap shift when using the Gondola (boat). Anyone with a PC knows that hammering the shift key boots you to the dektop because of the sticky keys nonsense.The lack of advanced graphical options is ridiculous. There's just "setting 1, 2, 3, 4" for about 5 options. No way to edit .ini files either, because Ubisoft don't respect their PC customers (clearly indicated by the DRM...). Also, some options won't save your settings, such as subtitles on, or inverted controls, etc. There's also the terrible physics engine, just like the first game. If you kill a guard on a slanted rooftop, his body will stiffen in the air, before the physics engine kicks in and his body slops down the side of the roof. Throwing an enemy off a building will result in the body bouncing and flipping around. The terrible AI, like the first game is still there, with guards getting stuck on railings, preventing their friends from climbing that point and pursuing me. The flying machine was a horrible disappointment, as was the the pistol attachment. It takes around 3 seconds to line up the shot, then after firing will increase your notoriety by 10% (explained above) and takes around 2 seconds to reload. Bullets cost 175 florins each, and you can only hold 6 at a time. Considering how loud and impractical the gun is, not to mention the huge cost, it makes other weapons far more viable options. Throwing knives, for example, are 50f each, and have a capacity of 20, not to mention the extremely fast throwing speed. The story is also quite deranged, while at the same time, interesting. (i've tried not to include any spoilers)The main problem i had with it is that it spans over the course of 23 years, yet none of the characters age at all. The protagonist should be in his mid 40's, yet looks the same as his late teens. The only character change is near the very end of the game, where the protagonist gains some stuble...wow. If you don't mind terrible DRM, lack of customisation options and a terrible engine (bwah hahahahahaha) then it's worth giving the game a go for the fantastic gameplay.

Disappointed Customer gave it a2:
10 points for a stunning, immersive game. -8 points for the horrifically invasive DRM that boots me out randomly every couple of hours. Finally sick of this BS, I have now uninstalled the legit version of the game and am playing the cracked version. Congratulations, Ubisoft, you've made me into a pirate. Yarrr.

Steve T. gave it a0:
I need to vent. Honestly, I don't know how good the game is because there always seems to be connection problems. Constantly, to the point where it's just pure frustration and the game is unplayable. The forums were no help whatsoever...believe me I tried everything. Before buying the game I had read some articles on this new DRM method but am not technically inclined enough to have judged its stability. You just expect that the manufacturer wouldn't implement something that didn't work well. So now hindsight is 20/20 and it's truly mind-boggling how someone at Ubisoft could think this was a good idea. I've spent $1000s of dollars on games over the years and wouldn't know where to start pirating a game. I just like to whip out the VISA card and start playing. But this is way, way over the edge. I'm out $60 and that's ok since I learned a valuable lesson...if the name Ubisoft ever shows up in Steam or on a retailer's shelf, I won't even look at it. No way, no how and I'll make sure that everyone I know that plays games is aware of the issue too.

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