You Suck

I just finished this over the weekend. It is everything you want from a sequel: everything has been improved/revamped as well as additions being made

Spoilers ahead

I have not kept quiet my love/hate with the original AC. The free running was excellent and the landscapes were just amazing. Determining the proper route to ascend up a viewpoint, finally making your way up and getting the outstanding view as a reward (as well as map areas opened). However, the combat was repetitive (counter, kill, counter, kill) and some of the missions were just annoying. Eavesdropping was an awful idea, especially since it made the player feel like they were not really involved. The story would mostly keep you in the dark, not the least of which is the revelation at the beginning that you are not actually Altair, but you are Desmond in modern times reliving the memories of your ancestor. That really came as a shock. The areas between cities was frustrating, especially since anyone would attack you simply for being on a horse

Well, AC2 changes everything. The story is fleshed out and really makes you an involved participant. Hell, the story takes the kind of risk that I’m shocked has not created controversy (more later). Combat still relies upon counters but there is more strategy to it. Hopping from building to building flows better now. There are multiple ways to get rid of guards. Also, as all great sequels do, you grow up and learn to swim (hooray, no more inflatable bobbie things on my shoulders!).

Starting with combat. Two major aspects that changes this are the addition of enemy health meters and an actual inventory. Some enemies cannot be killed with a counter immediately. You need to whittle their health down to a certain point and then, finally, they can be killed. To compound this, you will have archers taking you out from afar, causing you to somehow fight through the group in front of you and take out the archers first (or at least get near them, causing them to go melee).

With several kinds of guard to fight, you are given multiple options on how to attack them. You can use daggers, knives, swords, hammers, maces, poison, smoke bombs and the double hidden blade. There are multiple versions of all weapons. You can change the type of weapon on the fly but you can only change from one sword to another at your villa. Each weapon has different properties such as relative strength of the weapon and how good it is at deflecting attacks. Of course, there is also the aesthetic quality to consider, as each weapon is distinct from each other. You can also purchase different kinds of armor, which carry their own attributes and look.

In addition to all of this, there are new abilities to master. You can now fight unarmed and steal an enemy weapon, which is crucial when fighting those carrying a polearm or axe. The axe-wielders are particularly troublesome, as they can take off about half of your health in two consecutive attacks, during which they just wail on you like the brutes they are. You can only counter these attacks if you are carrying a polearm or axe. As I said about whittling an enemy down to kill them, it is the same for stealing weapons sometimes. You start with the hidden blade, kill one guy with a counter, switch to unarmed, punch an enemy a few times and hope he doesn’t counter you, steal his weapon, turn it on him for a sweet death animation, throw a smoke bomb to make the 8 guys surrounding you more manageable, poison one of them which causes him to swing wildly and so on. That is a normal fight.

A new feature that is nice is the addition of the villa. After you complete a bit of the first city, your family’s villa opens up. Here, you can choos eto upgrade everything in the surrounding area to increase the flow of people to the area, thus increaisng the economy. This money is transferred to you. Every 20 minutes a certain amount (based on whatever you have unlocked) will go to the chest. Unfortunately, you must collect this yourself, so you will be frequenting the villa. You can also view your weapons and armor here in addition to all of your side quests and a few quests from family members.

Because, really, this is family-driven game. I’m aware that I’m not writing all of this in order but I don’t feel like changing the format. You play as Ezio Auditore in late 1400’s Italy. You run some errands for your father and he ends up being captured-for what, you don’t know-along with your 2 brothers. You are there when they are hung by the man who said he was your father’s friend and puts out the word to have you killed. Eventually, you find out your father was an assassin and you must take up his spot, donning his gear from the secret compartment behind the fireplace (very cool moment). Your mother is grief-stricken and basically a shell, your sister confused. You are taken in by your uncle who teaches you the way of an assassin. You proceed to hunt down the Templars who are responsible for your father’s death and discover bits of plot along the way.

A big part of AC2 are the new platforming areas and puzzle glyphs. There are 6 hidden tombs of past assassin’s that, if you complete, you find their sigils, which unlock Altair’s unbreakable armor. These are outstanding platforming levels which require quick movement and knowledge or where to go. You will find yourself scoping out the area before really trying anything. When I completed the first tomb, I felt a great sense of satisfaction upon completion. I took a look back at what I had done and I was impressed at the design of it all. It really makes the free running of the game shine.

The puzzle glyphs are hidden landmarks scattered throughout the world. You are alerted when one is in the area and it is then up to you to locate it. Once you do, you will go through a series of puzzles that accompany plot points accentuated by historical figures. These include choosing the paintings that go together, spinning wheels to make an image, identifying parts of an image and using a code wheel to unlock something. These are rather challenging puzzles, made more challenging by my lack of an HD TV. This was very frustrating…but a separate topic.

The main part I would like to deal with re: glyphs is their ultimate purpose. Once you unlock all 20, you uncover the ‘truth.’ I will also be unlocking spoilers here, as well as part of what I’m shocked is not controversial. The truth is the reason behind all of civilization. The short film depicts two people, a man and a woman, on the run inside some facility. They are obviously skilled at free running, going all over the place. They finally get outside and to the top of the facility. one of them is holding a Piece of Eden, the big item from AC1. They are in a desert of some sort, the only building around. The man turns to the girl and says, ‘Eve, do you have it?’ She pulls out a Piece of Eden and says, ‘Yes, Adam.’

It’s fucking Adam and Eve!

AC2 is totally expanding its plot. It is now saying that Adam and Eve were simply experiments in some lab from some otherworldly race, essentially stating that all of humanity was created by these beings and not God. This kind of blew my mind, mainly for the balls required to take this arc. This is taking on legions of pissed off Christians who are set in their ways and messing with their holy book, even more than Legion. I have never before seen a more gutsy plot in a videogame, no matter how many times I have seen the world destroyed by some evil guy or a character unmercilessly killed. This is literally taking history by the horns and controlling it like it is your bitch.

AC2 takes plenty of actual people from history and plays with them as they wish. Leonardo da Vinci is an aid to the assassins who deciphers codex pages and creates new instruments for Ezio. Machiavelli makes an appearance as an assassin. The Medici’s are there. And then there is Rodrigo Borgia, also known as Pope Alexander VI, one of the most corrupt pope’s of all time. He killed, had prostitutes, raped people and so on. this is all represented in the game. Borgia is the party behind all of the Templar machinations. In other words, the Pope is to blame for everything. He eventually rises to Pope and you have to stop him.

Do you get to fight the Pope? Yes, yes you do! During the final fight in the Sistine Chapel, which you infiltrate, he even states that he does not believe anything in the bible. He wanted the Piece of Eden (which, combined with the Papal Staff, creates the weapon to control the world) solely to open a vault underneath the Sistine Chapel. It is said that a prophet will open the vault with these objects and see God.

Ezio defeats the Pope in a fist fight(Ezio doing the ‘no weapons, nothing but our hands, like men’ speech…if you have a weapon that controls everyone, why would you not use it here, even if it was propped up in the middle???) and leaves him alive, saying death is too good for him. When Ezio touches the staff, the vault door open: he is the prophet. He walks in and a woman appears as kind of a hologram. She explains that she has been known by Minerva and other names, others of her kind have been known as Jupiter and such. Ezio asks if they are gods and she says no, just other beings. She then begins to address Desmond (the Animus guy), leading Ezio to state that there is no one there. Sh etells him to basically shut up, he has filled his role. She begins to directly address the player themselves, a very well-done moment.

Meanwhile, Desmond is slowly gaining abilities from his time with Altair and Ezio. At one point, you take him for a test spin and go climbing all over the place to gain some plot points. He also is part of the best end sequence in videogame history, fighting your way out of the base as the Templars come after him while credits roll (I forgot to mention, you escape the facility in the beginning and set up shop with the assassin’s and their makeshift animus).

There is actually more that I could say but I won’t, this is nearly 2,000 words as is. This is easily one of the best games I have ever played and it is attempting something very neat, not something you see often. This is planned as a trilogy and I look forward to it. I think late 1800’s London would be an excellent setting, mixing in Jack the Ripper and even the new America.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 11:36 pm and is filed under Rabble Rabble. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.