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From this article, we are going to talk about the second game of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed II. This game was released in 2009, two years after the first one.
We suggest you take a look at our gameplay review about the first Assassin’s Creed game too.
As the second installment of the series Assassin’s Creed II has got a lot of improvements than it’s predecessor. These improvements made the series far more interesting and fascinating.
Release of Assassin’s Creed II
As mentioned earlier, the game released after 2 years from the first one. Ubisoft had started developing the game just after the release of Assassin’s Creed’s first game. The game is pretty much old, however, it made a huge contribution to the franchise introducing many new gameplay mechanisms. Due to these reasons, it’s considered one of the great games ever made.
The game is playable in a low-end PC (both Windows and Mac OS), Playstation 3 (later released for Playstation 4).
The game is well famous as the first game of The Ezio Trilogy followed by Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
Gameplay Experience
Like all installments of the series, this game is also an action-adventure categorized game. However, this game has a huge open world comparing to other early games of the franchise. Players can roam around the cities of ‘Florence’, ‘Monteriggioni’, ‘San Gimignano’, ‘Venice’, ‘Forli’, and ‘Vatican City’.
The game is set in 15th century Italy. Players can enjoy the renaissance Italy very much in the game where they can explore the beautiful landmarks across Italy. Playing this game, you can learn many things about renaissance very much.
New Animus 2.0 introduces a different HUD (Heads Up Display) and gives a rich database of information about landmarks, people, and society. Unlike the first game, the player is able to swim, rowboats, buy medicine from doctors, and hire various factions ( ‘mercenaries’, ‘courtesans’, and ‘thieves’).
Assassin’s Creed 2 ‘s open world is very much improved compared to its previous game. A notoriety system and various ways of blending in the crowd are added too.
Another important thing is the addition of new weapons. Improving the old Hidden Blade, the game introduces Dual Hidden Blades, Hidden Gun, and Poison Blade as prime examples.
Improved version of Eagle Vision used in the game. This helps to identify the objectives and landmarks as well as secrets.
Assassin’s Creed II game also gives the privilege of meeting some great historical figures such as ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, ‘Niccolò Machiavelli’, ‘Caterina Sforza’, ‘Bartolomeo d’Alviano’ and ‘Pope Alexander VI’ ( Rodrigo Borgia).
Story of Assassin’s Creed II
Protagonists
The game centers around present-day protagonist Desmond Miles (the main character in Assassin’s Creed’s first game). After escaping from modern-day templars ( Main antagonists), Desmond Miles manages to get to a safe house of assassins with the help of former absterges agent Lucy Stillman. There he meets Rebecca Crane and Shaun Hastings (another two assassins).
At the safe house, Desmond again use the Animus 2.0 machine to access his ancestral DNA of Ezio Auditore da Firenze a young nobleman who lived in Renaissance Italy.
Ezio’s Quest for Revenge
Ezio lived a rather wealthy life before his father and two brothers are killed for treason. In Florence, Ezio meets Leonardo da Vinci who helps Ezio throughout his journey. Before his father’s death Ezio finds out that his father, Giovanni was also an assassin. With the help of some friends of his father Ezio kills the traitor. After that, he runs away from Florence with his mother and sister to his uncle Mario Auditore’s villa in Monteriggioni.
From his uncle, Ezio learns about Assassins and templars and the enemies responsible for his father and two brothers’ death. He deals with the Pazzi family in San Gimignano and managed to save the Medici family back in Florence.
Then Ezio travels to Venice, where he confronts the Barbarigo family ( also a templar family). He finds out that the grandmaster of the templar order is none other than Pope Alexander VI also known as Rodrigo Borgia. In Venice, he meets Niccolò Machiavelli (Assassin) and Bartolomeo d’Alviano (Mercenary Captain). Both of them aids Ezio to achieve his objectives.
After the events of Venice Ezio travels to Forli to help Caterina Sforza (countess of Forli). With the helping of many friends, Ezio finally confronts Templar grandmaster Rodrigo Borgia in Vatican City. There he gets the apple of Eden and with the help of the power of it, Ezio defeats Rodrigo Borgia. However, Ezio decides not to kill the grandmaster.
End
Back in the present-day Desmond learns the message given by Minerva, a person from the first civilization who had eradicated from the Earth long ago.
Shortly after Dr. Vidic and Abstergo agents raid the safe house where Desmond confront them and get away from them after a fight. Desmond, Lucy, Rebecca, and Shaun continue to find more clues about ‘Pieces of Eden’.
Conclusion
Some gamers say that this game is the best game of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. It is certainly a candidate for the best game of the series because of its story and gameplay mechanisms. Like mentioned earlier the game itself offers you a lot of gameplay experience. So make sure to play the game end to enjoy it.
