I'm glad my words taste like candy...

If you listened to our past Podcasts, especially the ones during PAX 2009, you would see that I had been particularly hard on the Assassins Creed series. I didn't find the first one extremely enjoyable and I found many opportunities to bash the sequel when discussion turned to the topic. Of course, the underwhelming presentations during PAX didn't help. From the oddly located hay bales to the notorious “potted plant mechanic” I expressed, sometimes quite vocally, that Assassins Creed II would be more of the same with some cheap gimmicks thrown in, and that the excitement surrounding the series was little more than manufactured hype created by a company that had signed a three game contract with a developer.

Then I played the game.

Honestly, Assassins Creed II is up there with some of the more enjoyable games I've played this year. The improvements to the game are quite substantial and I find myself getting that itch to play if I haven't done so for awhile. The addition of the upgradeable Villa is a big step toward adding some rhyme and reason to those collection activities that are beginning to define this series. Enzio has a myriad of tools at his disposal this time around and I find myself experimenting with different ways to complete each mission. This opened ended quality to the missions was something that we at 4PP really wanted to see. Though they are nowhere near as interesting or open as those found in the Hitman series, you can tell that the developers are certainly going in the right direction. My current excitement for Assassins Creed II is only surpassed by what Assassins Creed III will bring. By taking the lessons the developers have learned so far, and further expanding upon them, ACIII has the potential to being the true classic that many already hail the series as being. You can tell I still have a touch of skepticism.

The game is not without its flaws. I've thrown my controller down more than a few times when Enzio decided to bounce around the walls like a crazy, meth-fueled, monkey when I'm trying to run down a target. Or if Enzio decides that its perfectly fine to jump to his death one moment when a few seconds ago I couldn't make him jump when I wanted to. The graphics are gorgeous, though the models and the animations during the cut scenes are comically bad. (Apparently there is an epidemic of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in the AC universe.) Also Enzio tends to go where the camera is pointing, not where you're aiming him; something that can be a fatal flaw when speed is the key to completing some missions.

All of these are forgivable, however, when so much of the game is as enjoyable as it is. I presume that I'm about half-way through now and, unless the game takes a serious turn for the worse, it will certainly be one that I can be proud to have in my collection. Not a perfect game, but a great game and if all the talk is true, they have one more shot to make a masterpiece.

-Joseph-