Well, hello! It is 2018 and I had a craving to speak about another game I love.
Assassin's Creed 2 was released in 2009 and it blew a lot of people away with its story, graphics and gameplay. I remember watching the demo on YouTube (I need to mention that at the time, my previous open world experience was limited to the Grand Theft Auto series) and being left speechless by the seamlessness of the free running system, the amount of NPCs and the fact that you could sneak around through crowds, but also by the distractions you could cause by throwing money on the ground, using smoke bombs, poison, hired groups of mercenaries, thieves, courtesans. It was simply astonishing and fresh.
The story starts with the always dreaded future segments. Desmond, the protagonist of the series at the time, escapes with the help of Lucy Stillman from the Templar front operation, Abstergo. The escape sequence shows us that Desmond, while having a cardboard personality, is not a pushover in combat by making the player fight Abstergo security guards on the way out.
After the escape the jolly pair make their way to the Assassin hideout, where Desmond is popped into a homemade version of the Animus (called Animus 2.0), a device which lets the user relive the memories of ancestors. The true story begins, with Ezio Auditore da Firenze as the lead, just about to duke it out with Vieri de Pazzi, a guy from a rival family, on a bridge in Renaissance era Florence (1476 to be more precise). At this moment we are shown how arrogant Ezio is through his dialogue related to Vieri, which is also far from being a saint. During the brawl, Ezio's older brother, Federico, joins in, helping his sibling. Later, into the night, the brothers race to the top of a church and say the words that mark the course of the story thereafter: 'It is a good life we lead, brother.' 'The best, may it never change.' 'And may it never change us.' Of course, a short time after this heartfelt exchange, Ezio's two brothers and his father are hanged, because Umberto Alberti, someone they called an ally, betrayed his family and tarnished their name. From this point on, Ezio gets his father's attire without knowing its purpose, and starts his quest for revenge which eventually turns into a quest for stopping a conspiracy which threatens the very concept of free will, mirroring his evolution throughout the story. I will not elaborate on the story past the first few hours of the game, because it is a damn good one and spoiling it would be a shame.
The gameplay is split into three pillars: movement, stealth and combat. The movement is powered by the free running system, which has three stages, in the absence of a better term. There is walking, by simply pushing the WASD keys on PC, or the left analog stick on controllers, the running, which uses the walking controls, while holding the left click on the mouse, or the RB on Xbox, respectively R1 on PS3, and then, there is the sprinting, which you will use most of the time. The sprinting is accomplished by running while holding the space bar, A on Xbox, X on PS3. The sprinting is also used for climbing, which, at the time, was an innovative way to get through a city. And the cities are really neatly designed, to incorporate the climbing without feeling shoehorned in.
Now, the stealth. It is the social kind of stealth most of the time, with the player slipping through crowds, also including the distraction methods mentioned near the beginning of the post. The stealth system also includes hiding spots, like rooftop gardens, haystacks and wells, from which you can assassinate guards and targets who get too close.
The combat is where the game falls apart. The enemies gather around you in a circle and the most efficient way to dispose of them is to wait for one of them to attack and counter kill him. Rinse and repeat until everyone hits the floor, except you.
The atmosphere is on point. You feel like you are in Italy during that time period. This is accomplished through graphics, filters and the music composed by Jesper Kyd. I will attach a playlist of the OST at the end of the post. You feel the joy in the designs of the buildings, in the paintings, in the clothing. There is a section during the Carnival of Venice later in the game which is just exuding the extravagant style of the Renaissance.
All in all, Assassin's Creed 2 is a wonderful experience which is left down by the place-killing combat. The game is still beautiful all these years later, which is a testament to the talent of the artists at Ubisoft, but it is also engaging because of the transformation of the main character.
As promised, here is the masterful work of Jesper Kyd: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu6_FOgZp3egY2d7orpjP6b8-kw0uiR37
@StefaNonsense @ROPname 