Assassin's Creed 2 -- Final Opinion.

I have fully completed Assassin's Creed 2 with an in-game synchronization of one-hundred percent and the full one-thousand Gamerpoints. Assassin's Creed 2 is a great game. A game that improves nearly everything about the original. Visually the game is vastly improved. Most of the improvements come from the aesthetic side of things as renaissance era Italy proved to be full of visual splendor from an architectural perspective alone. As in the first game, the cities of Assassin's Creed 2 are intricately designed and teeming with life and rank among the best designed locations in gaming. On a technical level the game features improved character models. Although a few less than impressive ones show up from time to time. There is also constant texture draw-in. The gameplay of Assassin's Creed still features great free roaming platforming and exploration with the absolute best swordplay combat ever devised. They improved the combat by adding in different enemy types that come with their own styles. So you're constantly having to switch up weapons and tactics to deal with them in the most efficient manner. I was constantly amazed by the number of animations in battle. Having disarmed an enemy with a spear and killing him with it I was then facing an enemy with a two-handed axe. He proceeded to attack me and I blocked it with my spear only to have it break in two which led to a finishing move where I stabbed him in each side of his neck with broken sections of the spear. The battles are fluid and adaptive and thoroughly impressive. The story of Assassin's Creed 2 works on both levels. Advancing the present with Desmond and witnessing the past through Ezio are equally entertaining. And also like the original game Assassin's Creed 2 will leave you with more questions than answers, but in the best possible way. The conspiracies deepen, the implications are more grand. The game leaves you wanting more. They also greatly improved the structure of the game as to make the side missions and optional material far more interesting and varied. The game isn't flawless however as you'll still have issues controlling Ezio every once in a while. He'll jump off in a direction you didn't intend to go. It can be frustrating in the heat of the moment. I really enjoyed Assassin's Creed 2 and I'm glad I don't have to wait very long for part three. I'm giving Assassin's Creed 2 a 9.5. It's a game that makes my Game of the Year selection process far more difficult.