The first Assassin’s Creed was an average game. It held much promise and delivered on some of those promises but failed in several areas too. It was too repetitive, too linear and the storyline lacked a certain something to make it stand out. It was simply, quite bland. And I really do mean bland, like looking for leather sofas for sale with your girlfriend bland. There were some positives. The free running aspect of the game was amazing. Being able to climb any building, and reach anywhere on the map was great and the movements and animations of the character were fluid. The combat was also well thought out, relying on a counter-attack system that required good timing rather than just hacking and slashing.

In the second game the free running and combat has been left as it was, which is perfect. There is the addition of new weapons which adds a little spice to proceedings and there are a few more reasons to climb buildings because of hidden treasure chests and other collectables that are dotted around the cities. Your character can now interact with NPCs more often and on a more in depth scale. You can hire thugs to protect you or courtesans to distract guards. You can also throw money to distract entertainers or guards as well which is an interesting idea.

The story is much the same as the first. That is, it revolves around you working for the order of Assassins in their efforts to defeat the Templars. The story is, again, lacking in depth and emotion and is hard to really get in to. However, the story is not the reason you play this game.

You can now buy items such as medicine for quick healing when you are in those lengthy battles surrounded by many foes. You can also buy armour which increases your health. I though that was a nice touch, even though it is hardly a large aspect of the game. There is also the opportunity to help revitalise and renovate a town vital to the storyline. It is a bit of a pointless feature but is a bit of extra fun.

One gets the feeling that the creators have tried to make the same game but just add more things to do within the game. While this does make it better, none of the fundamental game-playing flaws of the first Assassin’s Creed have been fixed, so this game is, once again, not as good as it should be.