It's basically more of the same with some small, but nicely thought out additions. This is not a bad things, as Assassin's Creed 2 was one of the best games of 2009, so more of that suited me just fine.The single player story follows Ezio Auditore da Firenze after his decades of struggle with the Templars in the last game. Despite the severe blow dealt to the Templars in previous story, the war isn't over and they strike back against the Assassins just as hard. Following this, the action shifts to Rome as Ezio flees there to gather allies, rebuild the Assassins and reclaim what was taken from him. The point of all of this story is because, in the framing story set in 2012, Desmond and the other Assassins still need to know what happened to Ezio's artifact.
Playing out this story over nine chapters is a lot of fun. More so that I first expected when I heard there was another Ezio game coming. I wasn't sure there was another story worth telling with those characters. I'm glad that Ubisoft didn't think so, as it now feels like Ezio's story is all wrapped up properly and it's also got Desmond's story in 2012 moving in a very interesting direction, while the previous game did little to get the framing story going.
The game models a vibrant busy city in crazy detail, and it's bigger than anything remotely like it I've seen before. The game's version of early 16th Century Rome is tremendous fun to just wander and explore. Repairing the city as you influence spreads is fun as you see run down old buildings and shops repaired and districts of the city clean up as you go. Building your own guild of Assassins is fun, and they are tremendous fun to use to back you up on missions, though in a few cases it makes it a little easy. In one case, I had to kill a target without being detected and as I planned the approach, I realised I could just hide where I was, highlight the target and summon backup. My assassins arrived out of nowhere, killed the target and disappeared. Job done. Satisfying, but a little too easy. Rebuilding the guild is a lot of fun though, and it's a logical step for the story as the previous game and the opening of this one had told us of how the war with the Templars had reduced the Assassins to a handful of operatives.
It all wraps up in a satisfyingly exciting and maddening cliffhanger - which seems to be another trait of the series - but that's not where it all ends. For the first time there's multiplayer included in the game. Under the guise of the Abstergo Corporation training Templar agents to go after the Assassins in 2012, you play one of many people hunting down targets while also being hunted. There are other game modes where teams take turns hunting each other and other such variants, but I've only had a chance to play the basic mode. In that mode, you must hunt down your target, trying to find him amongst a map full of computer characters that look just like him. 6 to 8 others are also doing the same and one of them is after you.
It's not like any multiplayer I've played before. While a lot of players will just run around after their targets non-stop, plenty will take the stealthy approach trying to blend in with the computer characters. The way to win is to fail the Turing test and be mistaken for just another AI script. It works well, but I'm not sure how much I like it. The whole time I was playing, my heart was pounding and I was nervous as hell. For every kill I pulled off without alerting my target there were as many, or more, kills where what appeared to be just another AI suddenly pulled a blade and stabbed me. It's fun, and certainly different to most other kinds of multiplayer, but I'm still a little uncertain if I like it enough to play it a lot.
Lastly, I thought I'd share this fan music video made with clips from the Assassin's Creed series. It does a great job of blending the series's three protagonists together, especially towards the end of the video.
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