Assassin's Creed II | 
| From: UBI Soft
Category: Video Games
List Price: $39.99
Buy Used: $18.99
as of 7/30/2010 07:30 CDT details
You Save: $21.00 (53%)
New (41) Used (67) Collectible (4) from $18.99
Seller: avryx
Rating:  293 reviews
Sales Rank: 52
Platform: PlayStation 3
Genre: action_games
ESRB: Mature
Media: Video Game
Edition: Standard
Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: PlayStation 3
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 008888345343
Model: 008888345343
UPC: 008888240136
EAN: 0008888345343
ASIN: B00269DX5W
Publication Date: October 31, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Explore the deadly, shadowed world of the assassin with new assassin Ezio | | • | Roam freely through the lush and dangerous world of Renaissance-era Italy | | • | Do whatever it takes to complete your missions in the game's all-new open world and mission structure | | • | Thrive in an environment rich with power, revenge and conspiracy | | • | Practice your assassin's art with all-new weapons and instruments created by Leonardo da Vinci |
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Product Description
The world of the assassin is one cloaked in shadow and steeped in danger. Ensnared in a web of revenge and conspiracy, the assassin embraces power at its most elemental, acting as the dividing line between life and death. As an assassin confronted by perilous new challenges and difficult choices, what path will you choose?Features Explore the deadly, shadowed world of the assassin with new assassin EzioRoam freely through the lush and dangerous world of Renaissance-era ItalyDo whatever it takes to complete your missions in the game's all-new open world and mission structureThrive in an environment rich with power, revenge and conspiracyPractice your assassin's art with all-new weapons and instruments created by Leonardo da Vinci
Amazon.com Product Description
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 293
 High quality entertainment November 18, 2009
Mr. Hui Cheng (Oakland, CA United States)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful
ACII should be summarized as great story telling mixed together with fun, realistic game play.
The story really flows from the beginning and draws the players into the history and the intrigue. The amount of detail and effort put into the game environment is amazing. And the open world reminds me of the play in GTA4 where you can jump onto basically anything, swim in the water, run around the rooftops and hide in all sorts of places.
In addition to the main game story and missions, there are a ton of side quests!
If you are into action/adventure games, ACII is definitely worth getting!
Hugely Satisfying and Entertaining... April 21, 2010
Arun Thuraiarasan (Minneapolis, MN)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
First off, I haven't played AC I and a newbie to open world themed games. But reading all the positive reviews of AC II prompted me to try it and I have to say I hugely enjoyed this game. I really enjoyed this game broadly for its story, pacing, attention to detail of the environments, character development, voice acting, rich color pallet and varied missions. But what really stands out are Renaissance era Italian cities. They are literally living, breathing characters in this game. I have to commend the developers at UBI Soft for painstakingly recreating these cities and their architectural marvels in gorgeous detail and staggering scale. In my past life I had dabbled in Architecture and been fascinated with Italian, Greek and Egyptian architecture. Just being able to run around these cities, scale all historic buildings and take in the magnificent cityscapes from top of view points as the camera revolves around you, was the next best thing to actually being there in person. The experience is quite visceral and astounding. If you scaled the Florence Duomo Cathedral, you know what I'm talking about.
Apart from that, the missions are quite varied and don't seem repetitive at all which was a big complaint against AC I. The voice acting with Italian accents and dialogue for most characters are spot on and added more authenticity to the game. Character development for lead character Ezio Auditore and other important characters are quite well done and the actor giving voice to Ezio seems to have really put some effort into it and it shows. Other than that, the population of the cities have colorful PCs and NPCs from thieves, brigands, mercenaries, prostitutes, nuns, annoying minstrels, merchants, announcers, messengers and normal citizenry. The navigation and combat controls are not that difficult to get used to and navigating the cities and climbing felt natural. Navigating using the map took some time to get used to in the open world but once down pat, felt quite comfortable. You will get lost in the cities unless you use the map! The AI system seems better than most other games and not that forgiving that you feel unchallenged.
Pros:
1. Gorgeous and detailed environments.
2. Lengthy game and huge cities to explore.
3. Excellent voice acting and character development.
4. Interesting storyline - Integration of real life historical figures and incidents into the storyline is nice.
5. Monetary system - Earning money and spending on upgrades added an interesting aspect to this game. But midway/three-fourths through the game you will have money to burn and nothing to do with it afer all the upgrades.
6. Apart from main story line there are non-essential side missions like assassination contracts, races, message delivery, beat ups, finding feathers, unlocking futuristic conspiracies etc. which adds a ton of replay value.
7. The developers have achieved a lot of breath in game elements variety and little less in depth.
8. Decent AI.
Cons:
All accolades aside, there are some blemishes in this well-made game.
1. A lot of characters look blocky in close-ups and dating back to PS2 standards of rendering while the environments themselves are gorgeously rendered making this a glaring anomaly. In doing the inevitable comparison to Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 in terms of overall graphics, AC II going to come off as second best.
2. Combat leaves much to be desired. The choice of weapons and how you earn them is interesting. Its not for lack of variety in combat moves and weapons but its just that combat could have been more fluid. I guess I'm less forgiving in this aspect as the bar for combat has been set very high after playing the God of War series. (I know, I know I should not be comparing a hack and slash with a third-person action adventure :))
3. Much as I try to get into it, the Animus concept just doesn't fly.
4. The final boss fight felt a bit tame and the ending abrupt.
I'm at a stage in life where family and professional obligations don't allow for playing at a stretch where day turns to night and then back again. I found Assassins Creed II to fit the bill perfectly and I played this on and off for a couple of months till I finished it at my own pace.
One of the best games of 2009! November 21, 2009
Jason Bean (Iowa City, IA)
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
I'll say I was not a HUGE fan of the original Assassin's Creed. It had beautiful graphics, a great open-world environment and a fun gameplay engine, but was hampered by level repetition and a horrid use of a dual story. Thankfully this sequel not only fixes these issues but surpasses expectations as a game itself.
Like the original, AC2 begins in the future with an escape from the first game's institution. Thankfully this segment is acton-packed...and short. Within minutes you're back in the "game" world in late 1400's Italy. This (like the first game) is where AC2 mostly takes place. If you're like me and absolutely HATED the bits in the future of AC1, don't worry. You spend maybe 10 minutes a piece split up into three segments (though the middle one seemed a bit longer) in the future world. I still hate that you have to leave the game world proper at all but at least it's only for 30-40 minutes in an otherwise 30+ hour game. Yes the game's THAT LONG!
Your hero in this game is Ezio. He's an Italian noble and has alot more personality and is alot more fun than Altair from Assasin's Creed 1. He's sort of cross between Nathan Drake, Casanova, and Batman. The story (ignoring the future bits) is a great revenge-conspiracy plot set through 30 years of Ezio's life. While I won't pretend all the character's are memorable, they're all played with personality and wit and the voice actors never strike a false note (you can even switch to playing the gamein Italian with english subtitles!).
The gameplay is also MUCH more fun and more varied than AC1. They leave out all the investigation bits of an assasination but add more story-based, action-packed missions for you to work through up to your assassinations. These again are VERY fun and each mission you go on feels completely unique to the one before it. Even the optional assassinations have more rules an complexities as you work through them.
Speaking of varied, aside from the basic story missions which will see you fighting, flying, riding horses, piloting boats and escorting/protecting characters there's also a villa you can upgrade to get discounts on weapons/armor/clothing/medicine etc. I've never played a game that gives you so much to do in so many different ways. While none of the custimization and mission structure is new to games I don't think all of these elements have been brought together so seemlessly before which is the big reason I like it so much!
Also, if this isn't the best game of the year it has one of the best soundtracks. The music is not only original and cool it changes perfectly to match the action in the game (chase scenes, flying, hiding etc). The developers really went out of their way with this one.
Aside from a slow first few (story based) hours Assassin's Creed 2 will hook you and never let go. I still think the Animus is an intersting but failed idea, but it doesn't even remotly take away from the awesome things you can do in this game. There's still time before the end of the year but I can't think of too many games that will be able to top this one.
AC2: Greatest sequel in history? April 28, 2010
PabloMF24 (San Jose, Costa Rica)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This game without a doubt, is one of the greatest sequels in history, if you know history you're gonna love this game, the gameplay is amazing as the story, and the game improve in all aspects.
Buy this game!!!!
A successful Sequel December 5, 2009
Kenneth Lambert
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'll start out by saying that this game is an improvement in every way over Assassin's Creed. I started playing it right after Uncharted 2 so the graphics at first seemed a little rough at first, but considering how much more massive the game is compared to Uncharted 2, it is barely fair to compare. It didn't take long to adjust when the game sucks you in so quick. But don't get me wrong the game is beautiful, and the detail that has gone into each building and city is amazing. It is great to look from a view point and decide where you are headed next, knowing you can reach all of it.
So first off the gameplay is a lot of fun, if you hadn't played AC or just hadn't played in a long time it will take some adjusting again to get used to the control set up. But they do ease you into the controls starting out with the most important aspect, free running. This is the only part of the game I found a flaw in. Ezio has a tendency to jump of things and grab onto things you don't really want him to, you can let go of X to avoid this, takes practice to time it right. It also doesn't help that the buildings have slanted roofs so you can't tell how far a jump is. This isn't Ubisoft's fault, but the mini map does help to see if it is a jump you can make. Other then that, the controls are great and a lot of fun to use.
Now the story has improved greatly. It is slow at first, but toward the end things really start to pick up. I don't want to give anything away, but unlocking "The Truth" is worth the trouble. After unlocking the video I actually had to take a step back and remember that it was just a game and it was actual footage. I can't wait for ACIII to see what happens next.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 293
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