Assassin's Creed II

Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)

The sequel has arguably changed for the better in just about every conceivable way...Assassin's Creed II truly offers an experience like no other, one that mixes history and brutality to sheer perfection. And it's absolutely massive. [Holiday 2009, p.38]

Cynamite

Assassin's Creed 2 manages to surpass its predecessor in almost every way.

Games Radar (in-house)

A huge improvement over the first game, Assassin’s Creed II offers up an enormous, beautiful open world that’s easy to get lost in, an epic storyline and all the fun that comes from creatively killing villains and tearing across 15th-century rooftops at ridiculous speeds.

GameSpy

Fantastic narrative aside, the most important thing to know about AC2 is that it won't make you want to throw your controller through your TV like the first game did.

3DJuegos

Assassin’s Creed II is a gem, a truly masterpiece. Developing a new economic system, and bringing more attention to combats, notoriety and context-script, Ubisoft achieves an awesome and epic experience. This sequel is far better than the first one.

Everyeye.it

Assassin's Creed 2 is miles away form the first chapter. It's a whole new game, different in many aspects. The main quest is involving and nice to play, and the number of side mission and extra activities is impressive (and all of them are fun to play). The setting is peculiar and unique, and the panoramic views are sharp and, somehow, magic.

Game Informer

Assassin’s Creed II is a complex, mature, and engaging journey from beginning to end. It stands as a benchmark for design that combines innovative ideas with tried-and-true techniques to create one of the great games of this generation.

PSX Extreme

The storyline is excellent, the voice acting and effects are excellent, the size, scope and detail of the environment is both a pleasure to behold and downright thrilling, interacting with everyone around you is an impressive experience, and the plethora of gameplay additions are much appreciated.

Vandal Online

With a more complete story, much more varied gameplay and the same virtues than the original, Ezio's adventures in the Renaissance will captivate everyone this time.

PSM3 Magazine UK

Overall Superb action and a smart, well-rounded story - a perfect sequel.

InsideGamer.nl

Forget Jerusalem and forget Altaïr. Ezio's adventure in Renaissance Italy is better in every aspect! Both Florence and Venice are enormous living cities with an fantastic atmosphere, and even the smaller cities are wonderful to walk and climb through. There is only one big rotten apple: Italy's wonderful capital city Rome is the smallest location in the entire game.

Gamers.at

Ezio has no problem beating Altair's efforts. On the technical side there might be some problems, but Assassin's Creed II is one of the best open world games out there.

Cheat Code Central

Assassin's Creed II is greatly improved over its predecessor. At the same time, it doesn't mess with what made the game so attractive to fans in the first place. The varied and refined gameplay along with the engaging story makes this title a must-buy for any serious gamer.

Multiplayer.it

Assassin's Creed II is not only a welcomed tribute to Italy, but also a videogame that has improved almost everything from the previous game. Graphically beautiful, with a great story, a lot of things to do and some cool ideas (like Auditore's Mansion), the last game from Ubisoft is finally a compelling game, that everyone should at least give a try. Obviously there are many things that still need to be improved, like AI and combat system, but as far as we can tell, the game is a must buy even for his gameplay, apart from the surroundings.

GameTrailers

Assassin’s Creed II has plenty of fixes and additions, but the story can drag, and the sense of awe that the parkour provided two years ago is muted. Yet new mission types, freedom from a linear quest, added depth, and a stronger historical bent fortify the overall experience. There’s still no other game quite like it, and whether you dismissed the first game or absolutely loved it, this is one creed worth taking.

IGN

The experience is layered, unique, and shows an incredible attention to detail. This is one case where the sequel has triumphed over the original by catching the gameplay up to the already excellent visuals. No matter what your preconceptions are about Assassin's Creed II, the game is well worth your time and money.

SpazioGames

Assassin's Creed II delivers a great story driven experience. Solving most of the problems of its predecessor, this accomplished sequel offers compelling action, beautiful environments and a great plethora of well written characters. A must have for every action-adventure fan with a taste for history, and one of the best games of this fall.

1UP

AC2 is everything a sequel ought to be: An improvement on the original in nearly every way. Perhaps more impressively, it actually has me interested to see where the series goes from here -- something I wouldn't have expected after I slogged my way through the original. Anyone who enjoyed the first game will definitely like AC2, but the real accomplishment is that people who didn't enjoy it will likely have a good time, too.

Eurogamer

Ubisoft Montreal has never been afraid to try new things, but after a few missteps with games like last year's Prince of Persia, perhaps the bravest thing it could have done with Assassin's Creed II was simply to make a classic open-world adventure, filled to the brim with things you want to do and the narrative motivation to continue doing them. The fact it's done so suggests we really should trust the studio when it says it's taken its lesson, and fills me with hope for the third game in the trilogy. In the meantime, we not only have the Assassin's Creed game we'd hoped for in the first place to play with, but one of the best open-world games of the year.

Playstation Official Magazine UK

[Games are] about delivering a world that you want to invest your time in, full of characters you can have an emotional connection with, and Assassin's Creed II does that almost perfectly. [Dec 2009, p.102]

PS3bloggen.se

Assassin's Creed II is such an improvement compared to its predecessor that it feels like a completely new game, rather than just a sequel. The varied missions really shine and the narrative is very effective, in all it's Forrest Gump-esque glory. Despite the quite slow start, Ezios adventures in beautiful Florence and Venice both look and feel amazing, and are well worth experiencing to the very end.

Level7.nu

The repetitive gameplay of the predecessor is replaced with varied missions and an interesting main plot. One of the greatest game worlds ever with a lot of content and likeable characters makes it easy to ignore some technical and control issues.

GameSpot

Assassin's Creed II is what you'd want an action sequel to be: bigger, better, and more beautiful.

Wired

The first Assassin’s Creed had a bold, brilliant concept; the sequel delivers the execution.

Eurogamer Italy

Assassin's Creed 2 has more variety than its prequel, and it's a great gaming experience. Despite a graphics engine which is good but that no longer represents the cutting edge, the real difference is now the storyline and the gameplay. Ubisoft has listened to what people were asking for, and we are now in front of what Assassin's Creed was supposed to be.

Total Video Games

Perhaps the ultimate testimony is the fact that it left us longing for another sequel, something the original certainly never achieved.

VideoGamer

The storyline is intricate, there's depth beyond the main quest, the presentation is wonderful, and the action is incredible at times. We've had some stunning single-player experiences this year, and Ubisoft has given us another gem to add to the list.

XGN

Ezio is the evolution of Altaïr. The game shows improvement and keeps you fascinated because it offers enough variation. The graphical performance is high and the sound is just fine. This game just simply can't be missing from your collection!

Eurogamer Portugal

There are few games that can make us feel that we truly entered in the story, making us want to solve the plot as soon as possible. Assassin's Creed II is a game that has come to kill.

Thunderbolt

This game has clearly been the result of a tremendously talented development team listening to feedback and giving gamers what they wanted - namely more variety and more depth.

IGN AU

It is not, however, a flawless experience by any means – and we think the series' finest hour is still coming – but for fans of the original, it's the step forward we were rooting for and just tempting enough for new players to savour.

IGN UK

AC2 is a dramatically better game than its parent. It takes itself far less seriously, it's identified what was fun and thrown out what wasn't, and it's built upon a core free-running structure that's forever spectacular and thrilling. A little sadly, its fundamental concept and structure has been seriously overshadowed by the slicker likes of Mirror's Edge (in some ways) and Arkham Asylum (in a whole lot of ways).

Giant Bomb

But this isn't a reinvention, it's a refinement. Assassin's Creed II offers, fundamentally, the same kinds of thrills as its predecessor--leaping from rooftop to rooftop with surefooted ease, appearing out of nowhere to kill your target with a quick blade, then vanishing effortlessly into a crowd. It's just been expanded, streamlined, and overhauled in ways that bring it closer to grace and make it a much easier game to recommend.

Edge Magazine

Certainly, Ubisoft Montreal has succeeded in welding a game to what once felt like a proof of concept, and without overshadowing its many strengths. Much devolves into mere stuff – one sword is much like another; a painting’s easily bought and just fills a hole in the wall – and once the story is over there’s little reason to replay it. At the end of it all, though, you’re left with that setting, those cities, and Ezio, and they lend the experience a substance that endures.

Gameplayer Sweden

While overtly similar to its predecessor, this is far and away a better game. The dearth of content which made the first game so frustratingly repetitive has been remedied and Assassin's Creed 2 is jam-packed with fun stuff to do. Renaissance Italy has never been this engrossing before.

Gamer.nl

Assassin's Creed 2 is an excellent game. It's impressive to climb a massive cathedral from which you can overlook the entire city. The game surpasses the original game in almost every aspect, but the flawed AI and weak ending hold it back from becoming what we hoped for. It's still a beautiful adventure from the very beginning until the end.

Meristation

Two years later, Assassin's Creed tries again to make real those promises from Ubisoft, and prove itself as a better game than it was. The truth is that, despite the Renaissance setting, the vivid locations and the historical landmarks, the new features added don't really improve the sequel: the same repetitive mechanics remain, as well as a flawed enemy AI, a rough combat system and moments of frustration coming from issues with the camera and the control response in the platform sections. Assassin's Creed II is still a good game but far from the masterpiece Ubisoft has been promising.

Kikizo

However tighter its act, however convincingly it integrates player-imposed logic with a pulsing, subversively organic 15th century milieu, Assassin’s Creed 2 feels a little vacant. The second game in the series is palpably its best, but it trades too heavily on prior successes and introduces comparatively little of actual worth.