I’m about 15 hours into Assassin’s Creed 2 right now, and one of the most striking differences between this game and the original is the way Ubisoft Montreal handled the characters.  For the most part, I liked the storyline in the first game (except for the twisty ending) but something was missing.  Altair just wasn’t a very interesting character.  He felt more like a Gordon Freeman, except I don’t think he was supposed to.  How is something like this rectified?  Well, Ubisoft did a few things this time around to help draw the player into the world.

First, and most importantly, Ezio’s story is instantly more engaging.  He and his family are well-acted and I actually care what happens to them.  Conversely, I really never connected with Altair at all.  I mean, I couldn’t even see his face under his cloak.  In Assassin’s Creed 2, however, the first time I stepped into Ezio’s shoes, he wasn’t even wearing the assassin’s garb.  He’s a normal, young and brash dude who’s getting into fights and having midnight trysts with girls he probably shouldn’t be.  He gives me something to invest my emotions in, as opposed to the blank slate that was Altair.

The story itself follows roughly the same pattern as the first game.  There’s a conspiracy going on, and it’s up to Ezio to unravel it and punish those who deserve it.  It might sound like the same stuff over again, but the scope of the game is different now.  It’s more of a slow burn in terms of learning abilities and unlocking side missions, and the world itself feels more alive and intriguing.  The conspiracy-laden plot lingers in the gameplay, with collectible glyphs that contain a secret that the player can puzzle out.  That, coupled with the added atmosphere and overall smarter design only helps to amplify how much I enjoy being Ezio.

Another improvement is the simple fact that Ezio’s story is the main attraction.  The first game went back-and-forth a lot between Desmond and Altair.  That’s fine, but the problem was there wasn’t much to do as Desmond.  You were stuck in a room, and the interactions with the game world were severely limited.  As I said, I’ve sunk about 15 hours into the sequel, and I’ve only played as Desmond twice.  Both times the game also had me doing things the first one never let me do.  It would be criminal to spoil them, so I’ll just move on.

I should say that I was an apologist for Assassin’s Creed back when it came out.  It was a polarizing game, and I think the criticisms leveled against it were warranted.  That being said, I still loved the world, and free-running on rooftops and assassinating people was great.  The missions were repetitive and there wasn’t much to do other than the few side quests, but I thought Ubisoft made a good template to build from.  Playing the sequel proves that to be true.  So far, at least, Assassin’s Creed 2 takes all the promise I saw in the franchise and makes good on it.  We’ll see if it lasts.

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