Assassin’s Creed 2 review

The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Assassin’s Creed 2 were released before Christmas, with the PC version to be released shortly. The latter version may look better, if you have powerful enough graphics hardware, but in every other respect they all play identically. We do strongly suggest you use a joypad to play the PC version – we recommend Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Controller for Windows.

Our main complaint is with the stealth aspects of the game. The guards’ keenness of eyesight seems to vary wildly, and there’s no indicator to tell you if you’re hidden from view. Ezio’s animation doesn’t stretch to hugging cover, often leaving him nose first against a wall in an effort to stay undiscovered.

With its better plot and more varied missions, Assassin’s Creed 2 is the costume drama sibling of Grand Theft Auto IV. Its luscious world is rich in detail, both graphically and historically. The series’ agile and lethal protagonist has a proper series of challenges to excel at, making it among the best games we’ve played in ages.