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Classroom Facts
Assassin's Creed 2 contains a surprising amount when it comes to classroom facts. The game's world is a recreation of several parts of Italy, right down to the names of people, the paintings at stores and the buildings that Ezio scales. Players can access an in-game database that gives historical facts about these buildings and other features, often including the years they were constructed and who they were designed by. The game also plays with history quite a bit - Ezio is friends with a young Da Vinci, who helps him craft new weapons, and players begin to uncover a vast conspiracy that stretches all throughout history. It's a fun way to look at things, and for players that are interested there's plenty of factual information available.
Math is another significant point, as players are constantly buildings their own sort of financial empire. An in-depth map system allows players to track their current objectives and locate stores and other points of interest.
Creativity & Imagination
By the Player:
Assassin's Creed 2 is made up of a series of missions that players must complete in a generally required order. However the game also includes at least as many optional missions, scattered over the game's cities and becoming available at a pace spread evenly over the course of the game. Players can choose to follow the main missions at any time, but players can also choose to pursue assassination contracts, carry packages across cities, hunt down treasure chests and more. As players complete more and more tasks, they also have the option to enhance Ezio's family villa and the surrounding village, which allows Ezio to make more money.
Besides the game's structure, its mechanics also invite plenty of experimentation. Ezio can move freely over the rooftops and up the buildings of the cities of Italy, and players can take advantage of his skills to tackle any challenge in a number of ways.
Players also purchase weapons and armor from vendors located throughout the game. Weapons in particular are suited to different play styles, and players give themselves certain strengths and weaknesses depending on their choices. Players can also have their clothes died, a purely aesthetic choice, at a number of vendors.
By the Developer:
Assassin’s Creed 2 is a huge step up from the original game in a number of ways. The entire economic side of title is new, for example, and it alone helps give the game a more structured pace.
More importantly, the game’s missions are now much more dynamic experiences. While the first game had a handful of mission types repeated over and over, Creed 2’s missions often contain plenty of surprises.
Plenty of new weapons and an armor-buying system also help round out the game nicely, as do the hidden gauntlet-like tombs and overarching suspense-filled plot that stretches all throughout history. All in all, there is simply a ton of stuff to do from one moment to the next in Assassin’s Creed 2, and the game is always enjoyable to control and explore.
Business Skills
Business skills are an integral part of the game, despite its action adventure-based mechanics. Buying equipment gets exceptionally expensive quickly, and the treasure chests located throughout the game don't do too much to cover it.
To help with this, early in the game players get access to Ezio's family villa. By using money to enhance the surrounding village and purchase art to display inside the villa, players can begin to earn a regular income, which is deposited into the villa every 20 minutes. The amount earned also increases as players complete other objectives throughout the game, such as collecting the hidden feathers in each city or completing new sets of armor. This encourages players to invest their money into the villa in order to make money in the long term, but still leaves the option of spending it on weapons and other supplies immediately.
People Skills
People skills are not a prominent feature of Assassin's Creed 2, as the game is exclusively a single-player experience. There are a few relevant touches throughout: most missions involve helping people in one sense or another, and killing helpless pedestrians can cause a game over.
Problem Solving
Problem solving in the game involves using Ezio’s ability to scale walls and combat opponents to overcome whatever particular obstacle is at hand, and this varies throughout the game. Some missions require players to use Ezio’s agility to concentrate on a stealthy approach, while others use those same abilities to chase down and assassinate a fleeing target. Simply exploring the landscape offers its own rewards, in terms of chests, hidden feathers and other surprises.
Players also need to keep an eye on Ezio’s villa’s finances, collecting money and completing objectives in order to invest in it further. Even more problems lay in the underground tombs located in each city, which act as complicated obstacle courses that test the player’s abilities. From start to finish there are plenty of new puzzles and challenges for the player, a huge step up from the game’s more repetitive predecessor.
Simulation
Assassin’s Creed 2 is not a simulation game.
Extra Credit
While Assassin’s Creed 2 is a fairly violent game, Ezio does encourage a kind of honor. If players kill random citizens, it isn’t long before the player is kicked out of the game – because that’s not what Ezio would do.
Popularity
Assassin's Creed 2 has been extremely well received since its release, receiving a number of accolades from publications at the end of 2009. It is viewed particularly favorably compared to its predecessor, as much of the tedious repetition has been eliminated.
Controls & Options
Assassin's Creed 2 includes control, audio and visual options. Players can also control how much information is available on-screen at once, toggling the game's map, health bar, equipment and other HUD options separately.
Tips
Assassin's Creed 2 received an M from the ESRB with descriptors for Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Content and Strong Language
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