If you like games that require thought then this is a good one. You can leap and climb all over the games richly detailed environment, which reminds me of Tomb Raider. There are many secrets to be found and upgrades for your assassin...from weapons to dying your clothing. You can even pour money into the villa you stay at for renovations. Many of the challenges have to deal with navigating the games environment and coming up with ways to eliminate a target. The VO seems to be pretty well done so far and the story is also pretty good. Combat is not overly difficult and relies mostly on timing counter attacks. You might have some difficulty figuring out the controls at first, but have patience and take your time learning it. Assassin's Creed 2 Deluxe Edition [Download]
While I can understand why Ubisoft thinks they have to do the "always on" authentication, the people who are going to pirate it will find a way. They always do. This is a great game and I have it on the Xbox360. I would've bought two copies (XBox and PC), but with the DRM it would too big of a hassle to play this way. So, I won't be buying this PC version.
Secondly, I also am a MAC owner and wish UBISOFT would put their games out on the Mac. But since it'd be "always on", I suppose it's moot.
I am not a software thief and I wish UBI wouldn't treat me like one.'
About the game -- A+! UBI deserves all the praise they get on the game -- I am playing AC1 right now (played them in backward order) and both are the crown jewels of video games!
I don't understand the fuss about DRM. Assassin's Creed II is a vast and exciting game. Did you watch the credits at the end of the game? Did you see the hundreds of designers, developers, voice actors, etc all over the world that it took to make a game this stunning? In an age when the pirated copy of a game shows up on line the day before its market release, we have only ourselves to blame if developers need to find new ways to protect their work.
I avoided DRM games for years believing all the hype until finally buying and playing AC2. I played the entire game without even one crash, server lockout, pop-up ad, or spam--nothing. And sorry, the argument that you can't play DRM games on a plane? Really? Are you going to play a game like this on a plane? It's a little intense for the tray-table.
I think the online DRM is far better than having to find the dang disk every time you want to play. Better than having the CD spinning, sucking battery life and putting mileage on your drive. In an age of WoW the argument that "I have to be online all the time" makes no sense. I almost suspect all the negative reviews complaining about DRM are spam from disgruntled hackers. So if you were like me and passed up games like AC for fear of some big brother corporate intrusion, don't be. The only drawback is that it takes several steps to start the game and quit. That's it.
Maybe it's diffrent for the DVD version (I downloaded from Amazon)ut I don't understand the fuss.
Now for the game itself, I'm not a big fan of 1st-person shooter/slasher but this game is amazing if for nothing else than the sheer vastness of its environment. You are set free in Renaissance Florence and Venice as well as several other smaller Tuscan hill fort towns. You can literally get lost for hours springing from rooftops. The voice acting and character animation is some of the best I've ever seen. Unlike other games where the characters get recycled over and over, each of the dozens of NPCs you encounter is unique. Even the townspeople crowding the streets show remarkable variety.
I highly recommend using a USB game controller. There are A LOT of button commands, many of them involving timed combinations, and finding the right keys while leaping off tall buildings being chased by half of the city watch, is beyond my manual dexterity. But my $15 Gigaware controller did just fine.
The story is needlessly complicated in my opinion. The motives for our young avatar are clear enough without the strange X-files/Da Vinci Code global conspiracy thing. The (fortunately infrequent) interruptions into the present-tense of the game are a distraction.
It is important to note AC2 shares more DNA with Mario Bros than Myst. It's really about finding the best route to run across the rooftops and ambush your victim. There are very few things to `figure out' and the few times our hero has to interact with objects they are highlighted with glowing diamonds. Once you learn a tactic (i.e. use courtesans to distract the Codex guards) you can use it over and over with the same effect. Sadly, there were few times in the game when I was surprised by the action. I'd happily trade a few sq miles of game space for a little more of an intellectual challenge to the missions. Whenever I tried to get clever and work out an elegant plan, it always ended up in failure with the successful option usually running up to your mark, stabbing him, and running away as fast as possible. The guards are tediously clueless. You can slowly pick off guys keeping watch on a tower one by one (ten little Indians style) without any of them catching on. "Hey, where did Mario and Tony go? They were just here..." Combat is pretty easy too. For all the dozens of tactics available, locking onto an opponent and wailing away on him with `Attack' usually does the job. The guards rarely break out of their polite ninja movie style one-at-a-time attack. I hope Revelations makes the opponents a bit more cunning and demands more recon and strategy on the gamers' part.
But that aside, the environment is truly stunning. I've never encountered a game with so much space. I played addictively for weeks and I know there are areas I never explored. While the back alleys are filled with clones, there are dozens of unique landmarks all over the game. It's great fun to climb to the top of the Giotto's Campanile, or run across the roof of St. Mark's Basilica on your way to assassinate a corrupt Doge. I don't know if it's a game you'll want to replay they way I revisit old friends in the Myst franchise or conquer the world over and over with Civilization games, but for a few weeks, I expect you'll be transfixed by this stunning game. - Adventure - Assassins Creed Ii - Drm - Assassins Creed'
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