Remember Desmond Miles? We speak of the young brood belonging to the "Ashashin" hidden in his DNA that carries the "memory" of the lives of all his ancestors, and that fiction can relive them through a device called the Animus. We left a prisoner of the modern Templars, enemies of the Assassins, and society Abstergo: in this new chapter in his saga, Desmond fails (not without help) to meet the members of his sect, and to immerse themselves in version 2.0 so Animus to train with the memories of another great ancestor: Ezio Florence, who in the second half of the fifteenth century had to do with the Medici, the Pazzi, the Borgias and aristocratic society in general, clerical and upper-middle class who hung around between Tuscany and Veneto.
Make further ado about Assassin's Creed would be futile: how and more than its predecessor, in fact, this title was preceded by a large amount of advances that have gradually become more precise since the last E3. For those who still do not know what we're talking, we say that we are facing an arcade adventure game in which he played the role of a Murderess, understood as a member of the homonymous sect that gave its name to the profession. The aim is therefore to perform certain missions moving as discreetly as possible in a world that pulses of pre-Renaissance life and business of its population.
The control system consists essentially of two configurations, corresponding to the so-called "low profile" and "high profile". In the first case, Ezio (he'll be the protagonist for most of the game, pace of Desmond) will move slowly, walking at a normal pace, pushing people to its passage, being able to make small pick-pocketing, stealth kills to take the 'lethal aid of its retractable blades. In the second case, the young Florentine race at breakneck speed, will jump from one ledge to another ledge and will climb over any obstacles to surpass the shoulder: spend much time jumping from one rooftop to another if only to avoid the crowded streets when you very quickly.
When it comes to beating their hands, that is, when will "lock" on an enemy, you activate the functions of combat, which consist of avoidance, the parade, and the possibility of the attack to grab the enemy, before the change from the first AC, especially useful in unarmed combat to pound or land. Although it is possible to carry out attacks in this simple manner, they will take us a short distance, especially against armored and well armed adversaries: the real heart of the battle system is the play "up", that is operated in counter at the right time or in the chain the hits when they hit. With a little 'practice, and after passing the first hour of plot, you can also disarm your opponents (another long-awaited new), and twist their arms against them.
In the top left of the screen there will be an indicator of energy: it differs totally from that of the first chapter, for two reasons. The first is that it will increase with experience but rather with the worn equipment, which will be purchased and repaired regularly, the second is that you do not fill themselves in case of injury, but will need to take potions of healing or consult a doctor. This introduces another innovative feature of this second AC: money.
The pecuniary vil will be useful in the game for several purposes: in addition to the purchase of armor and weapons (now described by various parameters) and for healing, since you can use it to distract guards, simply throwing a handful into the street or invest in works of art and services that do increase the income of your family, or to hire temporary use of soldiers (mercenaries, thieves and courtesans) and then use it to bribe the auctioneers and reduce attention to you.
And this brings us to another, further innovations: the level of attention. Where AC guards had always consistently the same behavior against Altair, so may require you to "walk from Monaco" (now abolished), in AC2 these will behave differently depending on how "note" will be the face of Ezio, of course depending on his actions. The indicator next to that energy will become more red as we will be "famous", and can be "bleached" corrupting the auctioneers, pulling the posters with the size or even hitting the witnesses who meet from time to time on the road .
The innovations and variations on the theme of the game do not stop there: it is now well-known mini-game where Ezio pounds on Venice's canals at the helm of the wings of the flight of Leonardo da Vinci, as well as the introduction of a gun arm, or even the possibility, already mentioned, to hire wingmen to attack or simply distract the guards so as to enable us to implement our villainy undisturbed, and finally, unlike Altair, Ezio swim. What that essentially does not change compared to the original concept, is the presence of a map on which there are various optional missions executable, and that this map will reveal to us only after observing the area from a high place, like a tower or a bell tower.
Moreover, the basic graphics engine is essentially the same, so majestic that it has been used effectively even in the last Prince of Persia. This engine allows you to handle very large environments with considerable care and attention to detail: there is only long distance fogging to a minimum, and certainly not in the center of the action. Then think of the wonderful textures and especially the architectural reconstructions of the early Renaissance Italy to do the rest, and the introduction of day / night cycle is the icing on the cake.
Unfortunately, for us it is also proper to point out some "glitches" especially in the transition from structure to structure more than once we saw Ezio "look out" from a floor to watch carefully ... next to the floor, as if it were a cliff. The main character models, Ezio head, are all well made, as well as animations, only notice a little 'out of tune, perhaps the faces are still a bit' too grotesque, and above all has not been put quite the same care with Desmond and his contemporaries.
On the sound we are to make two speeches disjoint. The first, very enthusiastic about the voiceovers: after the first trailer in English with the addition of Italian Yankee, the terror had chilled our hearts. Once you pass under the capable hands of the Italian voice actors, however, the result is simply superb, so as to make unnecessary and eliminated the subtitles. Speech is not disappointing, but certainly less enthusiastic about the music, limited to certain situations and sometimes absent even in those: we happened to fighting or being chased by guards for several minutes without the music hinted at being alive. Fortunately, when there is high quality, but perhaps a little more effort would have been nice. Excellent special effects and background noise or rural city.
The control system is intuitive in the end, because once learned to disentangle between "high" and "low" profile, other commands are a little 'finger instinctively. But what is lacking in the game is the tutorial battle, which is limited to messages that appear to the side while we are intent on keeping your eyes on the enemy trying to survive. It is true that at some point in the plot leads to the arena test, where you do not risk getting hurt, but that situation before you regret not having the classic 'Pause - message - remove break. " In contrast, insists the system with messages of advice whenever necessary, a simple "talk", and in the upper right corner is always a representation of the front buttons with corresponding use.
Apart from that, the "heart" of AC2 is essentially the same as the first: to ident
