"There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the path. Choose your own way.
Do not follow me. Or anyone else."










I love that quote because I feel like it symbolizes Ezio's development just as much as it does AC2 itself.

AC1 was a weird ass game to general audiences. A story about a middle eastern asshole who spent his life hunting the soldiers of God during the Crusades isn't exactly your average triple A game material. It was a unique vision that was so in love with itself that for some that could be a turn off on its own.

Point being that AC1 never tried to prove anything. Assassin's Creed was just Assassin's Creed, nothing more, nothing less.

AC2 picks up exactly where AC1 (weirdly) left off, sparring no time to rest with an extremely intense opening section followed by one of the most iconic starts to any story.

Ezio Auditore da Firenze is born and in about 2 minutes of screen time every human being with a heart falls deeply in love with him.

AC2 was the game that put Assassin's Creed on the map full force and I'd argue the sole reason that happened was because of Ezio. His captivating personality and extremely compelling journey entranced everyone in a way that Altair's just couldn't.

A grand story through the beautiful Italian renaissance with one of the most iconic larger than life MCs of all time, how could anyone resist?

Weirdly enough though most people would assume such a move was deliberate to appease to a larger crowd but it never really comes across that way. Ezio is clearly written as a subversion of how Altair operated. We meet him during his youth, he's initially guided by his emotions and about 60% of the narrative is devoted to the connections he makes with the extremely charismatic cast. Mechanically the game operates about the same way AC1 did but supercharged with added depth. It’s a sequel that builds upon the previous game, respecting its legacy almost like a legend, while carving its own path.


I could go on and on about the impact AC2 has but this is a review so how is the game?

Well, it feels like being transported alongside Desmond by the animus.

The setting is gorgeous, the atmosphere is fantastic, the characters are so loveable and charismatic, Ezio is absolutely perfect and the gameplay feels about 10 times nicer than in AC1 (combat honestly feels a bit weaker at times but still sports big improvements overall). It’s a piece of art with an energy that very few other games have.

The soundtrack is absolutely stellar, Jesper Kyd’s best work by a longshot. Salvation of Forli (my personal favorite), Ezio’s family, Earth, Venice rooftops… so many fucking bangers. I’m a big fan of Kyd’s work for AC1 but AC2’s OST is just out of this world.

Voice acting is excelent as usual but Roger Craig Smith as Ezio really steals the show. Once you get past the goofy italian accent (which is a charm in its own right) it's impeccable how well he captures Ezio's emotions.

Outside of the Animus the improvements are HUGE. Desmond’s side of the story is way more interesting with way fewer obligatory interruptions, plus whenever you are forced to go back to the real world it’s way more engaging since he now actually gets to do some action with a proper control scheme instead of just slowly walking around an office.

The climax much like AC1 is really trippy and interesting with yet another abrupt but this time honestly hysterical ending.


I have a few issues with it, mostly minor aspects.

I’m not the biggest fan of the codex pages hunt since it’s a classic Ubisoft fetch quest that is mandatory for progression but it’s not THAT bad since the number of them is not high and you get an excuse to chill around the rooftops of Italy for a few more hours. Unlike AC1 this game features some missions where being undetected is mandatory and early AC’s stealth is just too poor so those can be really frustrating. A lot of story elements in this game get greatly improved by Brotherhood which leaves them a tad underused on their own here. Much like AC1 this game has a very clear loop (decide next target, go to location, meet new side character, help them for a few missions to be able to get their support, kill target with side character’s support) which also like AC1 has a cool little thematic tie later in sequence 11 that makes everything come together really well but still, it’s a repetitive cycle nonetheless and the templars in this game especially are honestly even more one note than the ones from AC1 (Rodrigo Borgia aside, he's cool).


In summary. AC2 is still just as magical as it was back in 2009. It’s a monumental game and respectably for some the peak of the series for a reason. A game that bleeds with passion and a unique vision few could compare at the time and ESPECIALLY nowadays. Not my favorite AC game but still one that I can whole heartedly say I absolutely love.

8.5 • While this game has, mechanically speaking, aged terribly, it cannot possibly be understated how great it was for the time and how much it influenced gaming in general, serving as the blueprint nearly every open-world game soon copied. The gameplay has become quite clunky, unresponsive and boring, but until a remake is released, it remains a must-play for any Assassin's Creed fan, containing possibly the best narrative of them all and starting a trilogy that will forever be remembered as this series' golden age.

A great cyberpunk adventure.

This is a sequel to Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Though there is a catch up video you can watch, I'd recommend playing Human revolution if you can just because it's fantastic. To sum up though you play a character called Adam Jenson a former head of security for Sarif industries, who now works for Interpol stopping terrorist attacks.

I enjoyed the story quite a bit, it has some interesting themes but isn't quite focused enough on it's direction or characters and is probably the weakest aspect of the game. Just as it was all starting to get interesting the game also ends, it's not quite a cliff hanger but it practically went "to be continued". Fortunately to compliment the main story there are a number of side quests to both find and complete which are generally speaking of a much higher quality than the main story allowing Jenson to interact with more characters and just feel more fleshed out. I would have liked more like that throughout the game.

Onto the actual gameplay. It's a first person shooter/role playing game hybrid though how you really want to play is up to you. Being augmented Jenson has a lot of abilities you can unlock using praxis kits that are gained either through experience points from actions or can be bought or found in the world. Each ability has different trees expanding upon what it can do allowing the player to specialize in a style or jack of all trades as they see fit. There are skills that allow players to hack doors, see through walls or have temporary cloaking for those that want to play completely stealthy. There are also skills allowing you to slow time while aiming, electrocute people etc. for those of a more direct nature. There are plenty of weapons and gadgets to compliment them from stun guns to grenade launchers and hacking tools all of which can be sold, bought and upgraded as you choose.

To follow that freedom is the designs of the levels. There are a huge variety of ways to get to objectives through various shortcuts including large jumps, through sewers, over rooftops, vents, punching walls, hacking doors, with the games extra challenges I love like completing the game without tripping any alarms or without killing anyone which at times can be tough. Mankind Divided has a large hub city to explore where all the side missions are then several other locations Adam gets sent to on missions. The game took me 30 hours+ to complete but then I love exploring and collecting everything I can, hacking all the computers and reading all the lore. If you just speed through it you could complete it in about 10 I suspect but you'd be missing out a lot of what makes the game's universe so interesting.

The presentation of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is pretty mixed. The art style is really nice, I like the near future design of everything and the advertisements. The environments are eye catching and there is a good attention to detail everywhere. The character models are...less great. They are solid enough but feel a little last generation. The lip synching for the characters is also ludicrously bad at times which I just don't expect of a high budget release like this in 2016. To add to this there are times where the frame rate seems to skip, especially when running through the city hub. None of this is game breaking but does hurt the immersion a bit. The sound is a little better, while the voice acting is pretty passable being neither good nor bad (Jenson is especially amusing sounding like a blender full of gravel) the music is at least excellent throughout although at times it would play super loud drowning out the dialogue and I had to adjust it in the settings.

So while I wished for more of the main game because I was having fun with it despite a few minor flaws it's not the only mode to come with the game. Mankind Divided features a new mode called Breach. I hate it. I mean it's awful. It feels like wasted resources that should have been spent polishing the main game. It's essentially a little score attack mode for you to compete with other players. You play a hacker called a Ripper and you control an online avatar completing various missions hacking data to unlock new augments, new levels as well as weapons and items. This mode is not only surprisingly boring but seems to be aimed at getting people to buy packs of new gear, items and boosts with real money called microtransactions which is a practice normally related to free to play mobile games that seems to be steadily encroaching on consoles. Now while both this mode and transactions are completely optional it's pretty bad to have them in there when many gamers feel this game ends rather abruptly anyway.

The bottom line is if you enjoyed Human Revolution and want more than Mankind Divided is exactly that. It doesn't break the mold or put anything new to the table but has managed to refine a lot of what made it's predecessor so good. It's not a perfect game by any means, there is still room for improvement but it was certainly fun for me, just sad the series seems to have been stopped after this release.

+ Side quests are brilliant.
+ Nice amount of abilities and weapons.
+ Level designs and options are excellent.
+ Great art and music.

- Story could have been a bit more focused and complete.
- Dodgy lip synching sometimes, some frame rate issues.
- Breach mode is both awful and unwanted.