Its just the whole game feels very casualized. compared to the first one
First it's the gameplay, i actually liked the first games mission strucuture where you go around eaves dropping on people and all the investigation to get enough information about the target before you assassinate him. The game felt like a simulator in that sense that you felt like you were the assassin.
I actually took my time with the game, walking slowly among the crowds, using mostly ladders to get up on the buildings, scouting around. like a real assassin, playing cautiously, you didn't have to do that you could just barge in running all over the place attracting attention because it was pretty easy to dispose of the guards etc. but i liked that aspect of the game.
I didnt finish the second game i just couldnt go on anymore. The story felt i don't know very mainstreamed or something. Ezios family is murdered now he's out for revenge. I liked the story in the first better, first it felt more focused than the second one. Second i liked that it was somehow more mysterious at first you didn't know why you were assigned to kill these men, it unfolded at a very nice pace.
Altair changes throughout the game, compare him to the very first sections of the game, he doesnt give a crap about the assassins code, he kills that innocent man in the beginning, he doesnt hide just rushes in and he "compromised the brotherhood". And he is punished for it aswell, and later changes mostly through his assassinations.
Assassinations is another part of what i liked about the game. the dialogues (or maybe monologues) were better in the first game when you assassinate your targets. At first you get some information about what they were doing and sort of why. Later with all the new information Altair gathers he starts asking himself if what he is doing is right. That's another part i disliked about the second game, people complained they talked for too long so ubisoft cut it down, just felt dumbed down somehow
I didnt like the part about restoring your villa, feels like another part, people complained there was too little to do so Ubisoft again put in something useless. Or perhaps there were some use for it, as i said i didnt finish the game so maybe later in the game you actually had some use for it. I didnt like all the different swords and armors, feels like every game today needs some sort of RPG element, i have no idea why. The weapons i the first game was enough.
Same thing reminds of L4D people complained about not enough weapons, so in L4D2 they put in several new weapons but they were basically the same, you point and shoot to kill zombies. It's not like the ak47 has spreadfire and the m16 has piercing shots their function is basically the same. (but thats another topic)
Back to Assassins Creed 2, its not all bad though, i enjoyed some of the new things, small things. Like being able to go in to the Water (why the hell couldnt altair do that) some of the new moves, like pull-a-guy-of-the-ledge move. Another move i liked was that you can run on on beams and at the end of the building there were these metal (lights or whatever) you could use to swing around the corner of the building and keep on running, the small things were what i liked about Assassin's Creed 2.
anyway i think thats all...
Still i'll have to try and get through the game.
