ReimTime said:
I got a problem guys: nothing will ever pass Assassin's Creed 2 for me. No AC game will ever eclipse it; and it pains me to say that (Black Flag is a close second favorite, but that is more of a pirate game). The series has already peaked and is on a slow and steady decline for me (except for Black Flag. Once again I don't really consider that an AC game).
It makes me want to question what made AC2 stand above the rest. Here is what I have come up with:
- The story was mature and actually made sense: Ezio's drive for revenge, and the plot he uncovered.... it was better executed than the other games. In some of the other games the story almost felt like a placeholder or an afterthought, even though it was meant to be the main focus.
- The world was alive and brilliantly crafted: You actually felt like you were in Italy. I've heard stories of elderly people playing the game just so they can row the gondola's through Venice. The other cities in other AC games just felt........ I don't know, copy and pasted? In these Italian cities and in the countryside there were historical buildings, historical people, and a general feel of the game's time period that I haven't felt since.
- The soundtrack was top notch: Rooftops of Venice and Night Time in Venice are amazing.
- Every nook and cranny of the game world is filled with something: The different areas felt unique, without being in your face about how unique they were. It's hard to explain, but I loved it. What's more, they didn't give everything away to you during the story or the tutorial. There were gameplay mechanics and locations you could discover on your own; just like you were exploring Italy for yourself. So much stuff to do and it all felt fulfilling.
AC2 was so much more a labor of love than all the other AC games, and it showed.
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I agree
It also really bothers me that they went away from the assassin tombs where you had these tighter, but much better designed free running, puzzle, and chase combinations with the overarching reward of a great new outfit at the end. They should have kept fleshing out the idea of those tombs instead of abandoning it in favor of more simplistic, uninteresting puzzles and collectibles.
Basically you can just tell that everything has to be completed very quickly with this franchise now, and it really shows in the finer touches that raise a game to that next level
