December 1, 2009 - Don’t get me wrong, I love video games, but I find most of them represent junk food for the mind. You pop the game in, you shut your brain off, have some fun, and you don’t really come out any richer from the experience. Shoot some enemies, solve a puzzle or two, and then put the game out of your mind forever. Assassin’s Creed II is nothing like that. For those looking for a gaming experience that provides your grey matter with a work out, and becomes a truly inspirational experience that you’ll never forget, look no further than Ubisoft Montreal’s opus, easily one of the best titles of the year.

For those of you who played the first title, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what to expect. However, ACII has taken everything that was great about the solid but flawed original (sweet weapons, go anywhere free-running gameplay, and a strong storyline), and multiplied it by a factor of ten. At the same time, they have taken out nearly all the annoyances and hindrances that kept the original game from truly classic status.

In ACII, you play once again as Desmond Miles, a mild mannered bartender who has quite the storied lineage. In the first game, we learned that Desmond is the direct descendant of a line of assassins throughout history, engaged in a centuries’ long battle against the Templar order. Desmond is forced into a machine called the animus, which allows him to relive the experiences of his forefathers through memories embedded deep within his DNA. In the first game, you played as Altair, who ran roughshod across the Holy Land, killing historically significant figures on his way to a stunning revelation that I dare not reveal here. As ACII begins, Desmond is broken out of captivity, and taken to an undisclosed location to help out the modern day assassins. Of course, Desmond is soon once again inserted into the animus, this time reliving the memories of one Ezio Auditore de Firenze, an impetuous youth living in Italy in 1476. Ezio begins living a carefree existence in Florence, but soon his idyllic world is shattered when he and his family are betrayed by a man they were sure they could trust. Alone, thirsting for vengeance, and on the run, Ezio soon learns the ways of the assassins, first for revenge, and then to fight for the forces of good against those who abuse their power. It’s a journey that will take him across Italy, from Florence, to Tuscany, to Venice, and finally, Rome over the next decade of his life.

Using the animus as a device to drive the plot was a brilliant move on the part of the writers. This means that the story is being presented as a virtual reality video game, and means there is no disbelief to suspend when you have tons of information on hand, maps showing your objectives, and a special vision mode called Eagle Vision that shows you friend from foe and hidden areas. Even the loading screens with Ezio standing in a foggy purgatory fit into this aesthetic. The developers even stuck in some on-purpose graphical glitches, a nice touch.

I know I’ve gone on about the story for three paragraphs now, but that’s only because it’s such an indispensable component of the Assassin’s Creed experience. It’s fascinating how the developers and writers were about to create a game that is so sprawling, grandiose and epic, yet feels so intimate and profound. This is a game where you uncover massive conspiracies, but also become buddy buddy with historical figures like a young Leonardo da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli. There’s no tunnel vision when it comes to the plot. ACII deals with themes such as family, loyalty, class barriers, religion, abuse of power, and above all respect. Heady themes to be sure. To have them presented so well in a pastime renowned for it simplistic storylines and mindless action is comforting proof that our precious hobby is finally growing up.