Game: Assassin’s Creed 2: The Battle of Forli & Bonfire of the Vanities & Secret Locations
Format: 360, PS3
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft

The Newb Review has something of a love/hate relationship with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed series. We weren’t the only ones who, to put it quite mildly, didn’t like the first instalment (for the full review click here) as despite huge sales, every games critic under the sun gave it the good, hard bashing it rightfully deserved.

It was to our surprise then that last year Assassin’s Creed 2 released and not only did it garner huge sales, but this time it was good. Very, VERY good in fact, a gargantuan improvement on its predecessor and subsequently it ended up being Crofterz personal vote for game of the year (although he was outvoted for The Newb Review Game of The Year Award, by about a quadrillion to one).

So naturally, since he enjoyed the game so much The Newb Review has sent him out to splash some cash on the 2 brand new(ish) DLC packs. Namely, sequence 12, The Battle of Forli and sequence 13, Bonfire of the Vanities & Secret Locations. Are they worth the money? Well, hold on… We’re getting to that bit now.

The Battle of Forli

The Battle of Forli is the first bit of DLC for Assassin’s Creed 2 and I said new(ish) before because well, it’s been out for a while now. It also caused a bit of an uproar because anyone who has played Assassin’s Creed 2 will know of the huge gap in the story between sequences 11 (where you acquire a piece of Eden) and 14 (where you go to the Vatican). In the story it says something about sequence 12 being corrupt!?

Well The Battle of Forli is that such memory. It has caused such a big outrage because, well, according to some (and I totally agree)… it should have been in the game in the first place! The time it takes to download the DLC is a clear indicator that the memory is already on the disc, so why not give it to us for free? Well they’ve got to make money some way right? Although this does seem like a cheap trick.

Is the DLC any good? Well it’s rather short for a start. Containing only 6 new missions, including another mission where you use Da Vinci’s flying machine. So for those who didn’t get the achievement for kicking people in mid-flight, you now have a second chance.

However, at 320 Microsoft moon points (and around £3 on PSN) I would’ve liked to have seen a little bit more bang for my buck. In fact, the only thing that warrants the 320 point/£3 price tag is that it fills in and completes the Assassin’s Creed 2 story. But again, the plot hole really shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

Even though there are painfully few of them, there is a nice variety of missions on offer. This is more of the same, but the inclusion of more assassinations, more target locating and more out and out fighting makes for a nice balance. The DLC is definitely more action orientated rather than stealthy (i.e. there’s lots of fighting) and all in all it does a really nice job of filling in the large gap in story. You get some interesting cut scenes that carry the story through well, the same great voice acting you’ve come to expect from Assassin’s Creed 2 and even a few new characters in the mix, as well as exploring a few characters that had seemingly minor roles in the original release.

Unfortunately, it all ends far too quickly and abruptly and the inclusion of the flying machine feels really tacked on. Labelled as a special memory on the map, the flying machine mission isn’t really a mission at all. Ezio seems to fly through the air, without any mission or objective to achieve, and leaves a large question mark over the choice to include it at all.

So let me get this straight, Ezio gets in the flying machine just to marvel at the breathtaking sights?

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Nothing has changed graphically from the original game but the inclusion of a few more cut scenes really helps to drive the story.

Sound: 4/5 – Battle of Forli is full of the same great voice acting we’ve come to expect from Assassin’s Creed 2, it’s all very much more of the same.

Gameplay: 3/5 – Nothing new from what we’ve seen in the original game. There’s a nice variety of missions. however the fact that there is very few of them is a big killer.

Longevity: 2/5 – You’ll have finished this DLC in just about an hour, enough said.

Overall: 3/5 – 3 pointless flying machine set pieces out of 5. Overall The Battle of Forli does a good job of filling in the some of the plot holes in the original game. However, at 320 points or around £3 for PS3 owners, I can see why some would expect a little more for their money.

The Bonfire of the Vanities & Secret Locations

The Bonfire of the Vanities is the second pack of DLC released for Assassin’s Creed 2 and it’s the last missing sequence (sequence 13) in the Assassin’s Creed 2 story. Following on from where The Battle of Forli suddenly ended, The Bonfire of the Vanities has had something of a confusing release. So, let’s clear it all up once and for all (read this carefully, it may save you a few bob)… The Bonfire of the Vanities has been released in two editions, one that costs 320 Microsoft moon points (£3.19 on PSN) and one that costs a bit more, at 520 MSP (that’s £5.49 for PS3 owners). The first contains the Bonfire of the Vanities DLC, whilst the latter (the one that I bought, and shall be reviewing) comes with the DLC as well as the added bonus of some extra Templar lairs that previously only buyers of the black and white special editions of the game had access to.

Anyway with all that price juggling b*llocks out of the way, is the DLC any good?

Well, it’s certainly longer than Battle of Forli (it boasts 10 new missions and 3 Templar lairs), giving you far more content for your money. But the variety between missions is non-existent. In Forli you must eavesdrop, escort and assassinate, Bonfire of the Vanities is just a series of assassination missions. Of course, stabbing people in the neck is fun, but personally I wanted a little bit more variety. After all… it’s the spice of life.

In fact you could say Bonfire of the Vanities is the exact opposite of Battle of Forli. It’s certainly worth the price. It’s longer, has less variety and whereas Battle of Forli is all about action, Bonfire of the Vanities takes a more stealthy, relaxed approach as you plan the assassination and then execute.

The same great voice acting and cut scenes you have come to expect from Assassin’s Creed 2 are all present and correct, even if used a little more sparsely than in Battle of Forli. And of course the DLC pack, just like the previous, does a very nice job of filling in and completing the Assassin’s Creed 2 story arc.

Despite it’s lack of variety, the assassination missions themselves are still a lot of fun. You can easily avoid any monotony setting in by visiting the 5 or 6 new viewpoints and the 3 Templar lairs, which really made the DLC worth it for me.

Although the lairs offer little in terms of a reward past simple monetary gains, they act as a brilliant change of pace. The lairs are essentially  the same as the assassin’s crypts in the original release, which inherently means there’s nothing completely new, but coupled with the assassination missions, this makes for a nice overall package.

Unfortunately there is a catch. To fully sync Desmond with Ezio you must complete all DLC packs and the Templar lairs as well as all the other bonus objectives in the original title (such as those stupid pointless feathers). This is a very cheap and dirty move on Ubisofts part – the filthy, rotten b*stards! But then again, at 520 points/£5.49, you can’t argue with the price.

Killing is Ezio's business and in The Bonfire of the Vanities, business is good.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Like The Battle of Forli DLC, nothing graphically as changed… the game still looks incredible.

Sound: 4/5 – Again nothing has changed much from either the original game or the previous DLC. Great voice acting as per usual.

Gameplay: 3/5 – This time around there’s plenty of content for your buck. It’s just a shame it lacks variety. However the Templar lairs really do help to instil a bit of choice and fend off tedium.

Longevity: 4/5 – For your money you get a lot.

Overall: 4/5 – 4 spices of life (curry powder, paprika, cumin and and nutmeg) out of 5. Plenty of content for a fairly cheap price, just a shame the content had a bit more depth.

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In the world of entertainment there is an unwritten rule that sequels tend to be much worse than the original; the latest album from your favourite band is not quite as good as the previous album, your favourite author’s latest book just does not quite measure up to the last one, and the latest blockbuster sequel in the cinema comes across as being a bit samey and naff. Fortunately for those of us that play video games that same rule rarely applies, in fact you could easily say that the opposite is true. A prime example of this is Assassin’s Creed 2.

It is through playing this game that I have come to realise that just how bad the original Assassin’s Creed was. The original was a repetitive experience with a clumsy, cluttered, and incoherent narrative, full to the brim with pointless side missions and aimless flag collecting. It is almost like the developers thought of a series of ‘fun’ things to do with their impressive free running mechanic, but could not think of an actual reason to do any of those things. I am pleased to report that the team behind the sequel appear to have taken these criticisms to heart and have managed to make a far better game, with a wide variety of missions, and a beautiful open world to explore.

To set the scene, Assassin’s Creed 2 begins right where we left off at the end of the original; playing as Desmond Miles who has been captured by the modern day incarnation of the Knights Templar, and has been forced to relive the memories of his ancestors through a machine called the animus to discover the location of powerful ancient weapons called Pieces of Eden. As the game opens, Desmond is rescued by a small group of Assassins, the enemies of the Templars, and taken to their hideout and placed in their version of the animus in order to help them discover the secret of the Pieces of Eden. Fortunately the game opens with a flashback to the first game letting the player know the basics of what they need to know from the original’s story. This time, rather than controlling Desmond’s ancestor Altair during the Crusades, you control another one of Desmond’s ancestors Ezio Auditore in 15th Century Florence, Italy. Ezio is a young noble man when the game begins, but before long his family are betrayed, causing his father and two brothers to be hung for treason. Ezio retreats in to the mountains of Tuscany with his mother and sister where he meets his Uncle Mario, who trains him in the family business in order to get revenge on those who wronged his family.

During your travels you will venture to other cities, such as Venice and Rome, and the countryside between them. The mission structure of old – go research your target, return to the Assassin’s Bureau, go kill target – is gone. Now the game features a more dynamic and expansive mission structure with numerous types of missions, ranging from simple assassinations, to horse and cart riding, to prison breaks. There are a series of side missions that revolve around solving platforming puzzles to discover secret assassin tombs, and discovering hidden glyphs that have been hacked in the environment through the animus. When examining these glyphs you must solve a series of puzzles which are mainly picture hunt mini games with various key figures in history using the pieces of Eden. Other side missions include races, courier missions, and assassinations.

The controls have had a number of little tweaks made to improve them

Unlike the original you are able to blend in to any crowd of people just by standing in the middle of them. When you have successfully blended your character and the characters that shield you turn black and white. If you find that there are not enough civilians in an area to blend with, then you can hire prostitutes, mercenaries, or thieves in order to create some cover. Your hired help can also be directed at guards in order to create a distraction allowing you to sneak past unnoticed. As with the original you have a notoriety metre which determines how visible you are to guards – with a full metre guards will attack you on sight. In the original you only had to hide for a few moments to become inconspicuous, however in the sequel you have to try a lot harder to become anonymous. In order to become anonymous you must either assassinate an official, bribe a herald, or find wanted posters and pull them down. Amusingly these wanted posters tend to be high up out of the view of ordinary citizens, so they are actually very impractical as a means of identifying wanted criminals.
If you are forced in to fighting the guards you can now disarm enemies and use their own weapons against them, and the countering is a lot more forgiving.

There are a number of new enemies, including large armoured guards armed with either long swords, axes, hammers, or spears, all of which you can take from their dead bodies and use. While the weapons you loot from dead bodies cannot be kept for very long, you can purchase a number of various swords and knives, each with different properties from blacksmiths located all around town. Your armour can also be upgraded and repaired at the blacksmith. Every item you purchased can be accessed from your uncle’s villa in the hills if ever you feel the need to change equipment. Speaking of your uncle’s villa, you can invest your money in the town it is located in with the aim of making it more prosperous and improving the daily income the town will provide for you as it’s patron. There are a number of collectible items in the game, and unlike the original, these collectibles actually contribute towards unlocking items, and improving your town’s economy.

There are 30 pages of the Assassin’s Codex hidden around the world which when translated can be used to upgrade your equipment and increase your health. The most important Codex entries are earned by completing missions, so you will not be able to miss out on the best upgrades. It is worth noting that in order to access the final level you must have all 30 Codex pages, but that should be no problem by that point.

One of the new upgrades is a second wrist blade, meaning you can kill two targets at once.

As with the original, Assassin’s Creed 2 features real life historical figures as characters, such as the translator of your Codex entries, Leonardo Davinci, and people like Niccolo Machiavelli and Pope Alexander VI. Each city has a number of famous landmarks, and while I cannot attest to the accuracy of the city design, the cities have a very authentic look to them, especially Venice. The story takes place over the course of about 15 years and while the city does not change very much over that time they do a decent job of making each period of time fairly distinctive, such as the section of the game that takes place during the Venice carnival. A day and night cycle has been added to the game, and the guards change shift at dawn and dusk, which can give you the chance to sneak in easily. However you would need to either be incredibly fortunate to stumble upon this realisation, or just a very patient person, especially when you can just hire a group of people to distract the guards, or even just chuck a handful of coins on the floor and sneak in during the commotion. Still, I guess it is nice to have the option.

The depiction of Venice in particular is very impressive

It may seem as if the entire purpose of this review has been to criticise the original, but at the time I enjoyed Assassin’s Creed a great deal despite it’s flaws. I make the comparisons between the two games, apart from the obvious reason, because the sequel truly improves upon almost every issue that any one could have had with the original. The only real issue with the game is that at times during combat the camera angles can be counter productive, often obscuring your view behind a tree or a crate, when in tight spaces. Other camera issues can occasionally cause you to veer off in the wrong direction, which can be frustrating when in a situation where you need to have precise control over your character. There may also be a slight issue with accessibility with the story, as if you have not played the original then it may come across as being a little confusing at first. Considering the fact that the game has a lengthy story with dozens of side missions and collectibles to discover, and so few substantial flaws, it is hard not to recommend to everyone.

REVIEW ROUND UP:

GRAPHICS: 4/5 The environments are incredibly detailed and some of the character models are very detailed. However there are a few characters that look very bad in comparison to the others.
SOUND: 5/5 The music, while being subtle, is very good and suitably dramatic when needs be. The voice acting is impressive.
GAMEPLAY: 4/5 There are a wide variety of mission types spread out through the main story, with a number of side missions. Improvements to the combat and general mechanic of anonymity make the game a lot more playable than the original.
LONGEVITY: 5/5 Including collectible feathers, crests, codex pages, and statues that actually unlock special items can keep you playing after completing the lengthy story mode.
OVERALL: 5 Assassinations out of 5 – A nice long single player experience that does not outstay it’s welcome, featuring a nice mix of missions, and collectibles that are actually fun to search out.