I loved the first Assassin’s Creed game. Many were not fans of its admittedly repetitive game play or its sometimes boring segments. For some reason, I fell in love with the parkour aspect and fully enjoyed even the benign aspects to the game. Well, haters rejoice, for this game removes everything you hated about the first, adds a lot of fun new things, but also adds in a few new problems.

The story picks up right were the first game ending (nice cliffhanger by the way). The story is briefly explained at the beginning to help those new to the series. However, you would still be benefited from having experienced the first game. So, if you haven’t, I’d recommend renting it.

Desmond, using a machine called the Animus, must use his “genetic memories” to view back in time to his assassin ancestors to glean important information related to saving the world. Sound convoluted? It actually is pretty good sci-fi, even though 90% of the game takes place in renaissance Italy.

Desmond takes control of his ancestor Ezio de Auditore this time around. This time around, the color palette is greatly expanded. Since we are no longer in drab ancient middle east, we get to see how much better the visuals are with color. While not the greatest looking game out there, the wide sweeping vistas from the viewpoints can still leave you breathless, albeit not as much as in the first game. Besides that, the animations are generally well done (not counting the awkward facial animations).

The kills are really excellent, with some very brutal kills. If Ezio picks up a pole or spear to fight with and you manage to land an instant kill, Ezio will hit the guard in the stomach knocking him to his knees at which point Ezio will stab the spear straight down his spine. What you’re left with is a dead guard with half a spear coming out of his spine. It’s pretty awesome.

The game play is much tighter and focused than the first game. While this game is still a sandbox game, essentially letting you do whatever you want, the game constantly shows you were your next storyline point is, alleviating a lot of the stress of the first game. This would allow you to simply blast through the campaign, if you so choose. There are your typical fetch side quests, races, and assassination side quests.

All in all, the game play aspect is pretty good. Except for the glitches. And oh boy are there a lot of them. Assassin’s Creed 2 is the single most glitchy game I have ever played. Guards will infinitely respawn in areas, causing the game to run slowly and crash if you stick around too long. The game’s clocks seem on an infinite time loop. (I played for at least 20 hours and the game’s clock says I’ve played for 16 minutes.)

However, these glitches typically don’t have a terrible effect on game play, which is why I didn’t mind them too much. Actually, I thought several of them were quite funny. I didn’t have a problem synching any of the trophies, but I have heard several others have. Here are a couple of videos I took with my phone (sorry for the quality) that illustrate a glitch.






The score is pretty fantastic and memorable. I haven’t purchased the entire soundtrack but there are some highlights that I bought.

So: you should at least give this game a rent. It’s definitely a lot of fun, despite its many issues. If you loved the first game, this one tops it in every conceivable way. The platforming is decent without being revolutionary and the storyline will punch you in the face. Go play it!

Batman has had a long history of having terrible video game adaptations. Almost all of them have felt unpolished, unprofessional, and simply broken. Development studio Rocksteady thought they'd try to change all that. Arkham Asylum takes place on the titular island home of Gotham's most deranged criminals. A few weeks ago, the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill -- yes, Luke Skywalker) broke out and Batman was lucky enough to catch him. Or was he? It seemed to Batman that the Joker let himself be caught, so the Dark Knight followed the police and Joker into the asylum.

 Lo and behold, the Joker escapes his captures and traps Batman in the asylum. It seems that he's been planning this reverse break in for some time, having set fire to Blackgate Prison to get all of his lackeys transferred to Arkham. It's going to be the longest night of Batman's life as he fights through a significant portion of the Rogue's Gallery from the Batman canon. Present are Bane, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and of course the Joker, just to name a few.

Arkham Asylum looks great. The graphics are dark and gritty, with the art direction heavily borrowing from the comic of the same name; which is a great thing. Everything is very mature, people you know and care for die. Batman's outfit even takes damage of the course of the game; a small but nice touch. During the important cut scenes most of the characters are animated well with more or less correct lip syncing. But through the rest of the game, the animation of the NPC's is rigid and unnatural. Worse, the lip syncing is deplorable. However, these are relatively small gripes in the measure of the game.

It plays amazing. This is what it feels like to truly play as Batman. The game is action oriented -- when facing unarmed guards. If you have a room with more than one person with a gun (a room with one armed guard is rare - most have 7+) you will not live through it if you try to go head to head. You have to used Batman's ninja abilities to stealthily take out the enemies in the room.

This feels amazing for several reasons. Let's say I'm hiding in the rafters of a room and an enemy walks below me, I can drop down grab him and shoot back up into the shadows. He'll scream and the rest of the enemies will rush to where they heard the sound. Finding him hanging upside down and unconscious, the guards start freaking out. They get nervous and sloppy. Yea, that's right, you can actually scare the enemies. It's awesome. There are all sorts of ways to take out guards quietly: silent take downs from behind, hitting them with explosive gel, pulling them over a railing with your grapnel gun, and many more.  All of it is wonderfully done and very very fun to play.

Now, if you have a room of unarmed cronies, things are much more straight forward. You only use 4 buttons while fighting. One for attack, counter, jump, and stun. That doesn't sound like much and it isn't. But that doesn't in any way mean its a bad thing. The only way I can explain how cool the fighting is is to show you. Keep in mind, that you're only using 4 buttons here. The game really is this dynamic.



Besides the combat, the Riddler has hidden 240 items around the island. Some are riddles you must solve, some are trophies, some are patient interview tapes, among other things. It will take a good amount of time to find them all; but you'll want to. The game's areas are varied enough and large enough to warrant exploration and the Riddler trophies are a great way to do so.

The last thing I'll talk about in this game is the voice acting. If you've ever watched Batman: The Animated Series (a highly acclaimed series) you'll know Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker (the longest running actor behind the face paint), and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Many other original cast members from the cartoon return to reprise their roles as well. Simply put, this game has the absolute best voice acting in any game; period. It's remarkable and a joy to listen to. The dialogue from the Joker is well worth the purchase of this game. Every single line of dialogue is spoken; which is rare.

Overall, this game has been a wonderful joy to play. The gameplay is addicting and fun, the voices are amazing, and it truly feels great to play as the Dark Knight and scare the crap out of the bad guys. I highly recommend this game. I have a feeling it'll be a contender for game of the year with several publications. Thank you Rocksteady for finally giving Batman the game he deserved.

Overall Score
Graphics: 8.5 - Great environmental visuals. Sometimes rigid character animation.
Gameplay: 9.5 - Feels great to play as Batman! Scare those bad guys!
Audio: 10 - Amazing voice cast and moody music. Worth the purchase alone.
Replay Value: 8 - Enough Riddler trophies to bring you back for more. Plus 16 challenge maps.

Total Score: 9


-Kris