Assassin's Creed II

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Assassin's Creed II
Assassins Creed 2 Box Art.JPG
Developer(s)Ubisoft Montréal
Publisher(s)Ubisoft
Director(s)Patrice Désilets
Producer(s)
  • Sébastien Puel
  • Jamal Rguigui
  • Vincent Pontbriand
Designer(s)
  • Benoît Lambert
  • Patrick Plourde
  • Olivier Palmieri
Programmer(s)James Therien
Artist(s)Mohamed Gambouz
Writer(s)
Composer(s)Jesper Kyd
SeriesAssassin's Creed
EngineAnvil
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 3, Xbox 360
  • NA: November 17, 2009
  • AU: November 19, 2009
  • EU: November 20, 2009
Microsoft Windows
  • AU: March 4, 2010
  • EU: March 5, 2010
  • NA: March 9, 2010
OS X
  • EU: October 1, 2010
  • NA: January 6, 2011
PlayStation 4, Xbox One
  • WW: November 15, 2016
Genre(s)Action-adventure, stealth
Mode(s)Single-player

Assassin's Creed II is a 2009 action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montréal and published by Ubisoft.[1] It is the second major installment in the Assassin's Creed series, and the sequel to 2007's Assassin's Creed. The game was first released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and was later made available on Microsoft Windows in March 2010 and OS X in October 2010. Several minor game-related features could be redeemed on Uplay and three downloadable expansion packs were released on Xbox Live.

The plot is set in a fictional history of real-world events and follows the centuries-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Knights Templar, who desire peace through control. The framing story is set in the 21st century and follows Desmond Miles as he relives the genetic memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze to uncover the mysteries left behind by an ancient race known as the First Civilization in the hope of ending the Assassin-Templar conflict. The main narrative takes place at the height of the Renaissance in Italy during the late 15th century, and follows Ezio's journey as an Assassin while seeking revenge against those responsible for the death of his father and brothers. The game features an open world comprising Florence, Venice, Monteriggioni, San Gimignano, and Forlì, and focuses on the player's combat, stealth and parkour abilities.

Using a newly updated Anvil game engine, Assassin's Creed II began development shortly after the release of Assassin's Creed. The game received praise from video game publications for its Renaissance setting, narrative, characters, map design and visuals, as well as the improvements over its predecessor. It has sold more than nine million copies, is considered to be one of the best video games ever made and popularized the Assassin's Creed franchise. The PC version was met with some criticism in relation to the digital rights management system, and thus had the always-online DRM permanently removed. The game spawned two direct sequels: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010) and Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011), and a spin-off, Assassin's Creed II: Discovery (2009). Remastered versions of Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations were released on November 15, 2016, as part of the combined Ezio Collection.

Gameplay[]

Players directly control the on-screen character through a third-person perspective and can control the camera, allowing for a 360° view of their surroundings. The game takes place in an open world environment with nonlinear gameplay, allowing the player to roam freely within several regions of late fifteenth-century Italy such as Venice, Florence, Monteriggioni, Forlì, San Gimignano, and the Tuscany countryside. The Animus 2.0, a new version of the machine of the same name present in Assassin's Creed, provides in-game context for changes and additions to several game elements. A database is also available, providing extra historical information about key landmarks, characters, and services that the player encounters. The health system has been made more dynamic, with synchronization to the Animus and causing the character to recover only from minor injuries.[2] More grievous injuries require visiting a street-side doctor or use of medicine (which can be purchased from doctors or found on bodies).

The player may now swim in water, and Eagle Vision—the ability to identify specific people and landmarks—can now be used in third-person view and while moving.[2] A young Leonardo da Vinci is present in the game, aiding the player by creating new weapons from translated "Codex pages" that Altaïr, the original game's main character, left behind for future Assassins' analysis and insight.[2] Within the game, the player will be able to use Leonardo's flying machine (based on real-life plans by Leonardo) during one mission. The player also has the ability to control a carriage in one level, and can row gondolas, as well as ride horses at any point in the game where they are readily available between towns and cities.[2] The setting of the various places the player may go to have been made more detailed and in-depth; civilians sometimes cough or sneeze. Additionally, the player can hire different groups of NPCs, such as mercenaries, courtesans, or thieves; these groups can be used to fight, distract, or lure guards, respectively. A day and night cycle has been added to the game, giving the game more of a sense of time, in addition to setting missions and events at certain times of the day.[2]

There are many ways to interact with NPCs. Money can be thrown to the ground, or a corpse carried and then deposited on the ground, may also serve as a distraction for both guards and peasants. There are also several different types of enemies, some more agile or stronger than others, and some of which will actively search hiding places where Ezio was last seen. The player can also mock an enemy during combat.

Ezio stealing a gondola from a small pier

The combat system is more complex than that of its predecessor, with the ability to disarm opponents using counter-attacks while unarmed. If the player steals an enemy's weapon, it is possible to follow up with an attack that instantly kills the enemy.[2] Da Vinci provides the player with specialized weaponry, such as the dual hidden blades, poison blade, and the miniature wheellock firearm, which are all based on schematics found in Altaïr's Codex pages. Generic swords, cutlasses, maces, axes, and daggers can all be purchased from vendors in each city. The player can also pick up any weapon on the ground or use improvised weapons, such as brooms or halves of a spear. These weapons are used just like normal blunt weapons. In addition, players are able to purchase artwork for their villa, obtain new armor as the game progresses, and even dye Ezio's clothing with a number of different colors. Other equipment includes larger pouches to carry more throwing knives and medicine. Six additional weapons can be unlocked by connecting a PSP with Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines to the PS3.[3]

The Auditore family's countryside villa, located in Monteriggioni, acts as Ezio's headquarters: the surrounding property can be upgraded, drawing income for the player's use. There are several outlets for using currency, with vendors selling items such as medicine, poison, weapons, repairs, upgrades, paintings, and clothing dyes. When these shops are renovated, Ezio receives discounts at the shops on the goods they sell. Purchasing weaponry, armor sets, and artwork also contribute to increasing the villa's overall worth, in turn generating more income for Monteriggioni.

There is now a broader array of methods for hiding or blending in the area. One can dive underwater to break guards' line of sight, and blending may be performed with any group of people, rather than only a specific type (as in the first Assassin's Creed).[2] The game features a notoriety system, with guards more alert to Ezio's presence depending on his behavior, location, and current mission. This infamy can be reduced through bribery, removing wanted posters, or assassinating corrupt officials.[2]

The missions in the game now have an expanded variety, with different structuring. For example, a mission may have the objective to escort someone but may change to a chase and assassination. An investigation is less explicit, and instead, missions may follow people and/or a narrative. There are roughly 200 missions in the game; about half are part of the main storyline, while the rest are side quests which need not be completed in order to finish the game's main storyline. Cities also contain hidden locations such as catacombs and caves (the design of which have been compared by the developers to the Prince of Persia series, where the objective is to navigate the area). Exploring these locations eventually rewards the player with an Assassin's Seal; the collection of all six Seals allows the player to unlock the Armor of Altaïr, in a concealed section of the Villa.

Like Assassin's Creed, characters based on historical figures are present in the game, including Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, Caterina Sforza, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, the Medici family, the Pazzi family, the Barbarigo family and Pope Alexander VI.[4]

Locations in the game include the Tuscany region[2] (Florence, Monteriggioni and San Gimignano),[5] the Apennine Mountains, the Romagna region (Forlì),[5] Venice, and the Vatican.[6] Specific landmarks include St Mark's Basilica,[2] the Grand Canal, the Little Canal, the Rialto Bridge,[2] Santa Maria del Fiore, the Sistine Chapel, Santa Croce, Palazzo Vecchio, Ponte Vecchio, and Santa Maria Novella.[5]

Plot[]

In "the Truth" puzzles, certain historical paintings are used, such as the first depiction of a firearm.

After the events of the first game, test subject Desmond Miles (Nolan North) is rescued from Abstergo by undercover Assassin Lucy Stillman (Kristen Bell) and taken to a safehouse, where he meets her team, consisting of historian and analyst Shaun Hastings (Danny Wallace) and technician Rebecca Crane (Eliza Schneider). They have constructed their own Animus, which they intend to use to train Desmond as an Assassin through the "bleeding effect," which allows the user to learn their ancestor's skills at a rapid pace. Desmond is instructed to relive the memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Roger Craig Smith), born into a wealthy Florentine family in 1459, during the Italian Renaissance.

Santi di Tito - Niccolo Machiavelli's portrait headcrop.jpgPope Alexander Vi.jpg
Assassin's Creed II's plot includes fictional depictions of historical figures such as Niccolò Machiavelli (left) and Rodrigo Borgia (right), later known as Pope Alexander VI.

By 1476, Ezio has grown into a charismatic but reckless young man. After his father Giovanni (Romano Orzari), and brothers Federico (Elias Toufexis) and Petruccio are framed for treason and executed by corrupt magistrate Uberto Alberti (Michel Perron), Ezio murders Uberto in revenge. Ezio and his remaining family—his mother Maria (Ellen David), and sister Claudia (Angela Galuppo)—flee Florence and head to their ancestral home in Monteriggioni. There, Ezio's uncle Mario (Fred Tatasciore) explains their family's role as members of the ancient Assassin Brotherhood, and trains Ezio to be an Assassin.

For the next ten years, Ezio kills the men responsible for his father's death, including politicians, bankers, mercenaries, and merchants aligned to the Pazzi and Barbarigo families. During his journey, Ezio makes several allies, such as statesman Lorenzo de' Medici (Alex Ivanovici), after foiling the Pazzi's attempt on his life, and inventor Leonardo da Vinci (Carlos Ferro), who provides him with equipment based on information left by the Assassin Altaïr Ibn-LaʼAhad. Eventually, Ezio discovers the identity of the Templar grandmaster, Rodrigo Borgia (Manuel Tadros), who has been plotting to secure Italy for the Templar Order by unifying influential families under his leadership. Ezio disguises himself as a soldier transporting an Apple of Eden to Rome and confronts Rodrigo, who reveals his intention to unlock "the Vault," which he believes to contain a great power. They fight, and Ezio is almost defeated, but his allies arrive to help, forcing Rodrigo to escape without the Apple. As a reward for Ezio's service, Mario, along with other Assassins, formally induct him into the Brotherhood.

In the present, Desmond suffers side-effects from the bleeding effect, experiencing a memory of Altaïr. He also finds glyphs similar to the drawings he found in his cell, which, when deciphered, reveal a vision of two human slaves stealing an Apple. The vision ends with the ASCII codes for "EDEN". The team theorizes that the two humans may be Adam and Eve, the first man and woman.

With several memory sequences too corrupted to access (later made available as DLC), the team sends Desmond to the final memory in 1499. With Rodrigo now secure in his position as Pope Alexander VI, Ezio infiltrates Vatican City and defeats him, but chooses to spare him. Combining the Apple and the papal staff (another Piece of Eden), Ezio opens the entrance to the Vault underneath the Vatican Palace. Inside, he is contacted by a woman named Minerva (Margaret Easley). Aware that Desmond is listening, Minerva explains how her people, the First Civilization, created humanity to serve them, but were destroyed by a great catastrophe. The survivors joined forces with humanity, building a network of vaults to preserve their technology and prevent a future disaster. Before vanishing, she tells Desmond that only he has the power to fulfill the "prophecy", leaving Desmond and Ezio confused.

In the present, Abstergo agents led by Dr. Warren Vidic (Philip Proctor) attack the hideout, forcing the team to evacuate. As they head to a new location, Lucy informs Desmond that the Assassins have detected strange occurrences in the Earth's magnetic field. A solar flare is scheduled to occur in a few months, which will likely trigger the same event that ended the First Civilization. Desmond prepares to reenter the Animus, leading into the events of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Development[]

Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot officially confirmed that Assassin's Creed II was in development on November 26, 2008, during the company's financial performance report.[7] This was followed by Michael Pachter speculating in GameTrailers' "Bonus Round" that the game would change its setting to the events of the French Revolution, which turned out to be false.[8]

A promotional video was released by Ubisoft on April 6 showing a skull, some hidden blade designs, and Leonardo's flying machine on a scroll.[9] On April 16, Game Informer released details of the game, including pictures of Ezio,[10] a new teaser trailer[11] was released, and the game was "officially" announced by Ubisoft.[12]

In an interview, in May 2009, Sebastien Puel stated that the development team working on Assassin's Creed II had increased to 450 members, and the development team's size had tripled since the first game.[13]

On June 1, 2009, Ubisoft released a new four-minute cinematic Assassin's Creed II trailer at E3.[14] On June 2, 2009, Ubisoft revealed the first live gameplay demo, lasting 6 minutes, at the Sony Press Conference.[15] GameTrailers features an exclusive developer walkthrough from E3 2009. In an interview with GameTrailers Ubisoft Montreal creative director Patrice Desilets stated Desmond would be doing more than walking around and discovering clues.[16]

It was announced at the Assassin's Creed panel at Comic-Con 2009 that a mini-series of three episodes, Assassin's Creed: Lineage, would be released showing the events leading up to the game and the history of Ezio and his father Giovanni.

It was also revealed that the humorist Danny Wallace would be voicing a new character in Assassin's Creed II: Shaun Hastings, a sarcastic historian assisting Desmond. The character's face would also be modeled after him.[17] Actress Kristen Bell reprised her role as Lucy Stillman.[18]

The game was originally due to be released at the same time on all three platforms, but Ubisoft announced on September 24, 2009, that the PC version would be delayed to the first quarter of 2010 in order to have "a bit more time for the dev team to deliver the best quality game."[19]

On June 1, 2021, online service for the game were closed.[20]

Downloadable content[]

On December 1, 2009, Ubisoft announced the first of several downloadable content (DLC) expansions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Assassin's Creed II. The first, titled The Battle of Forlì, was released on January 28, 2010. It takes place before the final memory in the base game, and continues the story of Caterina Sforza, who was only briefly featured in the main storyline. The DLC also includes a special memory that allows players to pilot Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine over Forlì. The second expansion, titled Bonfire of the Vanities, was released on February 18, 2010. It serves as a continuation of the first DLC, and depicts the mass burning of sinful objects in Florence.[21] The events depicted in the two expansions were initially planned to be included in the base game, but were later cut due to time constraints;[22] this issue was written into the game's story as the Animus corrupting several memory sequences. Both the retail and digital releases of the Deluxe PC version include these DLC packages as part of the main storyline, without the possibility of skipping them.[23]

Uplay content[]

Ubisoft's Uplay system enables further in-game enhancements which can be redeemed by points that are given when playing the game. The available awards are an Assassin's Creed II theme or wallpaper for PC and PlayStation 3, five additional throwing knives, Altaïr's outfit and the Uplay exclusive Auditore Family Crypt map.[24]

The Battle of Forlì[]

The first of the two story expansions, The Battle of Forlì, adds one of the corrupted memory sequences, which Rebecca was able to repair with a computer patch.[25] Sequence 12, "Forlì Under Attack", is set in 1488, just after Ezio has recovered the Apple of Eden from Rodrigo Borgia. Ezio, Mario, Leonardo, and Niccolò Machiavelli meet to discuss what to do to protect the Apple, and they decide to send it to Forlì, to be defended by Caterina Sforza. When Ezio arrives, however, he finds the city under siege by an army of mercenaries led by Checco and Ludovico Orsi, who have been hired by Borgia to obtain a map made by Caterina's late husband showing the locations of Altaïr's Codex pages, which in turn lead to the Vault. In an attempt to force Caterina to hand over the map, the Orsi brothers kidnap her children. Ezio leaves the Apple with Caternia and rescues the children, killing Ludovico in the process, but learns that the kidnapping was merely a distraction that allowed Checco to steal the Apple. Ezio manages to kill Checco and recover the Apple, but is then stabbed and collapses as the culprit takes the Apple. After being nursed back to health by Caterina, Ezio obtains the map from her and sets out to recover the Apple. Suspecting that the thief is a monk, he travels to a nearby monastery and questions the local abbot, who reveals that the man who stole the Apple is Girolamo Savonarola.

This DLC also includes a bonus memory in which Ezio can pilot Leonardo's Flying Machine over the Forlì area.[26] Unlike regular memories, the player is able to play this memory an unlimited number of times.

Bonfire of the Vanities[]

The second of the two story expansions, Bonfire of the Vanities, adds the rest of the corrupted memory sequences. Sequence 13, "Bonfire of the Vanities", takes place in 1497, nine years after Sequence 12 and two years prior to the final memory in the game, Sequence 14.[27] Following the events of Assassin's Creed II: Discovery, Ezio has tracked Savonarola and the Apple to Florence, where the player can now explore the southern district of the city. After meeting with Machiavelli, Ezio devises a plan to bring Savonarola out of hiding by assassinating all nine of his lieutenants who preach in the city.[28] Upon doing so, the people become furious and form a mob, prompting Savonarola to come out and preach to them. When this fails to dissuade the angry crowd, he tries to use the Apple on them, but Ezio disarms him with a throwing knife and recovers the artifact. The mob proceeds to take Savonarola away to the Piazza della Signoria, where they attempt to burn him at the stake. However, Ezio, believing no one deserves such a painful fate, quickly ends the monk's life by stabbing him with his hidden blade. He then stands before the confused crowd and declares that all should follow their own path, as he was taught by his mentors.

Templar Lair[]

These three dungeons, platforming puzzles, similar to the base game's Assassin's Tombs but without special rewards other than treasure, were originally included in the Assassin's Creed II: Black Edition (European and Australian release), with one included in the White Edition and two in the North American Master Assassin's Edition. Ubisoft subsequently offered them as DLC via PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. They have since been included in Assassin's Creed II: Deluxe Edition and Game of the Year Edition.

Bonus skin[]

This costume (dye) is unlocked by entering a code obtained after buying the Assassin's Creed II 3D mobile game from the Verizon App Store. Also, this bonus skin is included in the Game of the Year Edition, "The Complete Edition" and Digital Deluxe Edition.

Music[]

The score to Assassin's Creed II was composed by Jesper Kyd.[29] It was recorded at Capitol Records with a 35-piece string ensemble and 13-person choir, with featured vocals by Melissa Kaplan.[30] A soundtrack was released via download on November 16, 2009.[31] 14 tracks of the soundtrack were also released on the game disc available with the special pre-order Black edition of Assassin's Creed II.[32]

In the marketing, "Genesis" by Justice was used in the "Visions of Venice" trailer.[33]

Marketing[]

Promotion[]

On October 20, 2009, Ubisoft announced a series of short films, to be broadcast via YouTube, that would provide additional back story and the introduction of some of the characters found in the game. The shorts, collectively called Assassin's Creed: Lineage, came in three parts and were developed by Ubisoft's Hybride Technologies, who previously worked on the films 300 and Sin City. The series focused on Ezio's father, Giovanni Auditore, and contained live-action and computer-generated imagery. The first of the films was released on October 27, 2009, with the remaining two released on November 13, 2009.

On November 12, 2009, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed II themed virtual items on PlayStation Home to promote the release of the game, as well as the game Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines for PSP.[34] Assassin's Creed II virtual items and an Ezio costume were also released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360's avatars.[35] On November 19, 2009, more Assassin's Creed II virtual items were released in PlayStation Home, along with a costume for Ezio, which was released on November 26, 2009, in which the player could obtain and roam PlayStation Home in it.[36] On December 3, 2009, more 15th century Italian renaissance themed items were released in Home.[37] Ezio's "Purple Assassin" costume is available to download on LittleBigPlanet, as of December 8, 2009, on the PlayStation Network.[citation needed]

Assassin's Creed II is the first game to be linked to Ubisoft's Uplay feature.[38] Progression through the game allows Uplay members to acquire points that can be redeemed for bonuses for use in the game, including a new crypt to explore and an Altaïr costume.[39]

A novel based on the game, Assassin's Creed: Renaissance (by Oliver Bowden), was published by Penguin Books in November 2009.[40]

Ubisoft announced a Play Your Part, Play At Home campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this campaign, PC users were able to redeem a free digital copy of Assassin's Creed II (among other games) via the Ubisoft website.[41]

Editions[]

There are several different limited editions of Assassin's Creed II. The Black Edition contains an Ezio figurine garbed in a black outfit and was released in Europe and Australia. Included also are three bonus areas and missions, an art book, a DVD with part of the game's soundtrack, one premium PS3/Xbox 360 theme, behind the scenes videos, and 2 desktop wallpapers. The White Edition contains one bonus area/mission and an Ezio figurine in his white outfit.[42] The Master Assassin's Edition is the North American limited edition, which contains an Ezio figurine, two bonus areas, an art book and a Blu-ray with music and behind the scenes videos.[43]

After much complaining from Assassin's Creed II fans that they were unable to complete the game due to the need to complete the three Templar Lairs (only available on the White or Black Editions) to earn 100% synchronization, Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed II: The Complete Edition. Included in the package are download codes for the two DLCs, Battle of Forlì and Bonfire of the Vanities and the three Templar Lairs. Later Assassin's Creed II: The Game of the Year Edition was released, containing the extra content incorporated on the game disc. Both versions also have the Bonus Skin, however, it needs to be unlocked through the game code.

Eventually Assassin's Creed II: Digital Deluxe Edition was also released, containing the three bonus areas & missions and the downloadable content Battle of Forlì and Bonfire of the Vanities. This Edition, however, is only available via Digital Download. Assassin's Creed II: Digital Deluxe Edition as of now is available only on the PlayStation 3 through PSN and PC through Epic Games & Steam. It also has the Bonus Dye for Ezio's outfit, albeit it is unlocked from the very beginning of the game and available for free at Monteriggioni.

The PC version of the Retail Edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition now requires a one-time online activation, after which the game, its activation key, and the Uplay Account will be bound together and the game can be played offline, even with the Uplay Launcher forced to run in Offline Mode in the Settings Menu. Even in Offline mode, users can log in into Uplay, provided they have already logged in online with a legitimate e-mail account when they started using the software for the first time.

Users already owning the Retail Edition through Steam can upgrade to the Deluxe Edition.

Reception[]

Upon release, Assassin's Creed II received universal acclaim on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with generally favourable reviews on PC. Review aggregator site Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version a score of 91 and the Xbox 360 version a 90, making it the highest-rated game in the franchise on the site.

In an exclusive review by Official Xbox Magazine, Assassin's Creed II scored 9/10.[45] Its second review was a perfect score from the Official PlayStation Magazine US, while the Official PlayStation Magazine UK scored the game a 9/10.[44]

German magazine Computer Bild Spiele reported that the game's publishers offered to provide a pre-release copy of the game if the magazine would guarantee a review score of "very good". The magazine rejected the request and instead opted to delay their review.[57][58]

GameSpot which reviewed the PC version of the game, said despite the game being "fun and beautiful" it was hard to justify the higher price point. It was also mentioned that the game was hindered by Ubisoft's DRM and the game "deserved better. For that matter, PC gamers deserved better too."[59][60]

According to pre-official sales estimates, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed II sold 1.6 million copies worldwide during its first week of sale, representing a 32 percent increase over the first week retail performance of the original Assassin's Creed.[61] As of May 2010, the game has sold 9 million copies.[62]

At the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, Assassin's Creed II was named Best Action Adventure Game, and IGN named it as the Action Game of the Year for Xbox 360 and Xbox 360 Game of the Year. Game Informer also named it as Xbox 360 Game of the Year. It also received Game of the Year from GamePro, Eurogamer and The New York Times.

Assassin's Creed II has been nominated for the "Outstanding Achievement in Animation", "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction", "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering", "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering", "Outstanding Achievement in Original Story", "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition", "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction", "Adventure Game of the Year" and "Game of the Year" at the Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards) from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[63]

The game was also nominated for several Game Developers Choice Awards including "Best Game Design", "Best Visual Art", "Best Technology", and "Game of the Year".[64]

The game is included in the 2010 book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[65] In April 2020, Game Informer ranked the game as the fifth best game in the Assassin's Creed series to date.[66]

DRM-related criticism[]

The PC version of the game uses Ubisoft's Uplay platform, which includes a digital rights management (DRM) system that initially required all users to remain connected to the Internet while playing. In the initial retail version, any progress made subsequent to the last checkpoint was lost if the Internet connection was severed. Ubisoft stated that if the disconnection was temporary, the game would pause. In addition, the company argued that there were numerous checkpoints spread throughout Assassin's Creed II.[67] The company was also criticized by overseas members of the U.S. Armed Forces, who could not play the game while in locations with sporadic and expensive connections.[68] Ubisoft has since published a patch to finally remove the DRM: the PC version of the Retail Edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition now requires a one-time online activation, after which the game, its activation key, and the Uplay Account will be bound together and the game can be played offline, even with the Uplay Launcher logged in offline. The game can then be activated many times on the existing or new machine and still be played offline.[69]

Shortly after the release of the Windows version, Ubisoft claimed that a cracked version of the game had not been created, and was confirmed by at least one website. During the following weekend, the DRM servers for Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin's Creed II were, according to Ubisoft, affected by a denial-of-service attack. Ubisoft later stated that "95 per cent of players were not affected, but a small group of players attempting to open a game session did receive denial of service errors."[70][71][72] A server emulator to overcome the DRM has been developed. A cracked dynamic-link library bypassing the connection requirement entirely was released in late April.[73][74][75]

Following the series of server outages, Ubisoft offered owners of the Windows version all DLC from the Assassin's Creed II Black Edition (despite already having the Battle of Forli and Bonfire of the Vanities DLC incorporated into the story mode from the beginning by default), or a free copy of Heroes Over Europe, Tom Clancy's EndWar, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X, or Prince of Persia (2008).[76]

The DRM was modified in December 2010. By that time the game no longer required a constant Internet connection while playing. Instead, the player had to be connected to the Internet every time the game was launched.[77] In 2012, Ubisoft announced that they would patch the game to remove internet access as a requirement to play, and would not require internet access for DRM henceforth. It worked on the PC version. The PC version of the Retail Edition or the Digital Deluxe Edition now requires a one-time online activation, after which the game, its activation key, and the Uplay Account will be bound together and the game can be played offline, even with the Uplay Launcher forced to run in Offline Mode in the Settings Menu. The game can then be activated infinitely on the existing or a new machine if the game is ever reinstalled for some reason, and it can still be played offline. The same rule for Assassin's Creed II on PC now applies to any Ubisoft game on the PC that once required a persistent online connection.[69] However none of these changes affected the Mac OS X version of the game which still requires a constant Internet connection and players still lose progress if the Internet connection is disrupted.

Sequel[]

Discussions about details of Assassin's Creed III were already present before the release of Assassin's Creed II, with the game staff's notion of possibly having a female descendant in England during World War II.[78] However, co-writer Corey May has stated that the series will never take place during that period, as a major goal was to take players to settings normally unvisited in games.[79] Ubisoft's Philippe Bergeron stated that potential settings could include England in the Middle Ages, during the era of King Arthur, and feudal Japan, the latter of which had been a "personal favorite" of many in the staff. However, on March 1, 2012, the setting for Assassin's Creed III was revealed to be colonial Boston during the American Revolution, starring a Native American protagonist named Ratonhnaké:ton.[80] This game was released at the end of October 2012.

Two Assassin's Creed games were released concurrently with Assassin's Creed II: Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines and Assassin's Creed II: Discovery. Discovery is set during the missing chapters in II and features Ezio Auditore.[81] A direct sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was released on November 16, 2010 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,[82] continuing directly after the events of Assassin's Creed II. The game once again featured Ezio Auditore da Firenze as the primary protagonist, and included a new online multiplayer mode.[83] The game takes place primarily in Rome, the seat of power for the Borgia family and the Knights Templar.[84] The game's primary antagonist is Cesare Borgia, Rodrigo Borgia's son.[85]

References[]

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