Dview: Assassin's Creed II (Xbox 360)

The Bottom Line:
Assassin's Creed II is the sequel to Assassin's Creed (i know that is strange).  Basically, if you are familiar with the first one, you would know that is basically an action game that puts you in the role of an ancestor of Desmond Miles (who was an assassin).  You basically go around the game killing people.  The sequel makes some improvements  over the first one (like finally having subtitles), but also does so things i dislike.  They added glyphs that require you to solve annoying puzzles (does not really fit in the game) and have more of an emphasis on timed events.  If you read my "frustration" post, you would know i hate time events.  The story for this game is better than the first, but it is also more frustrating too.  Many people like this game a lot more than i do (90 on Metacritic).  Ultimately, i found it more frustrating than fun. 

Grade: C

What to Expect:
* An upgradable base you can obtain fairly early on (useful mostly for money)
* Purchasable weapons, armor, etc
* 20 Glyphs hidden throughout the game [optional] which are mostly puzzles that feel out of place in this game
* A series of frustrating shrines that are all time based (aarrgh) [optional]
* A completely unnecessary glider sequence
* A fairly long game (for an action game)
* Killing innocent (or not so innocent) characters with one of a few types of weapons
* Explore several renaissance era towns (like Venice, Rome, Tuscany, etc)
* Collect annoying feathers for some reason
* Collect all 30 codex entries (not optional)
* Too many timed jump puzzles
* A camera that is ill equipped to follow rapid movement (and some virtually blind jumps) - this makes timed jumps a little more annoying
* Guards that frequently get in the way of where you want to be
* Highly annoying bard characters (was beggars in the first game) that like to get in the way.

My Stats:
* Play Time: 25 hours +
* Achievements: 42/50 (870/1,000)
* Glyphs: 19/20 (Looked up the solutions for many)
* Assassin's Tombs 5/6 (the last one in Venice really, really sucks)
* Feathers: 34/100

Achievements:
The achievements in this game are somewhat varied.  You have collect achievement - like all weapons/upgrades and feathers.  Optional achievements - like beat all of the assassin's tombs, solve all the glyph puzzles, game related, and miscellaneous.  The most annoying ones are: the Santa Maria assassin's tomb one, the feather collect one and the glyphs one.