Many of you are probably familiar with Ubisoft. They have, after all, created tons of games, from first-person shooters to platformers. One of these games is Assassin’s Creed II. And let me just say this: If you are a fan of Assassin’s Creed, you will love this game, as it took everything from the first game and made it better.

If you played Assassin’s Creed, you will be right at home with the gameplay found in its sequel. The only way I can describe it is parkour platforming with action adventuring thrown in — and let’s not forget the historical (although altered somewhat for story purposes) aspect. Yes, it is an interesting mix of elements, but they go well together in the end like a good ol’ PB and J.

As I was saying, if you played the first Assassin’s Creed, you can expect much of the same gameplay, but the developers have fixed the problems of the first game. Climbing buildings is faster and smoother, you can now hide in more places than just random haystacks, and you can sneak attack the guards from the same haystacks and then hide their bodies. Throw into the mix a lot more to the combat system — such as a variety of weapons, including halberds, staffs, throwing daggers, a second hidden blade, a poisoned hidden blade and a gun — and you have a lot of variety to keep you going throughout your adventure. Another noticeable addition is that instead of automatically healing, you now have to buy medicine to restore your health — a great addition that adds an extra level of difficulty to the gameplay.

The story truly speaks for itself. If you thought Assassin’s Creed’s story was a tad bland, I please beg you, don’t pass up this game for that reason. Assassin’s Creed II has bested the original game in every way regarding the story. You will see the entire decade of Ezio’s life go by while playing this game, from his life before becoming an assassin, to the reason why he became one, and everything that happens to the end of the game, where you will experience a huge monumental “Did that just really happen” moment. You will see what Altair went on to do through collecting side items and see a very intriguing segment from the past by uncovering “the truth.” Throw in random bits of comedy like the funny one-liner “It’s a me, Mario,” and you have a really great game.

Assassin’s Creed II looks beautiful, and it is shown through its animation, from the way you first enter a new segment where you see the Animus mapping out the whole area in segments, to just the whole overview of everything you see. It looks beautiful from start to finish.

Does this game have its faults? Yes, it does. One thing I noticed: If you are playing on a standard TV, it may be a little hard to read certain parts of the game. Another noticeable flaw I saw was enemy AI. For the most part, they are smart; they will search for you in all kinds of fashions by poking and prodding hiding areas in everyplace you can hide. However, sometimes when it comes to the fighting, they can get a tad unresponsive and just stand around or not attack at all. Even with these small problems, you will never be without fun as you play through this game.

The camera system is pretty much exactly the same as from the first one. It follows you everywhere you need to go and very rarely will you ever have problems with it. It will show you what you need to do to get to your goal when shown a new task.

In the end, I have to say that Assassin’s Creed II is great. As I said before, it took everything that was good and wrong with the first game and fixed and made it even better. You will have a blast controlling Ezio in his entire story, as he adventures to obtain his goal in history, just for it to end in a crazy totally amazing way. As for what Ubisoft has in store for next installment of Assassin’s Creed, if the developers can do what they did with this game, it will be amazing, and this reviewer cannot wait. Please, Ubisoft, don’t make me beg, get the next game out ASAP.