Assassin’s Creed has always been a game about movement, and in this respect Ezio proves to be every bit as dynamic as his predecessor. Whether he’s nimbly dashing over roof-tops, scaling Renaissance architecture or leaping effortlessly across wooden beams, the fluidity of animation can be a joy to behold – when everything gels, Assassin’s Creed II really is the leader of the pack as far as videogame parkour is concerned. As to whether or not the realistic physicality of Ezio’s acrobatics make the game more fun to play than more knockabout experiences such as Infamous is open to debate, but if realism is your thing, then this is your game.

It’s a shame then that some control issues raise their head. For example, while Ezio can climb nearly every surface available to him, there are some inconsistencies that disrupt the flow of play – at times he appears incapable of grabbing perfectly suitable hand-holds. Additionally, whoever thought that assigning the jump-grab action to the same button that makes Ezio drop was clearly having a bad day – to spend 5 minutes scaling the lofty heights of Venice’s St Mark’s Campanile only to hit the grab button at the wrong moment and plummet to your death can be pretty galling. Though a small criticism and by no means game breaking, it’s a shame that these details weren’t ironed out before release, and with parkour newcomers such as Cole McGrath and Faith from Mirror’s Edge snapping at his heels, I did expect slightly more refinement from Ubisoft’s assassin.

Combat is also not quite as polished as hoped; while progress has been made, with a greater selection of moves now available and a more flexible system in place, it’s easy to slip into button mashing to simply pound your foes into submission. More efficient and visually spectacular kills can be pulled off with well timed button presses and knowledge of the fighting system, but at times it can feel inconsistent and confusing, especially when facing off against large groups.

While it may sound that I’m being overly harsh, the simple fact is that there’s so much included in the package it seems almost inevitable that aspects will fall short of expectations – fortunately, the rest of the game does enough to smooth over the cracks. The best way to sum up Assassin’s Creed II is to take a close look at Ezio’s costume. The first thing you’ll notice is that it looks damned cool. The second thing you’ll notice is the degree of detail that has been lavished on it – from the lace edgings on his collar, to the complex lattices of armour that criss-cross his body to the etchings on his greaves and belt buckle – it deserves a place in the annuls of iconic character design (alongside Altaïr obviously!). This costume personifies the world in which Ezio exists, with Assassin’s Creed II’s 15th Century Italy more than matching Grand Theft Auto IV’s New York in the authenticity stakes. In fact, it’s so convincing, a brief city tour of some of Venice’s main tourist attractions (complete with tip-hungry tour guide!) feels utterly believable – the amount of research that must have been conducted to achieve such realism is simply staggering.

Assassin’s Creed II doesn’t stop at merely creating a virtual Italy to explore; the Renaissance setting is used as a foundation for wonderfully conceived fantasies. Starting with Ezio’s twin wrist-blades (single wrist blades are so 12th Century…) and progressing to include wrist-mounted pistols and a Leonardo Di Vinci-designed flying machine – Assassin’s Creed II is by no means restricted by its historical leanings.

I can’t think of many games that have left me quite as torn as Assassin’s Creed II. Part of me wants to call it a masterpiece – it’s ambitious, beautiful, engaging, addictive, full of variety and for the most part a joy to play. The other, more cynical part of me is dwelling on the short comings – the screen-tear, the moments when Ezio clambers up a nearby column rather than leaping over the wall you wanted him to, the occasions where the AI goes awry or the phsyics cause a body to flip into the air like a world class break-dancer… Fortunately, the latter are not memories that will linger – those will be of leaping off buildings, gliding over Venice in a flying machine, balancing atop of San Gimignano’s tallest tower and cruising through crowds of people, mingling with courtesans, minstrels and street performers, picking pockets left right and centre. This time my cynical side will have to take second place – lets just hope next time, it doesn’t even get a look in. So Assassin’s Creed II – it’s a flawed work of art, but a work of art nonetheless.

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