NorfolkNChance

It's been a busy old few months playing games, so I'll mention what I've just finished.

Assassin's Creed 2 set in Italy where Ezio, a descendant of the original Assassin known as Altair, comes to terms with the death of his father and two brothers forces him on a bloody path of vengeance.

Throughout the game you learn the skills to become a talented Assassin - which is a lot better than the naughty step format of AC1 where you had all your toys taken away from you to begin with and had to earn them back.

As you progress through the game, killing countless numbers of guard/soldiers you take out the targets, using cunning and grace to get close and make that kill. Which I might add was a lot more satisfying than AC1. With the exception of the final boss who you end up having fisticuffs with instead - or in my case I grabbed him then went Muay Thai/Glaswegian on his ass - a couple of knees then a headbutt - rinse, repeat as necessary.

I am notoriously known as a non-fan of sandbox games, which would make this game normally not fun for me. Yet I did and I also finished the main story. I also collected all the codex pages (well you have to) and I also collected all the Assassin Seals of Altair (or something like that) so that I could get the awesome Altair armour. I only did these because the maps gave me the waypoints to find them. Unlike the feathers, as I found them few and far between I think I finished having only found about 17 out of 100. Not a good find! No map-py, no find-y!!

I did enjoy climbing and finally experienced that moment my good friends experienced with Crackdown - the moment you look at real buildings and get thoughts of your own ability to climb them. I enjoyed scaling the heights then taking the "Leap of Faith" - oh the irony - a hay fever suffering atheist taking a "Leap of Faith".

Other mentions of good times - close kills with the blade, duels with swords, counters and disarm, throwing money around, setting up fights/whoring, and looting the place.

Out of place - Danny Wallace as one of the characters in the future (now?) that was potential in the making if he could voice act. He's a geek, yes, but can't voice act, so why digitally recreate him then have him vocalise the part of himself, but made from wood? 

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent playing AC2 and would recommend others partake in the Italian education and occasional killing on the side.