Assassin's Creed II Hands-On -- Eurogamer 2009

GrE writes, "The original Assassin's Creed was in many ways a massive success. It forced a considerable collective jump forward in animation across the industry, it had the foundation of a great multi-enemy combat system with its deliberate, timing-based street scuffles, and the engine presented the player with a massive playground in which to feel superhuman in a world convincingly populated by mere humans. Lets not forget the advertising campaign which seemed to pervade every orifice of its TV demographic (in the UK at least), making it the most successful new series of all time. However, that is really where its merits ended. After a couple of hours spent learning the combat animations and repeating the same three core mission types (interrogation, pick-pocketing and assassinations), completing the original AC began to feel less like reveling in the future of gaming, and more like going through the same old motions with a fancy new layer of polish..."