These last few months have just been a holy ground of new games that don’t suck. Perhaps my favorite of the crowd comes in the form of a sequel to a game that revolutionized the concept of free-roaming video games. Everything good you remember about the first one has been buffed in this game. It’s easier and faster to climb buildings, there are more ways to escape sight, more ways to kill people (this is always a plus, wouldn’t you agree?), you know. Also, you get to meet Leonardo da Vinci. Oh hell yes.

In this title, you still play as Desmond Miles, but instead of Altair in the Animus, you take on the identity of your ancestor Ezio Auditore di Firenze. As Desmond, you have a much bigger role in this one, going so far as to actually fight. Won’t spoil even the opening scene for you, though. You will, however, find yourself at the place of the Animus 2.0, and meet two new interesting characters while you’re there. In addition to Lucy Stillman from the first game, we have Rebecca Crane, the technology freak that has taken an Animus and upgraded it into something even “more awesome” than the first, calling it the Animus 2.0. Then there’s Shaun Hastings, the British “go away Desmond, you’re annoying” character.

As Ezio, you will meet many historical figures and families of the real world. Already mentioned, and most prominent of which, is of course Leonardo da Vinci, who will serve to upgrade your blades, as well as decode codex pages found all around. You will also contend with the Medici family, as well as Niccoló Machiavelli. The plotline for Ezio is simple, really. He doesn’t start out as an assassin, just a simple man, a simple heart, and of course the simple love interest of a girl from a rival family. Average guy. However, once the blood of his loved ones is spilled, he turns vengeful, and slowly follows his heritage’s way as a great assassin.

Weapons? Right. Well, first, we have the sword. You swing it, blood comes out. Well, unless it’s blocked. Then swing again. The enemy health meter has been changed to slightly accommodate for player frustrations in the first one. Even if the sword hit is blocked, health still takes a significant blow. It is shown by a little DNA strand above foes’ heads. There are new sword techniques to be learned over time, as well as the return of many old favorites, such as the counter kill. We also have good ol’ throwing knives, hidden blades (which get some really nice upgrades from da Vinci), a dagger, and…something I won’t spoil that you’re sure to enjoy. All these weapons can be switched out as you buy and find new ones. There are multiple swords out there to use, but you can only have one equipped at a time; equipment has stats on them now, including general attack power, speed, all that. Same for armor, with defense, durability, and such.

The health system has been reworked, too. Instead of healing overtime, you will have to seek the aid of doctors. However, you can buy little packs of medicine from them to hold on to, to instantly replenish your health. How medicine works to re-align you with the real Ezio’s history, I really have no idea. Anyway, you’ll find this will come in handy overtime; enemies love to score combos on you if you’re not careful to block. The stealth system is pretty much the same, in how you run away from enemies to hiding spots. Now of course, you can run into a body of water and dive to hide, hoping that it’ll be enough to convince them you’re not around. Oh, right. Ezio can swim. Who didn’t see that improvement coming? On that subject, it’s generally been improved in terms of movement. It’s easier and faster to scale walls and run on top of buildings, recovering from a fall is a lot easier for some reason in terms of grabbing a wall, and it redefines freeflow running just like the first one did.

Once you meet, greet, and help out Uncle Mario (guess how he introduces himself?), you’ll be able to upgrade buildings in the Plaza area. For the cost of many a Florin (money), you’ll be able to upgrade mostly all aspects of the place. You can upgrade and invest in stores, earning you a discount on future purchases. You can expand, reaching out to more people and, in turn, getting more money over time. It truly pays off to invest in this, because you will be loving the rewards later on. Speaking of Florins, yes. You have money in this game. Use it to buy stuff (because that’s not obvious), or to throw on the ground (distracts guards and others). You gain money by looting. Treasure chest or dead body, you can now loot it. You can also pickpocket, of course…which is a lot easier to do in this game.

About the only thing I didn’t like over the original is the character himself. I liked Altair. He was badass. Ezio? Well, where Altair would just get a quick stab on a “boss”, Ezio is forced to stab a significant target like 5 times, raging all the while. Subtle as an amputee, Ezio. Even so, that’s a minor thing, and doesn’t factor in much to gameplay. The game is enjoyable, but it still gets hit by a case of repitition, though not nearly as bad as it was in the first game. If you liked the first one, you’re sure to love this one. If not, give it a try anyway, they’ve improved it on pretty much everything.