Assassin's Creed 2 Review

'Considerably less repetitive, a stonker to look at, and pretty close to being f***ing awesome' - that's our conclusion on the new Assassin's Creed game, which publisher Ubisoft is hyping up as its BIGGEST RELEASE yet. Bold words, Ubi.

Do you need to know more? Fine, we shall go on. Set in Renaissance-era Italy (in GORGEOUS FLORENCE, to be precise), you star as a vengeful hitman desperate to restore honour to his family in a plot that becomes more conspiracy-filled and twist-happy than a Dan Brown novel (The Templars and Da Vinci paintings are indeed included).

Unlike its predecessor, though, this feels like much of an open-world experience, allowing you to literally crawl and climb over any surface, as you conceive to brutally dice those who've done you wrong. Its use of 'stealth' is suprisingly unique, too, with as much focus on escaping in large crowds and using noise, rather than simply lurking in dank corners usually reserved for pissing.

But don't think this is solely about creeping about: there's bags loads of action in this attractive jaunt, and the action comes brutal and bloody, just the way everyone likes it. So all in all, a very, very, very, very good game. And we're big fans of very, very, very, very good games.