GameblurgKids Talking About the Future

Assassin’s Creed 2 historical highlights captures my interests much like attractive artifacts would at a museum. Initially, I didn’t know how to take this. I’m not used to stopping and raising my eyebrows at small facts and tidbits in a videogame.

I’m used to enjoying exhilarating, emotional roller coasters that force me to cringe at the sudden appearance of zombie waves or throwing my controller at the screen when I’m “un-fairly” sniped from afar.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a different kind of monster: It makes me pause and ponder instead of pausing and breaking things (which is pretty good for the longevity of my controllers). As I walk around, there’s something new to embrace about the culture of the European Renaissance that is re-imagined for the sake of the game. You can step among the Palazzo Vecchio and learn about its cultural impact. As you step passed other historical structures, even more historical beings like Leonardo da Vinci (famed painter, inventor, philosopher) and Pope Alexander VI (notorious for corruption and immoral nepotism) exist behind their walls, choosing to aid or negatively impact your quest.

Like an interactive museum, each step leads away from one artifact and towards another. You can experience what it was like to hear the call of the town herald recite news and other announcements because an overwhelming percentage of the town may be illiterate.

You can also experience what it’s like to engage in a free-running rooftop pursuit of a random pickpocket who decides that your money would look much better in his pouch instead of your own.

The culture captured in Assassin’s Creed 2 bears the responsibility of revealing the environment of the Renaissance during the late 15th and early 16th century in Italy, and so far, the game has done a convincing job depicting the chronicled atmosphere.

Now, if the story didn’t awkwardly run dry and the combat system was just as engaging as the atmosphere, we might have a really good game on our hands.