When you aren’t face to face with enemies, Ezio does what he does best and that’s killing without being seen. You can now pull enemies from ledges, pull them into haystacks and perform air assassinations from heights. Ezio also has the ability to disarm foes and claim the weapons for himself – he’s also notably more agile and quicker than Altair from the original game, and thus more fun to play. You can also employ the help of mercenaries throughout the cities, as well as thieves and knife swinging courtesans to give you a hand - for a price.

Assassin’s Creed is known for its acrobatic maneuvers as you make your way through the crowded cities. Climbing wall faces and leaping from building to building tends to control the same as before, meaning it can be frustrating at times. . Too many times trying to drop down to grab the edge below caused me to do a somersault and roll off the rooftop, a clumsy and painful landing as opposed to the graceful, elegant and simplistic one an assassin should be capable of performing with ease.

Later in the game you gain the ability to jump higher and grasp ledges farther above you by pressing the B or circle button. However, the B button is also the drop button. So when Ezio jumps to grab a ledge, sometimes he will pass over another ledge and sometimes…not. When he decides not to, he will automatically grab the closest edge, but since you are pressing B expecting him to grab the higher ledge, you plummet, cussing up a storm, all the way to the ground.

While the climbing controls were probably my biggest gripe with the game, the combat, while visceral and thrilling, has some irritating issues as well. Combat is based on dodging and countering in direct reaction to what your enemies are doing - and that is fine and dandy – when you can see what your enemies are doing. Many times during the game, environmental obstructions barred the view of battle, whether it was a tree branch or a wall, but way too often the view was blocked and combat became an affair of button mashing for fear of getting smacked by an unseen enemy. The idea of objects turning transparent when they block the camera has been around for a long time, but you get no such assistance here.

Despite the annoyances, Assassin’s Creed 2 works on several levels due to its less taxing design. There are no more flags to collect, thank goodness, and while the repetitive nature of the murdering can get a bit old after a while, the design mixes things up enough to drive you to continue on your mission with courier and race side missions. It also helps that Ezio is a much more lively character than Altair, and you tend to care about him a bit more as a result. A little personality can go a long way—even for an assassin.

It also doesn’t hurt that the game is undeniably gorgeous. The cityscapes and its inhabitants are modeled beautifully and Ezio is animated with expert care. The facial animations are a bit “off” at times but it’s impossible to level many complaints with the graphics and overall atmosphere the game provides. The Renaissance is a fascinating time period to begin with but when you model a world that looks so alive it only adds to the experience.

Assassin’s Creed 2 isn’t perfect – the controls continue to require a bit more fine tuning but it’s also impossible to deny that the sequel improves upon the original in almost every conceivable way. Frankly, you feel more like an assassin and less like an errand boy, which is pretty much the point, right? If this is the path Ubisoft Montreal will continue to travel, then bring on Part III.