The first Assassins Creed defined the next gen period – coming as it did during the nascent time of the Xbox 360 and the even younger PS3. And there is no denying that the game was incredibly ambitious in its scope and detail as well as being perhaps the most beautiful piece of video game art ever created.

It was also, for many players, a repetitive and frustrating experience, involving far too many similar missions and a main story which relied on climbing tall things and then jumping off them. The combat and free running systems worked really well but underneath was an extremely simplistic game world – all style and no substance.

Ubisoft Montreal is back with Assassins Creed 2 and they claim to have listened to players many criticisms. This story is set in Renaissance Italy in the 1400’s and you will take on the role of Ezio – a nobleman of the times and, not coincidentally, a dead ringer for our future hero Desmond Miles. As in the first title, gameplay will be split between replaying key scenes from your ancestor’s life and the near future world where we are promised some more fleet footed adventures this time.

Players will have a chance to see Ezio grow up as they take control for a number of important moments in his life; from his first kiss to the terrible murderous moment which forced him to follow the way of the assassin. This new, intimate format should go a long way towards alleviating the boredom present in the first game, as will the chance to acquire and outfit your own secret lair (cue evil laugh).

We got some hands on time with a mission partway through the game where Ezio must eliminate four archers around a palace so that they can be replaced with allies. The great, interactive cutscenes immediately made an impression and this level of production quality is partly what kept us playing even when our interest lagged in the first game (though we like Splinter Cell Convictions implementation even better!). Briefing out of the way it was time to take to the roof tops in search of blood and vengeance.

Unsurprisingly, Assassins Creed 2 is absolutely stunning. The architecture of 15th century Italy is stunningly recreated and distinct in every way from those of the Holy Land. Controls are a fluid as ever and iterative adjustments have been made to free running, including a rather nice last minute grab if you’ve totally underestimated the distance between buildings. And that is one thing you’ll do often as the layout of the cities is quite different to the last game. Thoroughfares are wider and buildings of less uniform height so sprinting from one end of the map to the other without touching the ground is not as easy as it used to be. This also led to a few too many unfortunate long distance falls in our playthrough – certainly not the most dignified of deaths.