Assassin's Creed 2: Discovery

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Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles on DS was the feeble little brother to Assassin's Creed's good looking next-gen bully, and the little brother promptly found itself the victim of a massive wedgie in the middle of the schoolyard. Still sulking, and wearing tighter trousers, Assassin's Creed II: Discovery has learnt its lesson. It's pinched the plot from its bigger brother, but that's about it. The third dimension is shunned, Discovery preferring to play it safe as a speedy side-scrolling action-platformer. The problem is, it's decided to abandon imagination in case it gets caught out again and what we've got is a walking shell of a game lacking in real thrills.

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Set in the sinking city of Venice, Altair is out and Ezio is in. You'd never know it to look at him. He sports the same garb, highly impractical for scampering about rooftops. One of these days he's going to trip over his cape, or his cowl is going to slip down over his eyes just when he should be ducking arrows. So to look at, it's no great departure from Altair's adventure. Ezio's much more athletic, covering yards at a time with his lolloping stride, leaping, climbing and rolly pollying with the grace of a young Prince Of Persia. But then this is Ubi's specialist territory, and the tiny pangs of satisfaction to be had from negotiating series of obstacles or smoothly killing a guard without breaking stride should come as no surprise.

Venetian Bind
Stylus controls are almost completely ignored, though with the 2D presentation it could well have been carried off with aplomb. Face buttons are preferred for movement and combat, combining with the shoulder buttons for blocking and sneaking. This is where the game gets a little painful. The D-pad governs movement, and when you clamp down on the left shoulder button you creep about on tip-toe, a requirement for much of the game. The problem is it all gets too fiddly and is made worse when you try to switch from running to sneaking before being spotted - and on the missions where stealth is a must, failure is frequent and frustrating.

While the switch to 2D is to be applauded, the level design should not. There are multiple tiers to be negotiated, great for avoiding some pursuers, but there's little incentive to fully explore the world. It looks drab for one, and aside from collecting Wanted posters (which can be overlaid with your photo) to unlock new rewards or upping your kill rate, there's nothing to do. A simplistic combat system comes into play when spotted, involving a niggly timing-based counter system, so it's best to stay out of sight, felling victims before they know what's hit them.

The environment offers little assistance, and Ezio himself is a pixel perfectionist - though tumbling to the ground has no effect. And with a regenerating health bar and simple, bite-sized missions - involving evasion, protection or getting from A to B as fast as possible - there's little to get the pulse racing. Discovery is a misnomer. There's nothing new to see here. Move along quickly.