I just finished Assassin's Creed II. I did everything in the game except stupid feather hunting (I have 50/100), which can suck it. I forgot to look at the timer, but I think I was at 40 hours or something. I got all achievements except a couple of the skill ones (sweep 5 guards with a spear, etc.). Mini-review:
GAMEPLAY: B+. It's really awesome when you first get to free-run. Amazing freedom in a really impressive game world. Very complete game -- lots of systems that all make sense and all work really, really well. This is what next-generation hardware is all about: all about seamlessness and scale. I loved the subject 16 puzzles, too, though one was way too fucking hard. Unfortunately, the controls are finicky in pressure situations, leading to lots of hair-pulling and screaming at the screen (like in the Race missions!). Also, marking a target needs to be made much easier... I kept locking on to the wrong assassination target. AC II does a lot of things really well and combines them well but doesn't have that one go-to mechanic that's truly stellar. The game started to finally drag a bit around Carnivale time in Venice... but that's exactly when the AWESOME final mission happened. Bravo.
GRAPHICS: A. Holy shit. Now, there's a ton of pop-in, and human faces look bad. And if this were a linear game like Uncharted 2, I would never give it an A on graphics with these visuals. But this game is massive! Every corner is designed for free-running; there are no sloppy unfinished areas. Venice is so amazing-looking, it's hard to believe sometimes, but there are several other cities, and even the country-side looks great. I'd like to know this game's budget. They had to have have like 500 people designing those cities. Amazing.
STORY/WRITING/ACTING: B+. The acting and writing was great all the way through. Well, it was done well but seemed somewhat by-the-numbers at times. The game could definitely have a smoother narrative flow; it seemed rather herky-jerky. The overall story arc was quite interesting but a little compressed at the end... it kind of seemed you were killing bad guys, but the real gravity of the situation was only revealed near the end. The ending was kick-ass. I also thought the Subject 16 stuff was appropriately Dan Brownesque.
MUSIC: A. Couldn't be more perfect for this type of game.
VALUE: B. Other than the feathers, a 100% run-through of this game should take no more than 30 hours for people, and a lot of that is just getting around the place. It's a big game, but it's not fully engaging the entire time.
OVERALL: B+ or A-. I think this game puts GTA IV in the dust in most ways, though it lacks that one "go-to" thing which GTA IV has -- the driving, which is more fun and creates more dynamic situations than anything in AC II. Yes, I know, it's a different type of game, but the flow of the game makes it the closest comparison IMO. Anyway, Ubi should be proud of this game. It's quite an achievement. It's great in so many ways. The sequel would be fine just by copying this game, but if they can add something AWESOME (like the inter-game connections in ME2, or the set pieces in Uncharted 2), they can really take it to the next level.