The original Assassin’s Creed from UbiSoft Montreal was hugely hyped, billing itself as the next generation in open world action-adventure games. Unfortunately, the game failed to make good on this promise: while Assassin’s Creed’s exploration and parkour mechanics were certainly innovative, the entire play experience was couched in a series of invariable and ultimately extremely boring missions. Clearly, Ubisoft Montreal learned their lesson when they went back to the drawing board to plan for Assassin’s Creed 2: this game is an improvement over the original in almost every way, making its predecessor look like a glorified tech demo by comparison.

If you haven’t played the first Assassin’s Creed, be warned that there are some spoilers ahead, but honestly I advise skipping the first game entirely and moving straight to Assassin’s Creed 2. Bewildered bartender Desmond Miles escapes from the Knights Templar’s headquarters thanks to the help of mole Lucy Stillman, who brings him to the Assassins’ secret base to interface with the Animus 2.0, an upgraded version of the Knights Templar’s machine designed to aid people in reliving their so-called “genetic memories.”

 In Assassin’s Creed 2, Desmond relives the memories of another of his Assassin relatives, a man named Ezio Auditore de Firenze, the wealthy, bratty son of a banker living in Italy during the Renaissance. Initially, Ezio is living in the lap of luxury, but when his family is betrayed and executed thanks to the machinations of a family “friend,” he is forced to become an Assassin to seek his revenge. What follows is an engaging romp across a variety of Italian cities including Venice, Florence, and Forli as Ezio hunts down the politicians who conspired against his family. The story spans a ten-year period, so there’s a lot to it that I don’t want to spoil, but rest assured, you’ll care a lot more about this story than you did about Altair’s adventures in Assassin’s Creed.

The idea of the gameplay in Assassin’s Creed 2 is basically the same as the first, only vastly expanded. The game still controls pretty much the same way: you’ll run and jump over environments automatically, and are able to climb up almost any surface with hand/footholds with ease. Climbing to the highest points in any given city gives you an eagle-eye view of the territory, revealing potential assassination targets and objects of interest. And then you get to jump down into a conveniently placed and impossibly soft bale of hay or pile of leaves. Yeah! One small but pretty significant change is that unlike Altair, Ezio can actually swim, which makes for a new way to escape pesky city guards. Must be pretty gross to go for a dip in the Venetian canals, though…

There’s a much greater variety of missions in Assassin’s Creed 2 as opposed to the first game (approximately triple), but because the game is a lot longer than the first, things do still manage to get kind of repetitive, although it isn’t as monotonous as Assassin’s Creed. One mission involves using an implausible flying machine designed by Leonardo da Vinci (!!!!!) to soar over the Venetian skyline, and another has Ezio riding a horse and carriage at breakneck speed through the Apennine Mountains. Of course, you’re still going to be chasing down targets and picking people’s pockets, but—THANK GOD—they removed the most tedious missions of all, the eavesdropping assignments. Unfortunately the most fun missions tend to be unique in their occurrence, but perhaps this is what makes them fun.

If you get bored of the missions, there’s a ton of side-content to pique your interest. Just like Altair’s hunt for flags in the first game, Ezio can search for feathers you can use to buy trophies and upgrades. Ezio has a home in the Italian countryside that you can upgrade with money from your assassination missions. Because Ezio’s family—well, before they died anyway—is rolling in cash, you own a bunch of upgradeable stores surrounding the property. Eventually you’ll be running the village’s economy, bringing in more cash than you can possibly spend on things like weapon upgrades, dyes for your hooded assassination outfits, and decorations for your home. It’s a great addition for completionists. You can also participate in tomb raiding missions that have you racing through old crypts hunting treasure or potential kill targets. They’re a fun distraction from the main storyline, adding a lot of longevity to the game while honing your 1337 park0ur skillz.

Combat in the game is improved but still pretty easy because enemies are still stupidly polite, only ever attacking you one at a time even in groups. The dual hidden blade system makes for some pretty cool kills, and you can now disarm your enemies and kill them in one shot using their own weapons. The animations are slick and stylish—Ezio is definitely a much more badass assassin than Altair, even if he is a bit of a rich and arrogant douchebag. The game’s overall presentation is much better too, although some character models look a little dumb if you get too close. The cities look absolutely incredible: while they’re obviously not wholly accurate renditions of historical locations, they definitely do justice to the game’s Italian Renaissance setting. There’s even a built-in encyclopedia for those interested in having a bit of a history lesson.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a much better game than Assassin’s Creed because of the wealth of content the game adds to the series formula. While it still does drag a little towards the end, it never approaches the tedium of the first game, and pretty much everything is better. This makes me really excited for Assassin’s Creed 3, because Ubisoft Montreal really responded to fans’ complaints about the original game and made a ton of improvements for a much more compelling experience. Assassin’s Creed 2 is available on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac, and earns a Z-Score of 91/100.