Assassins Creed II

(January -            2011)

Cool
Climbing dynamic is good. It's unrealistically fast, but it's a game. I don't want realistically tedious anyway.
The leaps of faith are excellent. Entirely unrealistic and fabulous.
When you make a jumping mistake, the game is usually very forgiving although you'll lose health (sometimes 'die') and be inconvenienced - normally nothing less than deserved.
Eagle vision is a great concept.
The game has some nice solutions for the standard "Why can't I go there?", "Why didn't I die?", "Why am I so good at fighting/acrobatics/climbing?" issues.
Hidden-blade-through-the-mouth assassinations. Messy! 
In the catacombs when chasing the guard: as he runs, bits of scenery fall away making it harder for you to follow, but...those bits of scenery fall in to places which were previously difficult to navigate, making it easier if you have to do it again. Very good!


Uncool
It's too easy to leap into space because you're trying to do something slightly wrong. Thus, you lose health (or die?) for something that you'd never mean to do in real life. I assume, like supposedly in real life, I'll learn from my mistakes.
The courtisan ladies seem to be able to take an infinite hiding whereas the guards are beaten unconscious in only 5 or 10 hits.
Cut scenes seem built from game play elements. I like this, but sometimes the placement of the characters has them (or bits of them) occupying the same space as you (or bits of you).
Some 'can't climb here' places are a bit inconsistent. In other situations you feel you'd make the next hand hold. Maybe it's dynamic. Perhaps you could make the next hand hold if your momentum was greater.
Wanted posters where the citizens will never see them. These Romans are crazy!
You can steal from people in an instant when you walk into them, but it takes you three seconds to loot a dead body.
In the catacombs when chasing the guard: You can't select the throwing knives. I understand that it would ruin that section of the game, since you have to end up where he's going, but still...find a reason for not being able to use throwing knives, don't just disallow it.
If I kill a pickpocket, I sometimes can't take his money. Maybe he doesn't have any. I don't understand the pickpockets anyway. They are annoying and, so far, pointless, except worth a bit of money.
I seem to be worse at climbing and free-running when chasing a pick pocket. I would like to assume that's because my focus is more on the target than the scenery. I hope it's not a parameter of the game that you're made worse at it. I won't be able to prove that.

Quotes (as best remembered)

Mum: "You need an outlet"
Ezio: "I have outlets"
Mum: "I don't mean vaginas!"