Assassin's Creed II: Discovery

''Assassin's Creed II: Discovery'' is a 2.5D side-scroller game wherein players assume the role of Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Primarily set in Italy and Spain, Ezio navigates through the game's levels and accomplishes specific goals for each mission. Ezio is able to scale most buildings, as well as roll, jump, and swing through the environment. When encountering enemy guards, the player can choose to either avoid or fight them. Several guard archetypes are present within the game, such as the Halberd Guards (a stationary version of the Seekers), Captain Guards (a more agile variation of the Brute), and Archers. In combat, Ezio can make use of several weapons, including his Hidden Blades, a sword, and throwing knives. Ezio can also silently assassinate guards from different hiding spots, such as ledges, bales of hay, and wooden barrels. Combat in the game shares many similarities with previous ''Assassin's Creed'' titles. When engaging in sword combat, players can execute chain attacks which break the defense of the enemy guards, and also perform counterattacks, which can result in an instant kill or allow for a brief moment to attack. Alongside this, players can perform clash attacks with a target, leading to a test of strength, complete with a pressure bar at the side of the display. Players then have to fight the guard's resistance in order to incapacitate them, or else Ezio will take damage. The game features three types of memories (levels), which require the player to change the way they approach them: • Normal - Players can approach the memory however they like and take their time to explore the environment for collectibles. • Chase - Players have to complete the memory as quickly as possible, avoiding combat and finding the fastest routes to reach the objective. For the duration of the entire memory, the player is followed by a rain of arrows which can only be avoided if Ezio is indoors or in a hiding spot. • Stealth - Players have to complete the memory stealthly, avoiding open combat and only using assassinations. The player can only be spotted by enemies a maximum of three times before desynchronizing from the memory, forcing the player to start it over from the beginning. There is also a time limit to complete the memory. Similarly to later ''Assassin's Creed games, beginning with Brotherhood'', all memories present optional objectives that need to be met in order to achieve 100% synchronization. These include completing the memory in a given amount of time, taking minimal damage, and killing as many enemies as possible. The game also features challenge rooms which require Ezio to clear a specific objective. The challenge rooms are played in the Animus corridor, similar to the tutorial levels in the game. Cheats, dubbed "Animus hacks", are also present within the game, and can be unlocked by obtaining enough synchronization points. These hacks ranged from character skins to boosted gameplay movement and perks, which give the player an advantage or allow them to customize Ezio's outfit. However, only one hack can be used at a time, and once a level was finished with a hack activated, the level won't continue automatically to the next, instead returning the player to the level menu. There are five types of collectibles in the game: memory paths, which can be used as in-game guides; Renaissance maps, which unlock the aforementioned challenge rooms; knives, which refill Ezio's throwing knives supply; wanted posters, which can be torn off to increase the health meter once the required amount was met; and art pieces, which are unlocked by finding hidden rooms in missions.The iPhone and Nintendo DSi versions of the game allow players to integrate their facial likeness into the game through photos, replacing Ezio's placeholder image in the wanted posters with the player's own image. Also, the art pieces found in the iPhone version can be imported for use as wallpapers. ==Plot==