Batman Arkham City Notes

Controls

Left analogue stick    Character movement.
Right Analogue stick    Camera movement.
Left trigger       
Right trigger        Crouch.   
Left bumper        Detective Mode.
Right bumper        Grappling hook.
Y            Counter attack
X            Attack       
B            Flap cloak.
A            run and climb.           
dpad            Select gadgets       
Start           
Select
Clicking right stick
Clicking left stick

After saving the first thing I am asked to do is enter my 1st purchaser code for the Catwoman player model. Not something I would lament if I didn't get, or even use when I have, but I am all for the discouragement of second hand buying.
What I wasn't prepared for was the download of about 250mb, I thought this would simply be an unlock code.

An intro cutscene shows that Bruce Wayne has been captured by someone called Dr. Hugo Strange
A flashback shows Vicki Vale, a reporter, talking to camera before a press conference called by Bruce Wayne. It seems that the new Arkham city Prison is disliked by Wayne who is campaigning against it. Hugo strange is involved with something called protocol 10.
Bruce Wayne awakes tied up in a chair in Arkham city, a video playing on a nearby screen shows Strange giving a talk on the rules of the prison.
The room is like a small cell or torture chamber, maybe an interrogation room, there is a reflection in a glass wall showing Wayne sitting handcuffed hands and feet to a chair.
I am prompted to rock left and right and tip the chair over, when I do a guard comes in. I am prompted to press Y to counter when he tries to kick Wayne. This triggers an attack and Wayne grabs an item from the guards belt, breaking his nose in the process. The guard recovers and leads Wayne out into the prison proper.
Inmates scream abuse and threaten Waynes life, guards snarl orders. We are to move into line A.
Strange is waiting at the end of the line
We are led into an airlock type room, and meet someone called Jack Ryder, a reporter who was at the press conference.
We are then tipped out into a gauntlet, prisoners swarm over a fence and start attacking, we can counter with Y and attack with x, we have to press A to save Jack Ryder.
The Penguins voice can be heard crowing about Wayne being in prison. He comes towards us, flanked by inmates, a prisoner from behind clubs Ryder and Wayne down with a pipe and then Penguin stamps on Wayne's head.
We see Wayne being dragged by two inmates behind the Penguin.
The Penguin, who is known to Wayne as Cobblepot, is angry at Wayne for ruining his family, he puts on a pair of knuckle dusters and gets ready for revenge.
I counter the Penguins attack and then Wayne Breaks free. We have to take down a mob of inmates.
We now have to climb higher to get past a gate. We can run at objects and scale certain types, like dumpsters. Scaling a ladder we use a running jump to reach a vent.
On top of a building we contact Alfred using a wrist communicator. Batman asks Alfred to drop equipment onto the roof of the nearby Ace chemicals building.
We now have to climb up the building.
This is done by clambering around the side and using ladders. At the top we get a capsule air dropped in and it contains the bat suit.
We have to use a communicator stolen from the guards to listen in to their conversations. We find out that Catwoman is being held prisoner in a town hall building by Two face. Batman wants to speak to Catwoman, he thinks she will know what is going on in Arkham city.
We can now glide using Batman's cape, also fire a grappling hook.
I arrive at the nearby town hall and fight a pile of inmates outside.

Mission 1
I enter the Solomon Wayne Courthouse.
Two doors are locked, we have to move up to a balcony. Two face has Catwoman hanging from a rope above a vat of something green. Two face uses his coin to judge her, he starts spouting to his audience and we obviously have to do something before he kills Catwoman. I climb a ladder and come out in the rafters of the room, a guard is knocked out using a silent takedown.
We can drop down and attack the group below. Two Face is behind glass and unreachable.
I have to fight the inmates until they are downed, then Two face shoots Batman. Catwoman reveals that she wasn't entirely helpless. She is caught by Two Face however, and about to be shot, when Batman saves her, tying up Two face.
Batman and Catwoman talk, The Joker tries to snipe Catwoman while they do.
Catwoman leaves and Batman tries to work out the direction of the Joker following his bullet trajectory. I have to enter detective mode and find the bullets entrance point and impact point.
I find a prisoner named Calendar man in a basement cell. He talks of Saint Patrick's day being special this year.

Mission 2
It seems I have to follow the path of the bullet to a large church type building.
I arrive at the church and take out the guards outside.
Inside is a more familiar scene from the first game. We are greeted by Harley Quinn who informs us that the Joker is not feeling himself. She leaves and we have armed thugs with hostages. we have to use a smoke pellet and then vanish up into the roof. From the roof we are to take out the thugs one by one. We can break through thin walls to get at one, drop down from above scaffolding to take out another. The last two are done using a double takedown as they are standing side by side. The hostages are saved, we can now climb up the tower At the top we find the gun used to shoot at catwoman, it is being remotely controlled by Joker from another location.

Mission 3
I now have to find the source of the signal that the Joker used to control the bomb.
I trace the signal which is shown as a distance meter on the screen, it leads me to a place aptly named the Jokers fun land.
I hear a phone ringing, it is Victor Zsasz, he tells us that he has a game for Batman.
I eventually find the source of the signal, Batman speak to Alfred and we have to now enter the Sionis steel mill through the only available entrance, which is the chimney.

Mission 4
Inside the chimney we cut scene inside and find ourselves hanging on a tightrope over a huge furnace.
I come to a place where steam is blocking the way, I am shown how to use the batclaw to grapple a distant door and open it by pressing A a lot. Water spews out and cools down the way.
We are also shown how to use explosive gel on specific destructible areas.
Then to use batarangs to hit switches that are out of reach.

Mission 5
We come into a tunnel and find a large number of the jokers men, Harley Quinn throws the failed Doctor to them to kill, for failing to help the Joker. A clown with a huge hammer is going to kill her, when a stay of execution is granted. We can move around in the tunnel, but not get out to help.
Harley tells the men to go and collect the Mr. Freeze to help the Joker recover.
I move through the pipes, I have to shut of steam using the batarangs, then come out and fight a bunch of inmates.
Harley Quinn appears and tells us to stay away.

Mission 6
I have to use an alternative entrance to get behind some more armed guards, as I move through the factory.
I come to a room where the doctor is being held, I rescue her, she tells us that the joker is poisoned by something he calls Titan.
The Jokers men seal up the room, hoping to keep Batman caged.
I gain a remote electrical charge gun to use.

Each time you kill a henchman bats are released, these give you Xp and you can get upgrades by pressing back and selecting them from a menu. There are things like upgrades to your armour and new moves.

Mission 7
I now have to head back to the loading bay, the doors are sealed, so an alternative must be found. I use the electric gun to power some shutters which open, the pieces of equipment you can use the electric gun on are marked with electricity danger signs.
I have a fight with the inmates who were waiting on the other side of the door, the electric gun can be used to stun enemies as well.
Back to the loading bay I go, and now we can use the electric gun to swing a crane hook into the locked doors high above the room. With this done, Batman can now grapple up there.
As he does a cut scene shows the large clown with a hammer attacking him and knocking him back down to the loading bay.
We now have to fight the clown and inmates. As long as you steer clear of the hammer, the clown goes down fairly easily.

Batman climbs up into the office and finds Harley sobbing over a dead Joker. However, it is a trick and this corpse may look like Joker, but it isn't. Joker grabs Batman from behind and puts a gas mask on his face. Batman reels around obviously affected by the gas and then Harley knocks him down with a baseball Bat.

Mission 8
The scene shifts to Catwoman who is outside, in an interesting twist we are going to be playing as her now.
I have to go to Catwoman's apartment to retrieve some equipment, it seems she needs the help of Poison Ivy. Catwoman can climb into places using grates in the ceiling. She also moves around in a different manner to Batman, instead of grappling she climbs up buildings in jumps, holding on using her claws.
At the apartment we get a caltrops weapon, also a bolas.
The next waypoint leads us to Poison Ivy's lair, it is guarded by three armed thugs.
To get in I have to sneak under a bridge past a locked  door, using the Catwoman grate to enter.
Inside we meet Poison Ivy who has no love for Catwoman either it seems. We have to fight through three floors of inmates who are controlled by Ivy. Then in cut scene Ivy hold Catwoman prisoner as she asks Ivy for help.

Side Mission
I see a flare, and enter a building, Bane is inside, he tells us that he is intending to destroy the titan formula. It was created from his body. There are twelve container in the city, we have to find six and Bane will also find six.

Mission 9
The scene shifts back to Batman, who wakes up tied to a wheelchair with Harley and the Joker beside him. The joker is ill, titan is real and Mr. Freeze was making a cure. To ensure Batman helps him with this cure, the Joker has infected Batman with the titan poison.
He has also been shipping it to hospital around the city and infecting hundreds of innocent civilians.
It seems Batman must now help Joker to live in order to save the people.
Joker sets Batman free with his new mission, in his usual style by kicking the wheelchair out the window.
I follow a tracker to the coldest point of the city, it is the old Gotham city Police department. Outside some of the Jokers men are trying to break in.
I take them out then find my way inside, which takes a while. I eventually notice that the door frame has a power box above it. Using the electric gun opens the door but only a small crack. You then have to run and slide under the door.

Mission 10
Inside the police department we find the Penguins men. We have to take one of their radios and tune Batman's gear to receive that signal so we can hear what they are up to.
Inside are a bunch of thugs to take down stealthily. The Penguin taunts us and tells us that he is in the museum and to come and get him if we dare. He has some surprises in store.
When only one thug is left he surrenders and we can interrogate him.
Bombs start going off somewhere close by, the room shakes.
I am not sure where to go next, which seems to be a common theme recurring. Eventually I work out that I am to backtrack. As I try and leave the police building shutter slam down.
We now have to hack the security doors to get out of the police department.
This is done by using the cryptographic scanner, which means wiggling the right and left sticks until you get it right.

Mission 11
Outside the Penguin is blowing bridges to make movement around the city harder.
I head to the waypoint and find the museum. I have to hack a door lock to open the shutter gate. Inside we are introduced to inmates with blades. I was beginning to think the combat was easier than the first game.
These blade guards need to be countered by pulling the left stick in the opposite direction and pressing Y. This does a grapple attack on them and take the blade from them.
Now there a barred door which drops down when we pass through some invisible beams, of course we can see the beams in detective mode. I find a way into an office by blowing a hole in the wall with the batfoam. However, Penguin can jam our signals and we can't hack the computer door. We need to find his jammer and destroy it. I need to go up on the roof and find the Jammer. I find it with some inmates and break it. Oddly enough I have to smash three bits of it to break it. There are another two jammers to break. I find the next reasonably close. The last is deep underground in a subway system. As before thugs and break the jammer, then back up to the surface to the museum.

Mission 12
Now we can get inside the museum, a huge t-rex exhibit makes an appearance.
Inside the museum, we get armoured guards, which need to be beaten down with repeated punching. Pressing and holding B then pressing x repeatedly does this.
Some police have been sent in by commissioner Gordon, they have been captured by the joker, we have to help them. I find a switch that is distant, we can now throw remote controlled batarangs to hit distant targets.
I move through the museum, some exhibits have been perverted by the Penguin. We eventually come to a room like an arena. Here the Penguin taunts us and we have to fight lots of inmates.
Then we get a titan infected huge mutant inmate. We have to use the confuse move three times, then lay into it. Once done we climb on it's back and can use it to hurt the other inmates that are attacking.
Once done you have to work your way out of the arena. Throwing a batarang around a curved course opens a switch. Then a puzzle with a lift using electric boxes and exploding foam.
Breaking through an ice barrier we find a  huge ice palace, with Penguin freezing people using an ice ray.

Mission 13
I get down on the ice and have to move slowly otherwise you fall through and are eaten by a shark. I rescue the cop who has been frozen. I have to rescue another two cops who have been frozen. There is a raft which can be brought down and pulled using the batclaw, once on it, you can pull yourself about. Now we come to a large room full of guards.
This is complicated by the guards having night vision goggles, which basically makes it far harder to hide. Mr Freeze's suit is here in a display case.
I eventually clear the room, and then speak to the cops i have saved. They say that the last two are in the iceberg lounge.
I head to the iceberg lounge and find the Penguin in the centre of a circular boss battle room, he is firing Mr Freeze's ice gun and is behind a shield.
There is no way to get near him, we are told to go and find Freeze. I find him kept in a cage, after fighting a large one armed scythe boss we get to release Freeze. He tells us that there is a security override that we can use.
I travel back across the frozen lake to the room with freeze's suit.
Here Batman takes the override, we now have a weapon with which to get at the Penguin.
We can now wait for his gun to recharge, then get close enough to use the override.
We knock the Penguin down, however he has a backup plan. Batman is tipped down into an arena to face a huge Character called Solomon Grundy.
Grundy is a huge humanoid with two ball and chains attached to his hand. He is fairly untouchable, the key too killing him to to drop foam bombs onto three circles on the ground. These provide him with energy and once they have been bombed he falls. This must be done three times, with increasing interference being run by Grundy each time.
Once he is done the Penguin comes in to attack, all you have to do is dodge his rockets enough to get close and pound him into the ground.

Mission 14
Batman returns to Freeze, and finds that the cure is indeed real and made, however the problem is that it cannot survive long enough to cure the victim. It needed to be bonded with human protein before it can survive long enough in the body. Freeze tells Batman this process would take years. Batman tells him that he knows of someone who has been exposed to the poison for many years. Ras Al Ghul is the man in question, and he is dead. Batman needs to find his body. Handily his daughter is trapped in a cage nearby by the Penguin, she hears of Batman's plans and escapes. We now have to follow her blood trail to Ras Al Ghul.
I follow the blood trail through the city for a while. Then an assassin tries to attack me. We have to chase the assassin down and fight them, during the fight Batman places a tracker.
The assassin is then allowed to win the fight, she warns Batman off and then Robin arrives to help Batman. Batman is none to pleased at this. Seems there is tension between them.
The assassin is gone and the tracker planted. Robin leaves us with a line Launcher.

Mission 15
We are now following the tracker, leading us to the assassin's base.
We go into the subway and sewer system. We have to use the line launcher, and learn how to use it to turn corners while riding it's lines.
More henchmen to fight, then a hack to open a door into a subway yard, this is the same area we came to to find the jammer that penguin was using.
There is a door here that was unavailable earlier and we move into more tunnels.
I come to a large armed guard takedown room. A nurse is held captive and we rescue her.
Moving through a door we come to a new area called Wonder city.
Batman is getting ill from the effects of the poison.
We move through a set of electric controlled doors and then fight a group of three sword wielding female assassins.
We come to a place called Wonder city, which appears to be an expo for some kind of futuristic city dream.
Inside the fake city we have to scan around six robots to get security cam data which shows the assassin opening a secret door.
We then grab on to use their sword as a key.
Inside is a tunnel.
Batman collapses and sees his parents beckoning him into the light. He only has minutes to find the cure.
We find Talia Al Ghul, she wants us to join her in leading the assassin's army. She wants us to take some trials.
We go through a door and a ghostly Ras Al Ghul makes us complete tests of our skill.
We have to fly through a broken up landscape, making dive bombs and soars to keep our speed up.
We also have to fight demon warriors.
We then are told that we must fight Ras Al Ghul himself. Back out of the room, we find Ras.
He wants us to kill him and take his place. Batman refuses and we are taken to the demon realm again to fight Ras.
This is a boss battle, Ras attacks at times and we must fight demon sand warriors. Then once they are gone Ras becomes  a huge sand warrior with his real form at the base. Sand warriors move around him and shield him. We must use the electric gun to hit him and avoid the attacks that come our way. We have to do this twice and then Ras is downed. He tries to threaten Batman by killing Talia, who Batman has had relations with in the past. We have to use a special boomerang Batarang to stop him. Talia leaves disgusted with both of us and Batman takes a sample of Ras's blood.
We have to backtrack, back to Mr Freeze. There are new inmates with riot shields. Specific attacks must be done to take them out.
As we are leaving the subway system Strange comes over the loudspeakers and tells the inmates that Quincy Sharp, the old warden of Arkham Asylum is now an inmate. He invites the prisoners to have their fun with him.

Mission 16
Batman connects Strange and Sharp and wonders what Sharp may know, we have to go and save him from the prisoners. We find that Strange is being funded by someone else in this.
I go back to the GCPD department, Jokers men are in the way. It seems that Joker doesn't believe Batman is working on the cure anymore.
I get into the lab and find Freeze, he make the cure for us then withholds it. He wants us to get his wife who the Joker has prisoner. Batman becomes angry and demands the cure. We then have to fight Mr. Freeze.
This is a fairly good boss fight, freeze walks around slowly, using his shield and rapidly offensive freeze gun. Being seen by him is quickly very bad news for Batman. You can use all the surprise attacks at your disposal, though only once, each time they are used Freeze adapts and deploys a counter measure that makes it impossible to do the same thing twice.
Once he is down Batman opens the safe to get the cure and finds that Harley Quinn has broken through the back wall off the safe while they have been fighting.
We now have to go and get the cure from the Joker. Freeze begs us to find his Nora and gives us a weapon to help.
This is a freeze projectile gun, which can freeze water and people.

Mission 17
As we leave the GCPD building to go and find Joker again, Vicki Vale can be seen snooping using a helicopter. Joker shoots her down. We now have to go and rescue Vicki Vale.
The jokers men now have snipers rifles, which leave the usual laser trail back to their user. We have to clear the snipers then go and speak to Vicki.

Mission 18
On to the Steel Mill again, to find Joker. Snipers are making travelling across the city much harder than earlier.
The steel mill is guarded well and the furnace is burning at maximum, this means that we can't go back in the chimney. There is a heat exchanger that can help us.
I find the back door heavily guarded.

Mission 19
Now we have some puzzling with water. We come to a flowing river inside the plant, and have to put down freeze blasts which make little floating platforms of ice. We can use these in conjunction with the grappling hook to move around the river and avoid obstacles.
There is a puzzle here that isn't explained well, you have to use a batarang to hit a fuse box, however, you have to also guide the batarang through an electric arc which charges it up first.
Nobody mentions that, I was hitting the box about ten times and not knowing why it wasn't working.
I move on and start to find areas of the steel mill that I was in earlier. We meet the doctor we saved earlier and she tells us that the jokers men are laying mines for us.
I come to a large room that we did earlier and have to take out the inmates.
Then moving back through the areas we have already done, thankfully without much enemy interference. I come back to the loading bay area.
Harley is tied up and gagged in a random location, maybe she likes being bound and left. She tells us accidently where Joker has stored the cure.
Joker's office is empty, There is a door nearby, I enter and it is an arena type box room. Joker is there and he appears to want to fight Batman one one one. I sense a trick.
It is, as we start to fight him, more henchmen arrive, there are also funhouse trains roaming the room which hurt you and the enemies.
After defeating every minor boss so far and loads of henchmen, Batman has the joker at his mercy. Of course he has one last trick up his sleeve and he brings the room down around the pair of them with an explosive. Batman is left trapped under a pile of rubble. The joker is about to kill him when Talia Al Ghul appears and offers the Joker immortality in return for sparing Batman's life. The Joker agrees, and leaves with Talia. Talia points at Batman's tracker which is on her chest before she leaves, indicating that she hasn't gone totally crazy.

Mission 20
Back with Catwoman and Ivy, it seems like a while since we last saw them. Ivy agrees to help Catwoman get into Strange's vault, he has a very rare plant of hers in there, so their agendas coincide for now.
I arrive at Strange's vault and have to fight some guards, then enter a manhole. Poison Ivy is already attacking with her plant roots.
Inside the facility we have to get access cards from the guards, also we can't be caught or they will lockdown the vault, even to authorised access.
We must move around the room and steal three cards, the guards who have them are marked, and instead of doing a silent takedown sneaking behind them sees Catwoman steal the cards. we have to take the cards to the computer, which then opens the vault. We must now take out the guards as normal.
After we do it, we hear Strange telling his men that Protocol 10 is now active.
Inside the vault Catwoman finds a briefcase with something she likes inside, we can't see what it is. Strange's men corner her in the vault and we have to fight them.
Once done Catwoman picks up two briefcases and we can now leave the vault.
We are given a choice it seems, go and save Batman or escape with the loot.
I choose to help Batman, we have to go back out into the city. When we do a cut scene shows Catwoman helping Batman out of the rubble.
It seems that it wasn't the Joker who triggered the explosion after all, it was Protocol 10, which after all the big build up appears to simply be Strange deciding to level Arkham city by firing an awful lot of rockets from helicopters.
Batman wants to get straight after Talia, Alfred reminds him that Batman should save the greater amount of people in danger first, even if they are all prisoners.

Mission 21
We now have to get into  Wonder tower and stop Strange's plan, we need to get an access code from a helicopter.
This means we have to roam around the city scanning the helicopter. Once we find the right one we grapple onto it and download the program. This allows us to enter the guard room of wonder tower. Two snipers guard the entrance and we have to hack a door to get in.
Inside I drop down through some pipe tunnels then we find some guards who have captured some prisoners. Strange tells the guards to execute them, continuing what seems to be the systematic execution of every inmate in Arkham City.
After taking down the guards, who have stun stick, which means we need to attack them from behind using a combo move. Strange starts talking to us from a large television screen. He tells Batman that he is to blame for the super villains. If it wasn't for the catalyst of Batman the criminals would not have to have evolved to be a match for him.
He sends in a bunch of Tyger guards to kill us, after taking them down the way seems to be leading down to a manhole cover. We drop down into a old ruined derelict part of the city.
We have to use the line launcher to move around, then blow out the floor to progress. We find ourselves back at the entrance to wonder tower's foundations.
We now have to clear this room of many tiger guards.
Then we hack a lift door to get in and make it go up. We rise up the tower a little way then get stopped by some guards, we have to fight them, you can jump up into the top of the lift and surprise attack the guards from above.
We now have to hack a door and then climb up the outside of the tower to another entrance.
We move through vents and hack another door to reach the top of the tower. Where we have a room full of guards to clear.
Strange is in a control room, we have to hack the door. Batman beats Strange and then let's oracle shut down Protocol 10.
Ras Al Ghul appears and stabs Strange. It was he who was behind the whole thing.
Strange activates protocol 11 with his last breath, which blows up the tower. Batman and Ras end up fighting in freefall. Ras is stabbed with his own sword and impaled when he lands.
Batman lands safely and sees a tv screen with the joker on it.
Joker has Talia and wants us to come to the movie theatre to save her.
The movie theatre is surrounded by many snipers, we have to take them out to even consider approaching.
Inside Talia and the Joker are standing waiting for Batman. The Joker asks for the cure, Batman is puzzled, as he thought he had already taken it. Talia kills the Joker easily, revealing that she was never in any real danger.
Batman begins to piece things together, this isn't the real Joker, Talia had the cure, she took it from Harley, that is why she was tied up and gagged. The Joker thought that Batman had the cure. Talia is shot by a sniper as Batman works it out. The ill joker appears, and reveals that a shapeshifter called Clayface was imitating him. Clayface turns into his normal form and we have to fight him.
He uses slashing long arms attacks, rolls into a ball and charges, and jumps at Batman. We have to use our freeze blasts to slowly freeze him. We do this one and take out the sword and use it on him. Then rinse and repeat with different attacks, on the same theme. There are explosives in the corners which we can use to hurt him if we get him to roll his ball at them.
Once downed for a second time, Joker blows the floor and we plunge down into Ras's Lazarus pit room.
Here clayface splits himself into many attackers and we use Ras's sword to kill them.
We have to still throw freeze bombs at the larger clayface mass.
Once downed this time, Batman takes the cure vial and uses it.
Joker tries to use the Lazarus pit, Batman stops him, though Clayface is knocked into it.
Joker tries to take the cure from Batman and in doing so stabs Batman making him drop it.
Joker then appears to die. Batman carries his body out of Arkham City. Police commissioner Gordon asks batman what happened and he keeps on walking.
The Credits Roll.
New game plus mode is now unlocked.
There appears to be a final mission to play through as Catwoman after the credits.
We have to go to her apartment to get her loot, then escape Arkham City. At the apartment a trap bomb goes off as we enter. Two-faces thugs are waiting and we have to fight them. Interrogating a thug Catwoman learns that Two face has her stuff.
We have to go back to the museum, inside we fight through more thugs, backtracking through the entire level to the large challenge room, two face is inside and we have to take him down along with his armed men. After finishing this mission we are met by Batman, and we can now switch between the two at specific points. All that is left to do is the many many side missions.

15 hours.
315 Achievement points for play-through of the main story only.

Assassin's Creed Revelations Notes

The Ubisoft U-play system seems to be more prominent here, asking me to log in to it straight away to unlock new content. Which then seems to hang when I try, not very impressive Ubisoft.
Oh I see what it's after it wants me to put in the online pass code.

Controls

Left analogue stick    Character movement
Right Analogue stick    Camera movement
Left trigger        Lock onto enemy
Right trigger        Change control mode
Left bumper        Arrow storm / call assassins
Right bumper        Weapon Wheel   
Y           
X            attack           
B            Talk/use
A            Jump
dpad            Favourites
Start            Pause menu
Select            Map
Clicking right stick
Clicking left stick    Eagle vision

Desmond is seen in the Animus, unconscious, a quick recap recalls the situation. Templars are the bad guys, assassin's the good. The animus is used to relive genetic memories. Desmond has lived through major events in both Altair and Eizo's lives. Finding out about the location of Artifacts left behind by highly advanced people from before history. The Apple was found by Desmond at the end of the last game and it forced him to murder his friend Lucy and has damaged his mind.
Desmond is put in the animus and an attempt is being made to repair the damage.
He wakes in a bizarre environment, a beach, though there are large rock structures which are anything but natural. Desmond is left alone on the beach and the player gets control.
After walking along the beach for a few seconds a cut scene starts. Desmond is visited by subject 16, the earlier candidate who went mad during his use of the animus. 16 tells Desmond that he will go insane as all of his ancestors memories with collide in his head and drive him out of it. He must synch more memories and prevent this from happening. 16 tells him about Lucy and Desmond is hurt by the flood of memories and blames the alien Juno for killing her. The environment they are  in is a test environment, a basic level of the animus.
We hear that Shaun thinks Desmond a Templar agent. A gate appears filled with light, I walk into it.

Eizo wants to go to Jerusalem, to the castle of Masyaf where the Assassins had their home during Altair's times. He is met by templars and captured. He is following the ghost of Altair and as he is about to be hung he escapes. This cut scene was shown extensively on television as the advert for the game.

Sequence 1
We take Control of Eizo after he lands, the templars are after him.
We can see a ghost image of Altair, in this tutorial mission. We have to clamber a bit then a guard. We now find Eizo's weapons. We mow fight a gang of guards, then have to climb to the top of the tower. At the top Eizo pushes a statue off and breaks through into a water filled area. He jumps in and swims, coming up beside a guard in a cavern. I kill the guard.
we now find a bunch of guards, and some workers. I kill the guards. The worker must be spoken to and he reveals that the templars are trying to get through a door here, which is impenetrable. The large door looks like the entrance to one of the alien vaults. There are keyholes on the door and the worker tells Eizo about a journal that brought the Templars here. The captain has the journal, we must get it from him.

Mission (Main)
We are guided by checkpoint markers to leave the castle and follow some templars down to the village below the castle. We use the Parchute to get down quickly.
we must then tail the guards to the captain.
When we reach him he flees in a horse and cart. Ezio comes up behind him and grabs a rope trailing from the cart and is dragged behind it. We have a semi quicktime sequence here where we have to move towards the cart, moving with the left stick to clamber up the rope as we are dragged. Once done Eizo climbs onto a cart and takes over it.
The captain kills as many of his own men as Eizo does in the process.
We get control of a cart and must ram the captain until we reach a certain point, then Eizo is knocked off the road by a bomb.

Mission (Main)
Eizo is wounded by his fall. The templar leader Leandros sends men to kill him, after dispatching the guards, we have to find Leandros.
This means using Eagle sense which has a new trick, by pressing in the left stick we can see ghostly images, in this case Leandros' movements.
I go through the village killing guards until I come to another castle. Here a cut scene shows Leandros challenging us, he brings in guards to kill Eizo.
we must climb to the top of the tower and kill Leandros. At the top Eizo gets the journal, Leandros is looking for something called the Grande temple. There are five keys to the door, Nicolo Polo took them to Constantinople.

Back in the Animus 16 is being cryptic.
Lucy has been buried.

Mission (Main)
Eizo arrives on a ship in Constantinople, he meets a student on the who turns out to be Prince Suleiman. We meet a local Assassin, Yusuf Tazim who wants to show Eizo around.
He tells us about local customs and quirks, we get into a fight with templars.
We arrive at the assassins headquarters and are welcomed by the group.

Mission (Main)
Yusuf tells Eizo that there is a blacksmith nearby, he notices that Eizo's gear is damaged.
We are told of random events that may happen around the city, which will earn us money if we complete the tasks.I am directed to a nearby blacksmith, where buying some new armour finishes the mission.

We are now left to free roam the city. There are viewpoints and a main mission marker, leaving you free to press on with the story or start exploring for side show tasks and missions.

I synchronise a tower x3

Mission (Main)
Yusuf and Eizo talk, the assassins of Constantiople have a hook blade, Yusuf gives one to Eizo.
This can be used to extend Eizo's reach and jump bigger gaps. Also to hook the swinging objects and perform a long jump. There is also a hook and run move, which allows us to use the hook to vault past enemies who are blocking our way without losing too much speed.

Mission (Main)
We have to follow Yusuf up a high tower named Galata. Then perform a leap of faith from the top.

Mission (Main)
Yusuf is informed that there are attacks taking place on two separate assassin's dens.
We have to learn how to use zip lines first, there are long zip lines which we use the hook to traverse, you can change your speed on the line by pressing right trigger. Assassination can be done from the line as well, and one is set up to demonstrate.
Yusuf goes to one den to help and sends us to the other.

Mission (Main)
Arriving at the den we must help with it's defense.
This is a new tower defence type game. We have leaders who control the rooftop and allow us to place units. We can then place archers and gunners. We can place barricades in the street below. We now have enemy waves to contend with, then a battering ram.

I synch another tower.

Mission (Main)
I am told to take a boat to the Imperial district, to find out how Yusuf is getting at his den.
We find him fighting a group of Templars, and have to help. He then shows us how to use  Cherry bombs to distract the guards from their posts and slip past them.
We must now clear an area of templar influence, by killing the captain and lighting the tower. Just like the Borgia tower side missions in Brotherhood.

Desmond finds 16 lying on the ground looking remorseful. He appears to be lamenting a chance at something he wasted, also he asks if Desmond might take him with him. Which I presume means taking his consciousness, into Desmond's own body and out of the Animus itself.
Desmond tells 16 that this isn't going to happen, he seems to accept it, though I am not so sure he won't try it anyway.

Eizo writes home to Claudia, telling her about what is happening, reiterating that he is here to find the keys primarily, though the templars here are distracting and he hopes to help Yusuf as he is able.

Yusuf is happy that the dens have been saved, though good men have been lost. He asks Eizo if he has experience recruiting assassins, and Eizo of course says yes. We now have to begin the task of recruiting.

Mission (Main)
A man has been arrested for stealing food, we have to get him the key to the cage and free him.
I have to find the guard using eagle vision, pickpocket him, them return to the prisoner and free him. Eizo asks him to join the assassins.
Now that we have a recruit, we can call him to aid us.

Mission (Main)
We have now made a new assassin's den and can appoint one of our recruits to lead it.
Our new den leader comes to us with a problem. His men have been going missing, and he has found a problem. He asks us to follow him and wait in a park and watch his movements.
We see him go to a nearby haystack and hide, we now have to take out three templars overlooking the area.
We must now use our eagle sense to find out what is going on here.
It seems that another assassin is killing the assassins. We give chase and he escapes using a smoke bomb and luring us into fights with guards.
Eizo tells his student that he must be trained further before going head to head with this sentinel, who was once an assassin.

Crafting tables are introduced, which allow us to send assassins on missions.

Mission (Main)
Yusuf shows Eizo how to make bombs.
This allows us to make bombs using a shell, explosive and additives like shrapnel. We test the bombs. Yusuf and Eizo talk of the Marco Polo connection and Yusuf tells Eizo to see a man named Reis in the bazaar for help.
I find Reis and he tells us the location of an old outpost of Polo's. He will also sell us bombs.

Mission (Main)
I meet Sofia at the Polo family trading post, she was on the ship we sailed into Constantinople on. She allows us to look around her shop, we have to use eagle sense to find a secret door.
Inside we find a clamber mission. The Yerbatan cistern.
Here we must clamber, and also kill guards to find a key to the next area.
Here i have to get a key from a guard, I shoot him from across the room and i get the key, not exactly realistic.
I finally have to use eagle sense to find a hidden door. Inside is a Masyaf key, an alien looking cd.
Back in Sofia's shop Eizo shows her a map he found in the temple, he asks her to help him find the rest of the hidden keys. He also flirts outrageously and she returns the flirting.
Yusuf wants our aid and tells us to use the fast travel network.

Mission (Main)
Eizo studies the disc and he receives a vision, we are back in Altair's times, Masyaf is under attack from crusaders, we must fight our way to the castle to save people.
At the castle gates a crusader holds Al Mualim captive, we must get into the castle and kill him before he kills his hostages.
Once done we see Altair talking with Al Mualim, who we know to be a templar agent from the first game.
Eizo realises that the disc contains Altairs recorded memories. So this is Desmond living Eizo's memory who is also now reliving Altair's.

I kill a templar captain and light a tower.

Mission (Main)
I go to the Romanies and am told a tale of woe, Eizo wants to help, the templars have stolen some money. The Romany leader wants us to kill everyone who touches the money so as to spread the romany myth of a curse on those who steal from them. We must poison all who touch it.
I go to a location and meet a group of romany women, i have to hire them.
Then we come to the guards with the chest and use poison darts on them. after a few have died the rest abandon the chest. I have to then take it back to the gypsy camp.

Had to quit to menu to get out of being stuck in a bush!

I synch a viewpoint.

Mission (Main)
More information has been found out about the rogue assassin called the sentinel.
two assassins have been kidnapped by the sentinel, Eizo does not want to negotiate and we have to find the prisoners.
I find them under heavy templar guard, After freeing them we find that this is a ruse and the sentinel plans to attack our base when Eizo is away.
I go back to the base and find the sentinel. I chase him and he is caught by another assassin.

Eizo writes to Claudia tell her that he needs to find a way into the Ottoman court.

Mission (Main)
The templars plan to attack the Ottoman royal family, we are to help with Yusuf's plans, which are to go in dressed and entertainers and foil the plan.
We have to sneak into the palace, knock out three groups of three minstrels and then take their clothes.
We now must walk about singing and playing the lute, using eagle sense to find the assassins, before they can kill Suliman. we have our own team take them out, We have to stand and play to distract the crowd.
I do this four times then a fight breaks out and the last templar tries to rush Suliman, Eizo breaks cover and kills him. Suliman is grateful and asks to talk with Eizo in private.

Mission (Main
Suliman introduces us to the complexities of the royal succession. His brother is in line, though there are those with concern for his fitness. Suliman asks that we go to a secret room and watch a meeting his brother is going to have.
It seems that the Jannisery, the royal guards have no love for Suliman's brother.

I kill another captain/tower burning combo.

One of my assassin’s dens comes under attack and I need to do the tower defense game to save it.

Mission (Main)
Sofia is having trouble with a delivery, seems that papers are not in order. Eizo promises to help.
I have to sneak onto a ship and scan papers with eagle vision. Once retrieved I have to take it to Sofia.

Mission (Main)
I have to climb to the top of a high tower and use eagle sense to find a book hidden on a roof.
This book unlocks that Galata tower and I must go and climb it.
Now travelling deep down under the tower we find caverns and clambering. Eventually the next key.

I liberate a templar zone.
And another.
Synch a viewpoint.
I synch another viewpoint.

Mission (Main)
I climb a tower and have to look for a books location.
I then collect the book.

Mission (main)
A random event occurs and we find an acrobat under attack by guards, Once I save her we have to follow her to her shop. We then have to fight more guards, she then joins the assassins.

Mission (Main)
Back at the hideout I examine the second disc, back into Altair's memories we go.
We go back to a point just after the end of the first game, when Altair kills Al Mualim who is in command of the apple of eden.
I take Al Mualims body, everyone is shocked and disbelieving of the things they have seen.
I walk with the body and an assassin asks for proof of the betrayal. Altair tries to explain as you walk to a pyre. I place Al Mualim on the pyre and the assassin freaks out. It is not the assassin's way to burn a body. Altair explains that he wants to make sure Al Mualim is truly dead.
A fight breaks out, we have to disarm rather than kill our brothers.
While the fight is going on Abas goes and takes the apple, as he tries to use it it goes wrong and start to kill him and hurt every else in a large radius, we have to climb up to him before he dies. We also have to avoid falling as the apple sends out waves of pain making us fall.
At the top, Altair takes the apple and it calms down.

Mission (Main)
The Janissary captain Tarik appears to have an agenda, it is possible he is involved with the templars. We have to tail him in the market.
First we must find him, a rough areas to look in is marked on the map.
Then we must tail him all over the bazaar. Eventually we overhear him telling us the meeting place.

Mission (Main)
Eizo watches the meeting, with a man named Manuel, it seems to be about a shipment of cargo. Yusuf is also there as well, he has heard that the shipment is about weapons.
We see some Janissary beat up a merchant for selling apples.
Eizo wonders if the poor could be made to rebel.
I have to bribe three heralds in the area to talk badly of the janissary, a crowd starts to gather at the gate.
We now have to stop the Janissary from clearing the crowd until they break down the doors to the bazaar.

Mission (Main)
We must now follow Manuel's trail, using eagle sense through the riot. I tail his ghost image to a warehouse. We see him chatting with a shadowy figure, dressed as a guard. It seems that this person is the real power here, not Manuel. Eizo sneaks in and finds that the shipment is of guns. Two guards catch him, and we have to escape the area and head for a checkpoint.

Mission (Main)
Eizo goes to Sofia and asks for more help.
A thief has broken in, stolen a painting, Eizo tells her he will get it back.
Using eagle sense in the map marked area find me the thief. Beating him up tells us that he sold it to a merchant. I go to the merchant and have to buy the painting back.
Then give it back to Sofia.

I synch a viewpoint.

Mission (Main)
I climb a tower to start a mission and now have to use eagle sense to locate the book.
At the location the next book is found.

I synch a viewpoint.

Mission (Main)
The location revealed by the book is another underground cavern, as usual the templars are already here, this time they have brought dynamite to blow up a door they can't get through.

Eizo tries to shoot the dynamite to blow them all up, however one of the templars gets in the way of the shot and the rest flee in a boat. We have to now chase the boat.
After a long and breathless chase I have to assassinate the templars in the boat from a zipline. This triggers a cut scene where Eizo and the templars in the boat go over a waterfall and then we have to fight the templars at the bottom. Once done we have to use eagle sense to find the hidden doors. Inside is another key.

Mission (Main)
Eizo uses the key to experience another Altair memory.
Altair, an older Altair, talks with Maria, he is upset, the templars have taken an assassin stronghold, it appears that Abas let it happen. Altair wants to kill him, Maria urges caution.
Altair and Maria have been away fighting Mongols for ten years and at home in Masayf Abas has grown powerful. Altair has two sons and one of them Seth has been killed. When we meet Abas, it seems he has had Seth killed and wants the apple for himself. Altair uses the apple to hurt an assassin who taunts him about his son's death. Maria tries to stop him and the assassin kills her. Altair instantly murders him.
Now it is an all out fight and Altair must escape Masyaf. We meet Darim, his other son and then have to flee together, lots of attacks from groups of assassins.

Mission (Main)
Suliman and his brother are playing chess, it seems to me that Suliman pretends to be happy for his brother to become Sultan, but is conspiring against him. Eizo comes to Suliman and tells him that the guns are being sold. Suliman wants Eizo to trace the destination of the guns then kill Tarik.
First task is to get a Janisarry guard uniform.
I kill a Janisarry and then get his uniform.
We must then follow a group of guards to their camp. We must beat up a citizen along the way to keep in cover.
At the camp we must make our way through several layers of guards, using stealth. Then we see Tarik talk to a friend and learn where the weapons were being sent.
Now we have to kill Tarik, when we try it becomes a fight, with Tarik and loads of Janissary. When I win we find out that Tarik was no traitor, he was planning to use the weapons to find the templars army location so he himself could strike at their heart and kill them all. We must escape the guards.

Mission (Main)
At Sofia's shop she asks Eizo to accompany her on a weeks journey to visit a new printing press. Eizo reminds her that his time is short. She asks him instead to go and get her a bunch of flowers that she needs, she will meet him later in the park with the information he needs to find the last book of Marco Polo.
I go to a flower seller, he has none of the tulips that Sofia wants, he tells us to wait an hour and he will get some. Eizo does not wait and we have to follow the vendor. Once at his source of tulips we find he was just gathering them from where they grow wild. Eizo picks his own, we have to cut three tulips. Now we have to go and meet Sofia. She has gathered a picnic, her romantic intentions are plain to see, though Eizo is loathe to bring her further into his world.

Mission (Main)
I have to climb to a specific vantage point and use eagle vision to find the location of a book.
Then reach the location.

Mission (Main)
We have to take a boat to the location of the next key. We reach a island on which is a structure named the maidens tower.
This is a large tower, filled with blocks of stone and water, the blocks move around using pulleys and the water level to make a jumping puzzle, pulling some levers gives you timed opened gates and makes for a bit more frantic jumping. eventually you reach the top and the key.

Mission (Main)
Back at the HQ we use the key to live out some more of Altair's memories.
Altair has lived in exile for twenty years, it seems that it is time for him to return to settle his score with Abas. The assassins thing Abas mad and some are sympathetic to Altair, who realised he was driven out by Abas and his thirst for power.
We have to walk through the village and into Masyaf, Assassins fight all around us and we have to kill specific captain. At the castle interior Abas confronts us, Altair tells him the apple has shown him the future, and we have to use a gun that Altair has made to kill Abas.

Mission (Main)
We have to enter the palace and find Suliman, to tell him that we have found the templar army, and killed an innocent man in the process.
I have to sneak in, using the romani's makes it easy
Eizo informs Suliman about what has happened, he is not pleased. His brother arrives and he feels that the Janissary will blame him for the death. They decide that Manuel must be brought to justice. We must also escape the palace unseen.

Mission (Main)
The Janissary have raised a chain across the harbour, which means our ship we are going to use to sail cannot pass. Yusuf gives us some help in the form of a large bomb. We have to place the bomb at the anchor point of the great chain, Then set it off. we now have to get onto a ship, use a fire cannon to burn 7 boats, then run through the flames and wreckage to get to our ship as it leaves.

Desmond appears again for the first time in ages. 17 is provoking him again, asking about his parents and Lucy. Desmond apologizes.
In the animus island there are other doors, which have been unlocked by collecting animus memory fragments.

Mission (Desmond)
We have to move around a first person 3D maze, there are locked doors, opened by symbols.
I gain a power, we can build platforms, and use them to get to unreachable platforms.
As we move through we see some memories from Desmond's life.

Mission (Main)
Eizo's ship has taken him to Cappadocia in search of Manuel.
We have to find Ottoman spies and work with them to find the templars.
This is a fairly confusing mission, basically all you are doing is synching a viewpoint.
Which is the most complicated one yet.
We then have to find the spy using eagle vision.
We have to chase the spy, when we catch her she reveals her name is Dilara, she asks her to visit her later.

Mission (Main)
Dilara has been caught when we go to find her, we must rescue her from prison.
We move to the prison entrance and find Manuel talking with the Masked Templar leader. The key to the prison can be found on a guard in the marketplace, we learn this and then have to go find the key.
A fight is going on and the guards are watching, we can use eagle vision to find which one is holding the key then pickpocket him. We the have to go back to the prison and free Dilara.
She wants revenge of the templar boss, who has killed her men.

Mission (Main)
The templar's name is Shahkulu, he is publically executing the ottoman prisoners. We have to stop him. First we must take out the armed guards surrounding the stage then Shahkulu himself.
We have to fight him like a boss battle, he has a lot of health.

Mission (Main)
Eizo wants to blow up the gunpowder in the guns that Manuel bought, which incidentally are broken. In the ensuing chaos he hopes to get a chance at killing Manuel.
We have to complete a clamber puzzle to get into the ammunition cache, then kill lots of guards and find a bomb and throw it into the gunpowder store. The cache explodes and then we see Manuel come out to see what is going on, he isn't pleased.

Mission (Main)
We have to kill Manuel, we have to catch him, then kill him.
After killing him a boat arrives, it is Ahmet, suliman's brother. He is really in control here, and not the fool he has been leading us to believe, he is after the key and wants Eizo dead.
He sends his men to kill us, which of  course fails. We must now run through the burning city and escape to our ship.

Mission (Main)
Using the key Eizo sees Altair's memories. Nicolo Polo, the father of Marco is at Masyaf, he is given a codex by Altair. It seems that enemies are at the gate and we must escort the Polo's to their ship.
We use the apple as a weapon, and lead them down into the village.
Once there Altair gives Nicolo Polo the 5 keys to the Masyaf library and tells him to hide them well. Altair admits that they are a message, but he does not know who for.

Mission (Main)
Eizo returns to Constantiople and to Sofia's shop, it is too late, the templars have been there already.
Yusuf is dead, Eizo takes it badly, it's all out war on Ahmet.
We have to storm the Arsenal and kill Ahmet. As we get to him and kill him, a cut scene kicks in, he has Sofia and Eizo stays his blade. He wants to have the rest of the keys in return for Sofia's life. suliman overhears and pledges not to help Ahmet.

Mission (Main)
Back at the Assassin's base Eizo takes the keys.
We then meet the assassin's at Yusuf's grave. Eizo makes one of them the new leader of the order.
We meet Ahmet near the Galata tower. He shows us Sofia held at the top of the tower. Eizo gives him the keys and then we have a timed run up to the top of the tower. At the top we find that it isn't Sofia at the top. She is being hanged in a courtyard nearby. We have to use a parachute to get down to her and save her. We escape in a horse drawn carriage.

Mission (Main)
We chase Ahmet in the carriage, have to knock out two other carriages. Then Eizo is knocked from the carriage, he ends up flying from a parachute on the end of the rope while Sofia drives. We have to survive and kill guards until we end up falling over a cliff with Ahmet. We have to fight him then eventually land after deploying the parachute.
The sultan arrives and kills Ahmet, then tells Eizo to get out of his city.

Desmond is trapped in animus Island as it appears to be disintegrating. 17 grabs him and tells him that he is saving him, he tells Desmond to move through a doorway.

Mission (Main)
Eizo and Sofia arrive as masyaf to open the library.
We have to walk into the castle and down into the lower levels.
Here are the door we have to place the keys in the right area and rotate them to match the constellation of the eagle on the door. Eagle vision makes it much easier to see.
Inside is an empty library, A skeleton sits in a chair wearing Assassin's robes. It is Altair's body and it holds another memory disc.
Eizo uses it to see the memory.
Altair leaves the castle empty to satisfy the invading Mongols. His son leaves him in the library after a tearful farewell.
We now have to hide the apple then sit in the chair to die.
Eizo now has to get the apple from it's resting place.

A long cut scene begins, eizo talks to Desmond, then an alien. It shows a vision of the end of the world, a solar flare hits Earth and despite all their technology it still ends the world.
All their knowledge on saving the world is stored in one temple.
Desmond wakes from the animus, proclaiming that he knows what to do.
The credits roll.

320 Achievement points
19 hours