Assassin's Creed: Battle of Forli DLC Review

See this guy? He's bad. Kill him.

Ubisoft promised some good downloadable content for its action/adventure Assassin’s Creed II, and last week it kept its word with the release of The Battle of Forli, the first of two downloadable chapters for the game.  (The second, Bonfire of the Vanities, is due next month.)  For DLC, it doesn’t really shake anything up with new weapons or surprises.  However, there are worse ways to kill a couple of hours.

In Battle of Forli, you run into Caterina Sforza, the woman who assisted you briefly in the beginning of the game.  She’s run into all sorts of trouble, with thugs attacking her village and putting her family at risk.  You’ll need to rush in, fend off her assailants, and keep her out of harm’s way on escort missions.  About midway through, you’ll find that this attack ties in to an even bigger mission involving a relic known as the Piece of Eden, and you’ll use all of your killing skills to find out what’s up.

Most of this chapter leans heavily on in-game combat, although the assassination techniques prove useful closer to the end.  Still, you’ll need to put up with some fighting first, and that might not sit well with you, depending how much you like (or dislike) the combat engine.  We personally liked it, even though we found it kind of odd that the townsfolk wouldn’t notice a huge superbrawl going on right in front of them.  Um, a little help here, guys?

The gameplay remains the same as previous chapters of the game, from fending off incoming strikes with your hand blade (we love that) to grabbing someone and finishing them without a second thought.  What we liked the most, though, was the new mission that gave us better access to Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machine.  Flight really compels us in this game, especially when we go swooping down on an unsuspecting guard and knock him into the drink.

Battle of Forli will last you a good two to three hours, but doesn’t really have any extras attached.  There is a decent story here, but no new weapons that you can use in the main game, nor any special Achievements or Trophies.  That’s kind of a bummer, but maybe Bonfire of the Vanities will bring some when it arrives next month.

In terms of presentation, Battle of Forli maintains the Assassin’s Creed status quo.  The visuals look splendid as you head through the city, although there are still minor glitches that, hopefully, Ubisoft will iron out with a patch.  The audio continues to be top-notch, thanks to quality voice acting (seriously, Ezio is the man with his dialect) and above-average sound effects.

For four bucks, you’ll find some decent value in Battle of Forli, especially if you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan.  We still would’ve liked something more though, at least in the way of cool new weapons or Achievements.  Perhaps the next time around, Ubisoft can give us a little gift for doing all its dirty business.  We’ll see.