Spolier ...
I think this was the first time I fought a Pope in a game.
The mechanics are basically the same as the first with some tweaks/bells/whistles. So any play-control problems from AC1 have been faithfully reproduced.
It is more story-driven than AC1. You get the Deus Ex "everything is a conspiracy" vibe throughout most of the game but it comes together endgame. Nothing great, but at least you are not left feeling like you just watched your first episode of Lost.
Performance is more demanding than AC1 but the environments look a lot better. There is object pop-in I do not now if it is from small draw distances or maybe a loading queue.
Some of the new items are useful while others are too specialized to be of any practical use. Poison is fun to mess around with. Dual-blade kills can be addicting.
Collecting money becomes pointless once you get about half-way through the game.
The follow and rooftop-chase missions can be frustrating. The hit/wakeup animations are long which can result in Ezio getting mob throttled for significant periods of time.
If you enjoyed AC1 you should enjoy this. If you did not enjoy AC1 for reasons other than a lack of characters/dialog/cutscenes then there is really nothing new to see here.
Just some pics.
EDIT - You can see from the first pic that when ragdoll animations kick in the dying have some serious knee issues.
