As much as I loved Assassin’s Creed II, its first offering of DLC left me feeling surprisingly disappointed. While I certainly wasn’t expecting the new Sequence to go above and beyond the main game’s experience, I was at least expecting a certain level of quality and quite frankly, I feel that I deserved a lot more for my money. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to revisit my personal favorite game of 2009, but it felt more like a quick chat than an actual visit, and it left me with a rather bittersweet feeling.
The Battle of Forlì takes place near the end of the game and is activated by visiting the docks in Forlì anytime after completing Sequence 11. The majority of this sequence—which acts as a “deleted scene”—focuses largely on The Tiger of Forlì, Caterina Sforza, who had previously acted as no more than a gondola tutorial and a way to work in one more bit of flirtation before leaving for Venice. The sequence gets off to a slow start with Ezio having a conversation with Caterina and Machiavelli during a brisk walk back to the city walls of Forlì. About halfway there, things pick up a bit and you have to make a run for the citadel while protecting your allies from attackers.
Upon reaching your destination, you will be introduced to the Orsi brothers, which is where the plot gets interesting. After a bit of dialog, you must defend the citadel while simultaneously keeping Caterina and Machiavelli alive (again), which I felt was probably the lowest point of the DLC. Because your allies are inept at defending themselves, Ezio feels far more like a babysitter than an assassin, and because the combat system could still use some work, this “battle”—which is more of a skirmish than anything—is easily the most frustrating part. After dispatching enough of your enemies, the game urges you to use your pistol to assist Machiavelli on the city wall, and it even provides a glowing circle that magically replenishes your ammunition.
The ensuing pursuit of the Orsi brothers is much more enjoyable. For once, the unwanted pressure of having to beat the clock actually makes logical sense as far as the plot goes and it feels more like an actual assassination mission, which makes this the high point of the sequence, with consequent chase scene being equally fun and rather satisfying. Unfortunately, the sequence comes to a rather anti-climactic ending as you search for a certain black-robed monk. Your search will lead you to Florence, and upon entering, Rebecca (the Animus operator) complains about the memory being corrupted. Of course, it took nearly 10 minutes of aimlessly wandering around the city before I finally realized it was over.
While most of The Battle of Forlì is interesting, the whole thing takes about an hour to complete, even less if you’re comfortable with the combat controls. There is an added Special Memory in which you are allowed to use Michelangelo’s flying machine by climbing to the top of the lighthouse in Forlì, which might add to the longevity for some, but it is completely pointless. And strangely, while playing through the sequence, I ran into many pop-in issues that had never occurred for me while playing the main game. Gondolas and guards suddenly appearing next to me out of thin air was rather off-putting at times.
The voice acting is as great as always and spending more time with Caterina Sforza was a treat, but I can’t help feeling that The Battle of Forlì perhaps should have been postponed and released next month alongside Bonfire of the Vanities in a DLC pack, which might help make it feel like it is worth the money. And although it helped fill in a couple of gaps in the storyline, we are still left with another huge gap that won’t be filled until near the end of February. Anyone who may be currently playing the game and hasn’t reached this point should wait until the next DLC so everything will make more sense.
Those who have already completed the game can use their own discretion. Because the sequences during the main storyline, playing them out of context may make it seem less interesting. After all, you already know how the story ends, so the attempts at suspense are really only effective to someone who is experiencing the tale for the first time. It is great that the deleted scenes are being fluidly integrated into the main story, but for many, it will be no more than a bit of nostalgia. Overall, The Battle of Forlì is a fun sequence of extra missions, but the sparse new content and short length may make this somewhat of a lackluster release. We can only hope the Bonfire of the Vanities will compensate for this.
Score: 6/10
The Battle of Forlì was developed by Ubisoft Montreal and produced by Ubisoft. It was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 28, 2010.
