18 Action Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

13. Assassin's Creed II

You must experience: Your first double-bladed kill... that lands from mid-air. Even though the series has gone so far off the boil it currently resides in another neighbourhood's kitchen - it wasn't always this way. Quite the opposite in fact, as following the first game that was more a proof a concept that a real daylight hour-destroyer, it's AC II that you can recommend to anyone. With a gorgeous setting that puts you slap-bang in the middle of the Italian Renaissance, Ubisoft took the sensibilities of the time and let it infiltrate every aspect of the game design. No more were you confined to playing as the religiously silent Altair; instead loveable knave Ezio embodied the free-spirit necessary to indulge in everything from clambering up the landmark architecture of the time to buying up all sorts of property and flash n' flair costume design. In short, Assassin's Creed II is the real game that made the world take notice after a slightly shaky first outing, and if the latter instalments have you questioning what the big deal is, Ezio's adventures in all these pristinely-rendered cities easily provide many reasons why.