At least we get all the chapters.
Miles ahead in freedom? Quite the opposite imho, completely linear. All the planning is gone (getting info before strike). Atmosphere is gone. Feel of a brotherhood/being an assassin is gone. Combat is simplified, and it wasn't
that hard to start with.
Gameplay is all still there though, and improved. More options in fighting; more capable fighting with the hidden blades, and barehanded and disarming is simply awesome. Need a little strategy dealing with 'brutes', any other enemy comes down to simply countering (in the first you still had guard-breaks). Countering doesn't really require tight timing, neither do combos (buttonmash works fine).
More variety, though working through secondaries now feels like a chore. Some indoor locations for special loot, really nice, look great and atmospheric, though it's always some acrobatic puzzle (what is this, Tomb Raider?).
Flags are gone, replaced by feathers... um, yay? Treasurehunting is tedious. Nice that you can buy maps, but then you've got icons cluttering the damn map. And what's the point? It's always a couple of Florins, which you get for free anyway.
The "blade in a crowd" concept is definitely improved, though the "protect the innocent" has really taken a backseat (my favorite in the first game was kicking the ass of gaurds hassling citizens).
They streamlined the gameplay a bit, but lost a bit of it's soul along the way. Fun to play, though not as memorable as the first one. But then, I never complained about the repetitive objectives or the first game's combat; I'm sure everyone who complained about those thinks AC2 is a much better game.
