So, I beat this 18-hour game in three days thanks to having the flu. It is without a sliver of doubt my GOTY. First, let me say this to those of you that weren't that impressed by AC1: every single thing that wasn't balls-out awesome from the first game is now either gone or replaced by something that is, with a bunch of extra balls-out awesome things thrown in. I could list them all here, but that'd take so much space that you'll have to take my word for it that this is way, way, WAY better than AC1. The story is also leagues ahead this time: somehow, throughout all the hidden glyphs and documents and actual story elements, it answers EVERY question from AC1, but then poses new ones which hold even greater potential. Of course in AC style, it does so with the help of a really mean cliffhanger, but that's ok because it's an awesome one.
I will now try to find some downsides to this game. Uh, the map is slightly sluggish when you have too much stuff on it. I got stuck in a wall once. It's not Zooey Deschanel. I dunno.
Seriously, this isn't just what AC1 should have been, it's what I'd always hoped it'd be.
In a sentence:
My 2009 GOTY: they took all of the good stuff of AC1, and then totally reworked everything to bring this game into the pantheon of all-time classics.