(1) Catch a Thief

Ezio isn’t the only Italian who can snatch coin-purses from unsuspecting civilians: with sharp reflexes, you can exploit the greed of other thieves. When you see a burglar (indicated by an arrow above his head), start sprinting. Tackle or assassinate the chump and swipe his stolen riches. At 1,500 Florins a pop, it’s worth ditching missions for cash-grabs.

(2) Run Roofs

Florentine rooftops make a good getaway route, but they’re also great for recreational running. Just to see if we could do it, we tried to traverse each of the game’s cities without touching the ground. It’s tough — Venice still has us sobbing in the corner — but adding a stopwatch to the mix is good for competition. Blitzing from end to end without messing up is ball-breakingly difficult, but success feels friggin’ fantastic.

(3) Uncover the Truth

If the game’s story sucks you in, the secrets of The Truth are uber-satisfying. By finding 20 “glyphs” hidden across Italy and solving each rotating jigsaw or pattern-finding puzzle within, you’ll unlock a mysterious revelation through jumbled video segments and listen to weird info found by Desmond’s now-dead predecessor, Subject 16. Oh, and have you ever wondered how Gandhi, Napoleon, and Nikola Tesla fit in with the Templars? You’ll see.

(4) Tomb Raiding

Raiding assassin ancestors’ tombs sounds like bad karma, but the reward for collecting the six seals stashed in each crypt is worth the risk. You’ll need perfect jumps and speedy swings to beat the tough platforming trials in each area; ace all six and you get sweet armor and stylish duds left by a certain other ancestor of Desmond Miles.

(5) Use Poison

Ezio doesn’t need to jump on your chest and gut you to get the job done — sometimes all it takes is a little poke to the ribs with a poisoned blade. Stabbing guards with your tainted knife makes them deliriously and drunkenly swing their weapons. Watching them beat each other down is good fun, but try chucking change at their feet: as poor pedestrians rush to collect it, comical collateral damage unfolds.

(6) Clean Your Home

A payday every 20 minutes is a great incentive to upgrade Monteriggioni, but enhancing your hometown yields lots of other benefits. Improve the shops, open the mines and wells, and find eight hidden statues for discounts, treasure, and gifts. And remember the training grounds, where you can buy sweet new abilities such as chucking three knives at three different dudes.

(7) Hire Temps

Since you’re always on the move, it’s easy to forget about hiring temporary employees. Try to roll around town with a band of mercenaries: they can take the pressure off you. Thieves make great diversions when you need to slip into a restricted area without causing a scene, and socializing with courtesans makes you invisible to enemies. These lovely ladies can distract bad guys, too.

(8) Human Polo

ACII doesn’t have multiplayer, so we made our own mode. First, buy and equip the baddest-ass club you can afford and head to the outskirts of town. Next, hop on a horse and start hunting for guard patrols. Tally up how many faces you can smash before the guards topple your horse, then pass the controller to a buddy and hope he can’t top your kill-count.

(9) Be a Lab Rat

Your time with Desmond is precious, so take advantage of the present while you can — we promise, it’s actually worthwhile this time. Lucy is far from boring in ACII , and her lab rats, Hastings and Rebecca, are people we genuinely wanted to chat with. Hastings is an A-hole and Rebecca is a quirky nerd, which makes the background details they divulge all the more enjoyable.

(10) Skinny Dippin'

Where Altair reacted to water like a Wicked Witch, Ezio is practically an Olympic swimmer. Take advantage of Venice’s watery roads not only to evade the fuzz, but to silently drag unsuspecting guards into their watery graves, too. Shoving them into the drink is equally efficient, and we chuckle every time suicidal gondoliers abandon ship the instant we climb aboard.