"Nothing is true, everything is permitted." - Assassin's Motto

Assassin's Creed II is an action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is the sequel to the action-adventure game Assassin's Creed, and was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2009.

As in Assassin's Creed, the story revolves around the "Animus", a machine which makes it possible for the player to view the genetic memories of protagonist Desmond Miles' ancestors, a long line of assassins. In Assassin's Creed II, the machine is used to view the memories of a young nobleman-turned-assassin named Ezio Auditore da Firenze in the late 15th and early 16th century in Italy, during the Renaissance. The game thus incorporates numerous real-life historic events, places, and people throughout Italian Renaissance history, all of which play a key part in the plot and in Ezio's journey to uncover a hidden conspiracy after the murder of his family.

Assassin's Creed II received largely positive reviews, with critics praising the game's stronger emphasis on open world exploration and interaction, nonlinear gameplay and greater mission variety compared with the first Assassin's Creed. The game was also credited with improved non-player character AI, a new in-game economy for buying items, weapons, and armor, and a deeper, more finely-tuned combat system.

Assassin's Creed II takes place in an open world with nonlinear gameplay, allowing the player to roam freely within several regions throughout late 15th century Italy such as Venice, Florence, and the Tuscan countryside. The Animus 2.0, a new version of the machine of the same name present in Assassin's Creed, provides in-game context for changes and additions to several game elements. A database is also available, providing extra historical information about key landmarks, characters and services that the player encounters. The health system has been made more dynamic, with synchronization to the Animus and causing the character to recover only from minor injuries. More grievous injuries require visiting a street-side doctor for medicine.
The player may now swim in water, and eagle vision – the ability to identify specific people and landmarks – can now be used in third-person view. A young Leonardo da Vinci is present in the game, aiding the player by creating new weapons from translated "codex pages" that Altair, the original game's main character, left behind for future assassins' analysis and insight) Within the game, the player will be able to use Leonardo's flying machine (based on real-life plans by Leonardo) while on a mission. The player also has the ability to control a carriage, gondolas, as well as ride horses.[1]

Like Assassin's Creed, characters based on historical figures are present in the game including Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolò Machiavelli, Caterina Sforza, Lorenzo de' Medici, the Pazzi Family, and Pope Alexander VI.

All information found from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin's_Creed_II