Assassin's Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence's most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin.

In a vast open world environment, the game invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy. Ezio's subsequent quest for vengeance plunges players into a captivating and epic story that offers more variety in missions, surprising and engaging new gameplay elements, diverse weapons and a profound character progression that will appeal to fans of the original Assassin's Creed as well as entice players new to the brand.

Assassin's Creed 2 retains the core gameplay experience that made the first opus a resounding success and features new experiences that will surprise and challenge players.

British humorist and author Danny Wallace will be cast as one of the key roles in Assassin’s Creed II, as his voice and likeness will be cast for the character of Shaun Hastings. A pivotal character in the game, Shaun will serve as a historian, guide and source of information for the player as he proceeds through the game.

Danny Wallace is most recognised as the author of critically acclaimed books including Join Me and Yes Man. The latter was turned into a Hollywood movie starring Jim Carey in 2008, whilst more recently this year his latest book Friends Like These has been released in paperback. In recent years, Danny has also been involved in a variety of different ‘projects’ from searching the globe for robots and creating his own country in central London, to more sedate celebrity activity such as appearing on the Jonathan Ross show and writing a regular column for award-winning lifestyle magazine ShortList.

“When the UK suggested Danny to us, we were completely open to the idea. Danny has been fantastic to work with, and his manner and particular style of humor has worked out perfect for the role of Shaun” said script writer Corey May. Speaking on his own involvement in the game, Wallace said “Going right back to my days of working on Sega Power, I’ve always been a keen gamer, and being involved - and actually being in a game like Assassin’s Creed II is amazing! I have to say, I’m rather excited”

Key Features

• Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a young Italian noble who will learn the ways of the assassins after his family was betrayed and he looks to seek vengeance. He is a lady's man, a free soul with panache yet has a very human side to his personality. Through him, you become a master assassin.
• Italy in the 15th century was less a country and more a collection of city-states where families with political and economic strength began to take leadership roles in cities like Florence and Venice. This journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world takes place in a time in history where culture and art were born alongside some of the most auspicious stories of corruption, greed and murder.
• You will be able to perform missions when you want and how you want in this open-ended world that brings back free-running and adds elements such as swimming and even flying to the adventure. The variety in gameplay adds another layer for you to truly play through the game any way you choose.
• Discover a living, breathing world where every character is an opportunity for the player. Blending in with the crowd is easier, working with in-game characters provide ample rewards but can also lead to surprising consequences.
• Perfect your skills to become a master assassin where you brandish new weapons, learn to disarm enemies then use their weapons against them and assassinate enemies using both hidden blades.

Assassin's Creed II, developed by Ubisoft Montreal, is for a scheduled Holiday 2009 release on NDS, PSP, PS3, X360 and PC.