Pre-Order Assassin's Creed 2 to Get Exclusive Medici Palace

Ubisoft, which is developing and planning to publish Assassin's Creed 2, has announced having entered into an exclusive agreement with GameStop for a special pre-order offer related to the upcoming title.

Those gamers who place a pre-order with the retail chain will get a new in game area, which aims to faithfully replicate the Palazzo Medici, one of the best known palaces in Florence, created during the era in which the game takes place. Because the new content is in game, the pre-order can be made at any time and there's no real need to hurry to a GameStop.

Palazzo Medici was designed by architect Mochelozzo di Bartolomeo and the beneficiary was Cosimo the Medici. The funds for the construction were generated through the powerful business empire of the well-known family but some double dealing and theft might also have been employed.

The construction took 15 years, from 1445 to 1460, just as Florentine power reached its height. In Assassin's Creed 2, players will be able to explore the palace at will, marvel at its beauty and maybe even learn a little bit about its history and that of the Italy of the XV century.

Assassin's Creed 2 is continuing the series' travels through history and takes players to the Renaissance era where our hero can again employ his unique brand of aggression and stealth to murder important people, evade a wide array of enemies and piece together another strand of memories.

Ubisoft is saying that the game has evolved a lot, featuring better combat, more free running, a sequence that involves flying machines created by Michelangelo and a story that will offer more detail while also hinting at deeper secrets. As long as the gameplay is less repetitive than in the initial game, most fans will probably be thankful.