Better than the First Game. Lots of Extras to keep you busy. Italy is beautiful to discover and explore.
First the story is much better. Ezio is a character you can root for. Less Desmond and more of the what makes the game good. After a while, I seemed to wonder what would make Ezio stop. He avenged his families death by killing those directly responsible, but that wasn't enough. He had to kill every one of the conspirators involved.
The setting, Italy, is beautiful. The scenery is great. I thoroughly enjoy Tuscany and Venice.
As far as game-play, it is much better than AC1. Lots of more things to do, such as buying paintings, building up your Villa, races, etc. to keep you very entertained as the story progresses.