Would it ruin the story if I play part 2 before 1? I was just going to send it back and wait til I get the first one but I don't know.
You can play part 2 without playing part 1, you may be a little lost with the back story (the main character) but you should get the idea.
I am a little confused about this story. When I am playing Ezio I am reliving his memories via the Animus right? I am not going to do anything he hasn't already done in history, correct? Not sure how sci fi this game is.
It wouldn't ruin the story, but it might ruin the gameplay for you, I found assassins creed 2's gameplay to be so smooth it's kind of hard to go back to another game with free-roaming and parkour stuff. AC2 is a masterpiece IMO, can't wait to get brotherhood
The historical parts are fine and still have a few surprises, but the present day parts of the story will be spoilt.