In Mafia II you are Vito Scarletta in 1940’s Empire Bay. Empire Bay is based on New York City and is filled with immigrants, working to eek out a living. As Vito is growing up, like any youngster, he walks the wrong path in life. Without spoiling too much of the story, Vito leads the life of any mobsters you would see in films like Goodfellas. The city of Empire Bay is filled with interesting characters and that is one thing that sets Mafia II apart from a lot of games. As you move through the story, Vito is accompanied by his best friend Joe and is in a constant battle to shield his mother from his lifestyle.Without the characters of Empire Bay, Mafia II would be just another sandbox game with no substance.
Some may say that the story in Mafia too is predictable. Sure, you may know what you are getting into but, just like every great mob movie ever made, it offers you what you want – action, drama, and some scary twists a long the way. The writing in Mafia II is top-notch and really makes the player feel like they are inside the game world. Kudos to the writing team for Mafia II as they clearly gave a nice transition from the original title and kudos for the awesome tie in to the original Mafia story.
GAMEPLAY:
Mafia II is your standard sandbox, third-person game a la Grand Theft Auto IV. The analog sticks control your movement/camera view and your triggers do the normal fire/zoom. In your arsenal are a variety of weapons, from handguns, machine guns, bombs, to even just your mark 1 fists. There are several events in the game where melee is a must and combos seem to be your best friend. As you wear down your opponent you are treated to a finishing quick time style combo attack that unleashes some hell on whoever is at the end of your fists. The control system in Mafia II is simple and there were no issues found with them.
The world of Mafia II doesn’t just take place on foot. As with any GTA-style sandbox game, driving is a major part of Mafia II. There are dozens of cars for you to collect a long the way and the cars handle well in character with their type. Depending on the car, you can have a very smooth ride or be driving a gas guzzler that hates corners. Weather comes into play when you drive and one snowy day can transform a police chase into your fiery death. The car portions of the game are standard fair for a game of this type and we encountered no problems when playing. Just be careful not to speed or the local police will attempt to pull you over.
As you go from mission to mission, you will find yourself hitting up the local chop shops to upgrade your cars or the local tailor to upgrade your duds. Both of these stops serve a dual purpose as they can also help you escape from the cops if you are wanted. The police force in Empire Bay is very much like the Keystone Cops. If you are wanted all you really need to do is drive real fast and they will crash into something or get lost. This theory was tested as we shot a citizen right in front of a cop and then put the peddle to the metal. The cops chasing us ended up killing about twenty more civilians when trying to capture us. If by chance you do get pulled out of the car all you really need to do is pay them off and you are good to go.
Other than the tons of missions available there is not much else to do in Mafia II. 2K Games signed a deal with Playboy to scatter Playboy magazines throughout the world. While this offers some collection side-work, there really isn’t much to it. With a world that is so alive like Empire Bay you should be able to explore it. Unfortunately Mafia II leaves you with little to no time to actually explore its many awesome locations. We would have loved it if the devs had included a free roam mode for the game. With the recent announcement of DLC for the game here’s to hoping that is included.
GRAPHICS AND SOUNDS:
Mafia II is a very nice to look at and the detail that went into such things like billboards is amazing. The world really is alive with changing weather cycles that build up grime on cars to the occasional traffic accident that the player will encounter. While the devs spent a ton of time on the visuals, we did encounter a lot of glitches in the world. These glitches mostly come from the NPCs, which get stuck in walls, endlessly walking into walls, and just exhibit odd behavior. While none of this was game-breaking, it occurred enough to note it. The cinematic sequences in Mafia II were a pleasure to watch and there were times where we felt like we were watching a movie!
It is obvious that the devs spent a lot of time on making the sounds of Mafia II a focal point in the game. The radio stations are by far one of the best features in the driving experience. You have your choice of three stations and, depending on where you are at in the game, you will hear music for that time period. We did note that some of the songs were not by the original artists but regardless we loved the radio feature. The voice acting in the game is hands-down great. The voice cast really hooked in the player and gave it that Hollywood feel. With a story as well-written as Mafia II it only makes sense to have a great voice cast.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
If you played the original Mafia go out and buy this game right now. While not perfect, it is a great follow up to the original game. If you are new to the series you can still start with this game as only one small portion will not make sense to you.
