Mafia II, a Godfather-esque game which puts you in the shoes of Vito Scaletta, a young Italian man who has just arrived back from WWII after being sent there instead of going to prison. The story is based around him and his best friend Joey rising to the top of the Mafia Families, by any means necessary! Mafia II has an extremely deep storyline to it which grips you from the very beginning, almost film-like! This certainly helps to draw your attention away from the average gameplay.
Mafia II is set in Empire Bay, a quiet small town in America. At first glance you think of the game as being a GTA style game where you can go select the mission you want to do or just explore a little. You can explore but you won't find much in terms of missions. Missions are done by chapters and they are triggered most of the time by you going to bed, thereby allowing the next chapter to start. The fact you do not drive to your next mission and ‘collect it’ really takes some of the exploring away from the game, which could have potentially made it much better, especially due to having to find collectables. Because of all this the world feels quite bland, there’s hardly anything going on around you such as random fights or car jackings, everything that happens on the streets is done because of you, making the environment seem fairly lifeless.
Mafia II has stunning visuals and these are mostly seen during the cutscenes of the game. This becomes a regular pattern and it’s almost as if you’re in the movies watching part of a film, then you’re interrupted to do your mission which is normally shoot some guys, beat someone up or steal something, this is where the game mechanics come in. I’m not going to say they are awful because they’re simply not, you can use them pretty efficiently, but they are very very basic. There does not seem to be any fluid motion in the mechanics and this can get quite annoying at times, such as when you’re trying to run away, and forget to take your gun down from "aim mode". Mafia II also encourages the use of its cover system, which is no way annoying or sticky, and actually works pretty well, until you’re getting shot. Being shot through cover and taking damage from things such as Molotov’s, even when they are quite some way away, due to "poison gas" which puts you in a bit of a tricky situation as you have to move cover; but when leaving cover and there are a lot of enemies around, you will likely die! This can get extremely frustrating as you tend to die a lot not because of your lack of skill, but because of the enemies punishing you when you’re not in cover but have no other choice.
Despite most of the game playing out all guns blazing, there are segments where stealth is required. An example – at one point you’ll be tasked with pretending to be a window cleaner to blow up an oppositions meeting room. All these parts of the game are pretty cool and you’ll certainly enjoy the break from the constant shooting, however these sections are very rare. The game also has a fighting system, which is extremely basic - A to dodge, B to light hit, Y to heavy hit. The game uses this fight system early on in the game where Vito is not a real Mafia member yet, and is mostly used while in prison getting into prison brawls. Despite the controls being very basic they’re easy to use and it’s quite fun to beat up a guy three times the size of you.
Mafia II seems to have extremely erratic pacing issues, one minute you’re shooting up a big building full of enemies, and then a minute later you’re having a leisurely drive home to go to bed or dropping your friend home to end that chapter of the story. It affects the pace and intensity of the story and is just downright boring!
Another problem I seemed to have with the game was the police (this may be down to personal preference). The cops are extremely annoying. You get a wanted level against Vito which can be removed by changing his clothes or one against your car which can be removed by changing your number plate at a garage. While you’re in a mission and scrape anything you’ll become wanted and there’ll be police everywhere. They pull you over for speeding and fine you or want to arrest you if you so much as tickle another car. This can get extremely annoying on a mission when you’re following/chasing someone, as the police attempt to ram into you and thereby fail your mission for you. Also in the middle of a mission there is no real way to get rid of your wanted level due to the focus on the objective at hand, therefore can't really just stop off to get your number plate changed. You can try to swap cars but 99% of the time, you are caught stealing the new car so it really works out to be pointless.
Overall I feel Mafia II is a decent game and should be played simply because of its intense, amazing story. If you don't mind basic third-person shooter mechanics, annoying deaths at times and ridiculous amounts of cops then this game is for you. Putting up with all the niggles will be rewarding thanks to the gripping story-line. Mafia II really does give you the feeling that you’re a rising Mobster, offering great satisfaction from making money by doing what you need to...
Mafia II gets an official Game-Pad 8.0/10
Comments
Problem is, people expect too much. Way to much. Same went with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. People hyped it at every corner, when it came out as a normal game [which it is], people were disappointed.
Sure, it's 4 hours long, but still. I've been playing Mafia 2 for 11hr:22min so far. Which is a lot more then I expected. It'll be over 20h since I'm going for 1000/1000G.
I'd say the review is spot on. The game has flaws but is certainly worth checking out. Good fun
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