Mafia II Review

[Mr. Analog]

Ok, I'm at the halfway point so I think I'm qualified to review this.

In a nutshell, this game is stuff we've seen before BUT the story makes up for this in a HUGE way. The setting and the attention to detail really give the sandbox life and the storyline keeps all the elements tied together and really sucks you in.

If you are a fan of Goodfellas or The Godfather this game will really appeal to you. The dialogue and voice acting are really top notch, coupled with the great facial expressions and subtleties, you really feel like you're watching a movie.

Graphically the game is superb, I bought the PC version because it is heads and shoulders above the console iterations, that said it's raping my machine and I've had to turn off a lot of the razzle dazzle to keep the framerate up. But even with the cloth effects disabled and the resolution a little lower than what I would have liked the game is still stunning. Whoever the art director was had a very definitive vision of how things should look and really brought things to life.

It's a little disorienting at first when you get back from the war and see the mid-1940s city unfold before you and just when you get used to that world and its architecture, media and automobiles you end up in jail for 6 years when you come out in the 50s... just WOW! Everything is different.

The missions so far follow similar patterns, drive somewhere, shoot stuff, escape. The sort of stuff you've been doing since GTA 3 came out, there was a stealth mission which was really fun. Some of the missions have some great movie-like elements, like for one, you stealthily break into a jewelry store in a shopping arcade under the guise as telephone repair man, only to have a rival gang drive their car through the front window, then all hell breaks loose when the cops show up. If you boil it down it was just drive, shoot, escape. But it was fun and the way it was presented really brought it to life.

The audio and music are top notch as well, the controls are very responsive and I like the damage system, in all it just makes sense and it's much better than the demo. You start the game learning how to drive on icy roads, which makes driving a lot easier later.

The traffic and population density is also much better than the demo, though there are still a lot of AI problems (honking your horn seems to affect pedestrians and motorists that are about 10 feet away from you and not so much immediately next to you. Some of the intersections and 4-way stops are a real bitch.

The Police AI is much better, it's harder to shake them and if you have a "wanted poster" you have to change your blood or rubble splattered clothes and/or your car license plate/colour/rims etc to avoid the cops. It's much like the original Mafia though, in that if you have one copper after you it's not so much of a problem, but if there are two or three you're boned. Luckily the game gives you lots of ways to shake them (bust through a few alleys, ditch the car and buy yourself a trenchcoat and sneak off to some secluded spot and steal a car and make your way back. More logical than GTAIV, in some cases annoying but in others exciting and fun.

The health system is easy to use, if a little video-gamey (which they make fun of in the game dialog), you just eat food to get health back. Ooh I've been hit by a million bullets, better eat a sandwich!

Now the gripes:
This game will rape your system, I don't have a quad-core nor do I have a top o' the line video card but it's good for 90% of the games out there right now and even with certain features disabled and using a lower non-native resolution my framerate still drops in big areas with a lot of stuff going on. Not what I like to see in a game where FPS is essential to battle (you really need to be able to react fast sometimes). PhysX will remain disabled for a long time on this one I can tell you.

The game is a sandbox, BUT, it doesn't give you a lot of time to roam. The way the story is connected you want to go and do stuff that comes up next, it's not like GTA IV where it gave you some alone time with the city to explore and mess around (i.e. get different cars, find little fun things, etc). I'm not saying you can't do this, you just won't want to when you're really into the storyline. In GTA IV you feel like you are the protagonist making decisions etc, in Mafia II you feel like you are watching a movie unfold, this difference of feeling like you are living in a city vs on a predetermined rail is disappointing. If the story/writing was weaker it would really kill the game.

Lastly, I'm very disappointed with the anachronisms. I'm not exactly a history buff but it really bugs me with some of the liberties they took with some things. The writers seemed to be aware of what was happening in 1944/45 and 1951 but the vehicles and music are all wrong. I mean, one of the first things I saw after getting out of prison in 1951 was (for all intents and purposes) a 1956 Chevy... whaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?! Again, the music is happenin' and I dig it but all over the decade. It sounds more like 1957 than it does 1951 and that BUGS ME, Cronkite...

So anyway, I'm about halfway through the game with lots more to see and do, but these are my impressions so far.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

No major problems, lots of fun, great story and setting.

[Mr. Analog]

Well, I'm on the final mission now, just quit for a fresh start tomorrow.

I'm not sure what happened, either the game is too easy or I'm just really into it, either way it seems way too short.

Great story arc though!

[Mr. Analog]

Finished on normal mode, 15 hours... the ending was open so I expect DLC will continue the story (I hope!!).

I really wish this game was longer, or, that there were more things you could waste time on in the city. It was a wild ride while I was playing but, damn, I want more!

[Mr. Analog]

In retrospect the original Mafia is a much better game and a far better story, it looks a bit dated but it still outshines Mafia II in nearly every way. Don't get me wrong, Mafia II is a fun game in it's own right, but it had big shoes to fill and fell far short.