Mafia 2 Review

Trailer

Your name, Vito Scaletta. Where? The suburb of Little Italy in Empire Bay. The year, 1943.

You start your journey through this game as a nobody. A young italian american looking to make it big one day. Like the ‘Made Men’, the Mobsters. This game will take you from 1943 through to 1951. You do various jobs and slowly make your way through the ranks and become a ‘Made Man’. Along with your long time friend, Joe Barbaro, you earn your status.

The game is similar in many aspects to something like the GTA series. The missions tend to be more set out than sandbox type. If you had played the first Mafia game you would understand what I’m saying. It is a LOT prettier than its predecessor though. and quite a bit more entertaining. Once you’ve gone through all the misisons I’m sure you’ll find yourself roaming the streets of Empire Bay for many more hours.

The start of the game is done well. You get caught for a crime, and get presented with a choice. Prison or the frontlines. You get sent to fight in Italy. This is where you get introduced to the games action controls. Gunfights, moving around, and the use of the cover system. This is where you can really appreciate the PhysX system that the game utilises. Bullets and explosions!

As you move further in the game and get introduced to new activities, you get a bit of a tutorial in that activity. Giving you a chance to master it before having to incoporate it in a proper situation. Learning how to ‘box’, picking locks, and the like. Allowing you to become a skilled fighter and thief.

One thing that might recall from Mafia I, was the constant annoyance that the police force were. It felt like they were there to police you. Keeping an eye on your every move. Not stopping at a traffic light, speeding through town, fender benders. They were there to catch you. or at least chase you around town until you got rid of them. In the sequel this has been toned down quite a bit. While they will catch you for offences, they will pursue any offender. If rival gang members shoot at you and the police are notified, they will pursue and fight those offenders.

A large array of classic vehicles, as well as the music used in the game make it feel very authentic. It could make or break your driving time through Empire Bay. The music is a bit limited though, which means you’ll either be humming along OR turning off the cars radio as soon as you jack it.

Another feature of this game is Nvidias PhysX. (heres an article from extremetech to follow up a bit more on that, http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2368499,00.asp). It adds the extra touches in the game that you can stop and appreciate. The flutter of a coat, the shattering of glass, any environmental behaviour. The only possible problem with this would be if you are an owner of a non-nvidia card. You will notice a huge impediment to your framerate with this running. The article from extremetech debates whether the beauty of PhysX is worth what you give up in framerate. Pretty Interesting.

The other factor is that this game is based on steams gaming platform. While I have no problem with that, I know there are a bunch of people that don’t like it.

I’m only about 2/3 of the way through the game thus far, but I’m enjoying it a lot and can see myself playing it for many more hours. There is lots to see and do in this title. With downloadable content (DLC), the life of the game will surely be extended. The second DLC is “Jimmy’s Vendetta”, this is due around 7 September. Extract from the wiki page: ” offering arcade-style gameplay along with new missions and leaderboard competition. In Jimmy’s Vendetta, the player once again controls Jimmy and helps him clean up messes around Empire Bay – the game features the same online and leaderboard features as the previous DLC” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_II

Official site: http://www.2kgames.com/mafia2/

Gameplay