Mafia II is a third person shooter were you play as Vito Scaletta, a young man making his way up the mafia ladder from rags to riches. The story revolves around Vito's rise from a poor immigrant family to the ranks of organised affluent criminals. While the stroy has some interesting moments and some good characters like Leo and Joe, in general I found it to be predictible and greatly similiar to some of the films in the same genre, namely the godfather and the goodfellas. Despite this the story is still really enjoyable, as you feel a real sense that the characters are advancing as time goes by. I found that the plot becomes much weaker in the last few missions as the story just flutters out and the ending left me unsatisfied with the conclusion of the tale.
Graphically the game is generally good. When you start the game in empire bay it is winter, and the ground is thick with snow. As things go on the game moves forward in time and it is summer. These seasonal changes allowed for environmental changes in the city and made what could have been a bland and generic place into a much more varied city. The cutscenes have noticible screen tearing but its nothing major.
In terms of music the game is fantastic. Period songs play on the radio as well as during some great scenes. When you first drive a car in the snow the song " let it snow" plays on the radio. The voice acting is all excellent and I found that this greatly enhanced the story. The voices of characters really does suit those characters. This was no easy task as the game has a wide array of characters and it is this cast which makes the game worth playing, so it was crucial to pull this off and 2k Czech managed it brilliantly.
The game is a sandbox game, but this is something that it implemented poorly and really doesn't need. The narrative structure of the game means that the game is essentially linear. You will always be doing the mission that will progress the story. While you are in a large urban area in the vein of liberty city, there are no side missions to do or activities to participate in, bar selling cars. This leaves the world feeling somewhat lifeless and a bit empty.
The gameplay when in combat is a gta style cover shooter. It works generally well, but I couldn't help feeling at points that all the fights were generally the same. Some of the missions in the game were really good, my favourites including a stealth entrance to a slaughter house and planting a bomb in the conference room of a major hotel in the city. These missions were great, but the majority of the game's missions were just shoot outs. I also had some issues with cover not providing you protection from damage at certain points, and this became very annoying during later parts of the game.
The game is brilliantly presented, with a great recreation of late 40's and early 50's america. There are fights with Irish, African, Italian and Chinese groups, there are great locations like a beautiful chinese restaurant, a hotel and a slaughter house. The game really succeeds in capturing the period. Its just a pity that the story weakens in the last part of the game.
The game is a decent length, but a lot of this is padded by mandatory driving. If the game had more set piece moments and intense missions it would have been really great, but as it is its a fun game with some great scenery which ultimately failed to live up to its potential.
Pros: Great setting
good characters
some good twists
period music is great
melee combat is fun
Cons: cover mechanics are not consistent
game is artificially lengthened by driving
final missions are weakest in the game
missions are generally not memorable
Wtf: Chinese gang hack man to death with machetes
Score:
- 5/10