Reviews September 7, 2010
Mafia II
Reviewed by: Bryant Crawley
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Rated: M
Players: 1
Cost: $59.99
Release Date: 08/24/2010
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Czech
2K Czech, formerly known as Illusion Softworks, has finally released the sequel to the 2002 cult classic, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. You play as Vito Scaletta, a Sicilian immigrant, and will lead him through the game's 15 chapters. Vito begins the game by returning from World War II and inheriting his dad's $2000 debt. His close friend, Joe Barbaro, quickly gets him a job with a local crime family and the two embark on their mafia filled adventure.
You should probably know this by now, but Mafia II is NOT a sandbox game. The developers have clearly stated on many occasions that it is a very linear, story based game with an open world as a "backdrop" to enhance the story. Those of you going into Mafia II expecting Grand Theft Auto will be sadly disappointed.
Although a good game, Mafia II's game play suffers from a few major and minor faults. To start off, there is simply way too much driving. For example: On a 10 minute mission, you could easily drive for 3 minutes, watch 3 minutes of cut-scenes, and only actually have exciting game play for the remaining 4 at best. The word exciting may also be a bad word choice because some of the game play isn't entertaining at all. I feel like sometimes the developers thought that they were making a documentary about the mafia instead of a video game. One mission has Vito driving around selling cigarettes from the back of a truck for an unnecessary amount of time until the player is finally rewarded with a gunfight. Another has Vito race around town selling stolen stamps to gas stations. While these might be realistic scenarios for the mafia, I would prefer 2K to sacrifice some realism for a little more fun. When the player is rewarded with a gunfight they are actually quite enjoyable though. Guns feel powerful (in the case of the shotgun way too powerful) and the environment is completely destructible. Vito mostly fights with at least one other mafia companion and their comments generally add to the experience. The AI isn't spectacular, for example, the enemy doesn't usually advance but rather lets you come to them. Your allies will actually kill a nice amount of people if you were to sit back and let them do the work. A minor annoyance is that your enemies can blind fire but for some reason, Vito cannot. So basically the gunfights are entertaining enough, but there are just not enough of them.
Mafia features a large number of fistfights and a few stealth sequences that are simply missed opportunities. I hate to say it but fistfights are basically broken. Vito has 3 options in these fights: 1) A to Dodge 2) B to light punch 3) Y to heavy punch. My first instinct was that maybe you would have to time dodges with your opponent's punches or possibly you could dodge heavy punches but light ones were too quick to dodge. Wrong and wrong again. If you hold down A, Vito can literally never get hit, NEVER! Almost every enemy has the same basic fight pattern: punch, wait a few seconds, and punch again. In between these cycles you can easily get in a few punches and then rinse and repeat for an easy victory. Once I got the pattern down I never came close to losing or even getting hit for that matter. Stealth sequences also feel rather incomplete. They are a nice break in the usual pop-and-shoot game play but suffer from some bad glitches. For example, when an enemy is sitting down a weird sequence begins where Vito strangles air, then the guy gets up and appears to be strangled by a ghost before dropping to the ground.
To be honest, Mafia II features some great voice acting and writing. The developers clearly put a lot of time into writing a creative, believable script. Pretty much everyone has great voice acting. Vito and Joe as main characters are impressive, as is the entire supporting cast. Considering Mafia II relies solely on its story, everything about it has to be great and the game really delivers in this aspect.
Mafia II takes place in the city of Empire Bay throughout the 1940s and into the early 1950s. It’s mainly modeled after New York and shares many of its landmarks. As it stands, the city looks pretty sweet and so do the majority of the characters. It is a beautifully crafted city all around filled with people to help make it feel "alive". It is complemented by a nice variety of fantastic cars that are based off of actual models from the period. The cars handle like cars from the 40s and 50s and I loved that personally. For those who don't, you can change the driving system from realistic to arcade style. The combination of the cars, buildings, characters, and licensed music all really contribute to making you feel like you are actually in the 40s and 50s. The game does a great job of "sucking you in" and making you want to play on.
Mafia II does a few things below average and a few things spectacular. Although its length and lack of replay value are both incredibly disappointing the fantastic script and acting make up for it. The shooting reminds me Gears of War except Mafia II features no melee weapons/combat except for several mind- numbingly easy sequences. Its endless Point A to Point B driving grows tiresome as do some very boring missions that linger far too late into the game. It is certainly worth your time as a rental to experience the story alone, but there is absolutely no reason to buy this game due to the fact there is no real replay value besides the Playboy Magazines and wanted posters scattered throughout the city. In this generation that is sort of the death sentence. I will say that this is the first time I can say that the overall story totally makes up for it. You owe it to yourself to play through this game at least once.
Game play: 8
The duck and cover system is very well constructed although the lay out of the driving missions could have been better instituted.
Graphics: 9
The lifelike cut scenes extend to the actual game play. Everything about this title screams gorgeous.
Sound: 10
Probably the best voice acting I’ve ever heard in a video game. The sound effects with the guns are second to none.
What’s new: 8
Nothing new in regards to game play but the story is what’s new when it comes to video games. What I mean by this is an actual Good story that makes up for sub par game play!
Replay Value: 5
8-10 Hours to complete the game. Only reason to pick the title back up after first play through would be to collect Playboy Magazines or Wanted Posters. Not very high on the replay value honestly.
Final Score:
8