In short, we’ll just say yes to that straight out, as Mafia II indeed tells an intriguing tale. On the long side of things, you play as Vito Scaletta, an ex-war veteran and son of a poor Sicilian family trying to make it big in the world. After being sent back home due to an injury, Vito reunites with his family and long time best friend Joe Barbarosa and comes to realise that though his family is in decent health and he’s happy to be there, he needs to make it big some way, somehow. So from here on Vito tags along with Joe, meeting contacts and forging alliances to eventually get in on booze, cars and women, doing jobs ranging from assassinations to robberies all in the quest to be somebody.
Mario and Luigi back in the day.
Vito’s tale is both tragic and dark, with absolutely stellar character development and many shocking moments throughout. The story progresses over a decade, from the end of World War II all the way into the 50s, where rock n roll and greasers become the new trend, and with this come many revelations throughout the narrative. Each character that you meet throughout the game has personality and their own level of history, which adds so much to a game that already has a very interesting main cast. It’s sharply written and well paced, with good breaks from the darker and moodier moments with fantastic humor and charismatic performances. The ending is also absolutely superb and incredibly memorable, serving as a powerful message in the midst of the events of Mafia II.
But an excellent story requires good progression in its gameplay to succeed, and Mafia II does a pretty solid job in achieving this. Contrary to popular belief, Mafia II is not a sandbox game with a story element; it’s a story-based game with a sandbox as a bonus. And with that, there is a fair bit of linearity when it comes down to the core of the game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though as everything is so compelling that it feels right rather than forced. The simplistic run and cover mechanics in the shooting aid this well, as it keeps things fast, smooth and transitions brilliantly between sections of the game. The added destructibility of the environments also gave us a very F.E.A.R kind of vibe, where combat was just pure intensity from the get-go and minor mistakes can kill you quite quickly.
Let it snow let it snow let it snow.
It isn’t all run and cover though like some hardcore shooters. There are lot of moments that completely shift the flow of the game, from some small stealthy sections to epic car chases and then the random stuff which adds a lot of life into the world of Empire Bay. Stores can be walked into freely and held up, allowing you to steal whatever you like and then hopefully get away from the police that are likely already on the way. Killing store owners also shuts the store down later on as you progress, so though the free-roam element is not as profound or over the top as other games, it adds a level of authenticity and subtle realism that immerses you into the game world much more than you first realise. There’s a lot more to the game than just these sections we’ve mentioned, however for spoilers sake, we’re not going to talk about them as they’re certainly worth seeing for yourself (some even fairly significant to the story and offer an enormous shift in gameplay).
If we are going to nitpick on one thing however, is that Mafia II tends to have some odd difficulty spikes, primarily in the form of hit detection. Gunning down enemies is not difficult whatsoever and guns feel both powerful and lethal. However, from time to time you might be well on your way to kicking a whole lot of ass, only to be stopped by some random stray bullet that hits you and kills you instantly. While this is somewhat realistic, what’s odd is that it happens often when you’re behind cover and the millimetre of your head that is poking out of cover is hit; and it’s not even with a lot of enemies. Perhaps it was just unlucky positioning or solid AI aim bots, but it was sometimes a little frustrating to gun down about forty enemies (we totally exaggerate our numbers) only to be shot in the face from twenty metres away by the random last surviving guy behind a crate.
You even get to do some blow jobs.
In terms of presentation, we’re pretty confident in saying that Mafia II is one beautiful game, both aurally and visually. We played through the 10-15 hour game on a fairly high end PC with panoramic resolutions, and many a time we were simply in awe at the attention to detail the world has been given. It’s almost obsessive in detail, as snow will slide off of cars as you turn a corner fast, specular highlights reflect at the most perfect angles, and each area feels very much alive. Physics work wonderfully even without PhysX technology enabled, with gunfire tearing entire rooms to pieces with glass shattering and wood chipping apart. The only disappointment comes in the form of animation, where though most of the walk cycles, expressions and storytelling moments are well done, the facial animation work and a few sections of the game feel far too stiff. Animation can be jarring and lack proper timing, which can likely be attributed to the game being of multiplatform status and being limited in animation data because of it. It’s not necessarily very bad, but what is there could’ve certainly been made better with a little more time spent on it. We had no problem with the sound in any way, as the game sounds wonderful in music, sound effects and especially voice acting, which is absolutely fantastic and perfectly fitting for Mafia II.
If we were to compare Mafia II to any recent games, it’d probably be Uncharted 2, as both share the same concept of delivering a well told story through a very linear game. That being said, Mafia II comes with a free-roaming element that while it isn’t as crazy or stand out as something like Grand Theft Auto IV, it’s there to serve the purpose of making the world feel alive, and it delivers this in spades. Mafia II is pretty much what most adult gamers have been looking for in quite some time; a very mature, very well told story driven game that is both memorable, highly entertaining and proves that games can be pretty serious business when it comes to their storylines too.
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