The best gangster game on the gaming market and also a story that actually feels like one of the classic gangster films.
Mafia 2 has done the same for it's series and to me, for the first time, Grand Theft Auto finally has a competitor worth competing with. Other games such as The Godfather 2, Saboteur, The Driver series, True Crime series and Scarface had fallen short of being a great open world sandbox game. Some of them are really good but they still lack something that GTA brings to the table.
And that is getting the player immersed into the world.
Well at first when Mafia 2 was publically announced, I was like, oh ok but can they do it like Mafia? Can they stick to their roots unlike other developers? And believe me, Mafia 2 is a huge step from it's successor. The most important and centric thing of the game is the story. It features amazing story telling for a game, makes you feel like you're watching one of the classic gangster films.
Sure, 2K Czech may have taken reference from well known gangster flicks such as The Godfather and Goodfellas, but hey, everyone has to reference to something to make a masterpiece. The plot is still great, although it may not be totally original but the way this story is told is great.
That aside, the presentation is also fantastic. From the beginning of the game and onwards, you can feel the city live and breathe. People are actually doing things, they have a purpose, they want to grab a beer at the pub then head home, they want to buy the newspaper and read it in the park. Like mentioned earlier, it's the immersion that Mafia 2 puts you into the game that makes it feel awesome.
Some people get confused as to what Mafia 2 actually is. Well, it's a story-driven game. Sandbox-driven? I'd say no but you will still find it fun to go around town, robbing shops, stopping by the bar for a drink or two and even steal some cars from those petty gangsters. Mafia 2 approaches the sandbox thing more realistically and makes everything seem logical.
But, true, the game could do with more content. The content that was released separately was terrible. Big waste of money there.
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