I can't believe they went wrong with this game - the sequel to one of the greatest games of all time.
I don't even know where to start, because it is wrong on more than one or two levels. All they had to do was make another Mafia with modern graphics, but instead they made this dull product, which hardly can be called a game because 95% of the time you just walk stairs, drive cars and watch cutscenes. Driving can be fun, of course, but for how long?
I'm hearing this 'well at least Mafia 2 has high production value' from gamers but what good does production value make if there's hardly any gameplay? Basically Mafia 2 is an action game with little action in it. I remember some gamers were whining that there were too few shootouts in Mafia. Big surprise, compared to Mafia 2 the original game is a very action packed game.
Another thing that I don't understand is the incredible details. I'm not against details, no, but they have to work as a part of the gameplay, like in Batman Arkham Asylum for example. In Mafia 2 they are just expensive decorations. You run through incredibly detailed places in seconds without any interaction with the environments, so what was the point of spending hundreds of hours of work on these details if there is no use to them? Seriously it feels like there was one programmer on ten level designers and artists in the development team, and I have bad news for them - their work was pointless!
The Empire Bay city is huge, two or three times bigger than the City of Lost Heaven? And while it sounds impressive and like a good thing in actuality it sucks, because it will take you two or three times longer to get to the mission place and back each time. Also most streets are narrow and the traffic is intense, civilians and cars get in your way all the time.
The automatic health regeneration and the boring (or should I say cheaty?) cover system don't even look that bad on the background of the forementioned problems. But still, I remember how every shootout in Mafia was like a separate game, while in Mafia 2 all shootouts are the same thing over and over.
At least the PRODUCTION VALUE is high, that's what we expect from games today, we don't need addictive gameplay, just give us more of PRODUCTION VALUE. Yeah right.