Masterpiece 2, I would give it 10 if not for strange ending. Some guys and reviewers should consider quit gaming.
(I remember when GTA:SA got released, lot of people went nuts saying its not as good as predecessor and gave it low score. Look at it today, its a benchmark of GTA-type games!)
Story | Characters:
One reason everyone remember original even today is because story was more than standard. Here I think they developed it maybe even further. I don't want to spoil you fun but important is, no matter how long/short will it take you to beat game, at the end you will feel a lot of things happened and whole era passed. And thats what I need, many games have simple story that resolve around xxx hours but here so much happen since you start. Besides old Mafia I think only GTA4 can compete. This is a gem.
Characters are not just good or evil but like true people of such caliber, your hero(and his friend) do lot of bad things, have no problem to kill unarmed people, but other times choose to do right things. Nothing is black/white here. Psychological development and its impact get only stronger as you play and writing border with the best films(also thanks to excellent presentation). Characters here may not get as interesting as some from GTA4(maybe matter of taste, but they are close - very close quality-wise), but this is less "crazy" and more serious direction, more like Godfather-film.
Only thing that shocked me was ending, it was great but there was last piece missing before credits rolled. Maybe sequel come soon but I still cannot believe they left it like that.
Combat | Action:
This may very well be one of best shooting experience you can find in videogame. You better turn on Physx to at least medium, seems like body feedback and ragdoll is affected by this. I know this is bad news for ATI users, basic destruction effects are still present even with Physx disabled(you can destroy wood barrier for example), but if what I saw was correct then enemies have different hit-feedback when ON. Finally I felt like shooting real bullets. I only wish they would make shooting sounds even more bass-deep, they're fine but it would give them true punch.
For some reason actions are mapped to different keys. You press different key to climb, another to enter car, another to open door. These could be easily streamlined to one button. Mouse movement feel right though. One thing that annoyed me was car camera, game don't remember view you set and each time I enter car I had to change it back.
Graphics | Music | Voices:
Mafia 2 don't feel so much different from GTA4 graphics-wise - by quick blink of eye. This one use Physx and objects doesn't jump to scene before your very eyes though. Cars are totally awesome as well as some effects. Map is rather small, but considering strong focus on the story its good enough for that purpose. Otherwise game is stable and feel finished - bugfree. It have lot of options other console ports lack, you can set AA, AF, VSync and lot more. I ran on my oc'ed GTX260 and e7400@3.6ghz everything at maximum details. Ingame benchmark gave me only 21fps average, but it looked great and during gameplay was better so I didn't lower. I couldn't live without any effects/enhancements.
Music is great especially in main menu, radio have few cool tunes from oldies I loved(EverlyBrothers:All I have to do is dream).
Voice acting is perfect and natural.
Game have 15 chapters. Considering budget developers dealt with when comparing with someone like Rockstar, this is total success. How many other GTA clones are rather bland when comparing to this, even if they have beautiful graphics(Just Cause 2) or cool destruction model(RedFaction:guerrilla). And those get around 8/10 average. Only GTA and Mafia series of this gameplay style are what I truly enjoyed at maximum.
So, for me this was a great experience and I'll remember it just as much as first Mafia. It have its own, more serious and realistic approach on all levels instead of insane dialogs and more frequent action. Story lovers will be amazed while those who like to do more "other" things may be somewhat disappointed. Its still free roam though, you can go where you want. I never felt bored once, even during so much driving - in fact I had to force myself to go to sleep yesterday at 3AM. That alone is proof of score I gave it, I strongly recommend this game. You won't find many such superb titles today.