Rock Em Sock Em Mobsters
Mafia 2 revolves around Vito Scaletta, an Italian immigrant who moves to the United States with his family to escape the poverty of pre-war Italy, as Vito gets older he becomes involved in nefarious activities and eventually finds himself being drafted. Returning from the war and forced through circumstance to take jobs for the mafia the story begins in earnest.
This prologue is possibly the highlight of the entire story, setting the background for the games escapades and explaining the motivations of the protagonist in such a way that any film maker could be proud of and this makes the rest of the story so much more disappointing because what follows is a plot which does little more than throw together the big scenes from mob movies through the ages.
Mafia 2's story lasts around 10 hours, the story suffers from pretty poor pacing though during that time you will experience a few standout moments, such as a daring daylight raid in a rival gangs hideout. The story telling is completely linear and the player is offered no choice in how it all plays out, while this isn't reason for complaint on its own, the ending is wholly unsatisfying and stinks of possible future DLC.
Mafia's gameplay can be divided into three categories shooting, stealth and driving. None of these standout as exemplary but they are at least functional.
During the shootouts in the game you move from cover to cover taking potshots at the enemies before retreating back behind the wall of your choice to reload, notable in the shooting sections is the AI which has taken its inspiration from online shooters, some enemies for instance will rush you with no thought for their own safety while others will get behind cover and just camp out until you walk over and shoot them. There are a variety of guns to use but many of them have no significant difference, for instance the 4 pistols differ only in the noises they make and the number of bullets they hold.
The stealth sections are certainly not up to the level of splinter cell but it works in its own way, the system is very similar to early Playstation iterations of metal gear solid, the aim is to avoid the patrolling guards line of site by using cover and sneaking around using a kind of crouch walk which allows you to remain silent while moving.
Driving can be fun during police chases where you'll struggle to outmanoeuvre the faster police vehicles but for most of the game getting in a car is serves simply as transportation from one story event to the next which gives you a chance to take in the sights and Empire Bay certainly is a beautiful place.
The city nicely mimics a post war American metropolis with rolling hills, suburban areas and a sprawling urban district with unique areas like Chinatown, docks, shopping precincts and various ethnic neighbourhoods each of which feels different and authentic.
Cars are highly detailed right down to individual engine parts and even customisable number plates, character models look sharp and faces move and look realistic and during the gunfights the enemies fall and react with satisfying realism.
The sound too has a similar authenticity with character sound and acting as I have come to expect through movies, car noises are decidedly retro and weapons sound pleasingly meaty. The sound track however is one of the low points the period music is up too scratch there just isn't enough of it and you will soon find yourself growing weary of the same songs.
Mafia 2 is an average shooter set in an open world environment, with a linear story arc which uses the "big open world" to artificially pad out what is essentially a short and uninteresting story which lacks any real conclusion.
People looking for the sandbox, need not apply outside of the story there is very little to do, if your desperate for a shooter or a huge fan of the mob a rental might be worth a look.