Mafia 2 is a great cinematic game. Which has many twists and turns and will leave you hungry for another more.
The story is where Mafia 2 really shines. It's like a movie. Forget all the games ported to movies, this one really deserves it. Infact, it's pretty much an animation with you taking over at certain points. While that may sound bad being a game, it is not. There are so many twists and turns in the story. So many things in the game may look obvious that it's going to happen but only later to find out that it's something unexpected. The game has great voice acting and some funny, and at some times, powerful script.
You are Vito Scaletta, though when you play the game, it feels as though you actually arn't and you are controlling him. Throughout the game he will tell you what happenes when things are hard to understand, that sort of thing. He probably has one of the deepest and detailed backgrounds a game has ever seen.
The gameplay is just as good as the game. Though a lot of the game is driving, the great soundtrack will keep you entertained. A job for a Mafia family usually involves killing somebody who the wise-guy points his finger at. Others, there are more practical missions like dealing out smokes and drugs. There is even one mission where you have steal some ration stamps from deep in the war office.
Speaking of stamps and war offices there are two parts to the game. Two time periods along with a certain weather. In the 1940s, the country is at war. To clash with this, the whole city is in a blanket of snow. Everybody is poor and sad. A great example is looking at what people do as you go up an apartment block.
Then there is the 1950s. Everybody is generally rich and happy. Rock 'n' Roll is heard on the radio and hotrod cars zoom across the streets. To clash with this, the snow is gone. It will, most of the time, stay sunny. Unless something bad happens.
With a great game, comes great flaws. The cover system in the game isn't what cover is. I suppose there are destructable environments, but when I'm behind a peice of metal pillar, I would like to think I am safe. Wrong.
I'm going to say this now aswell. If you are expecting a GTA4 clone or a sandbox game where you can set the city on fire, this isn't a game for you. The story is linear, there are no cheats that I know of, and the most destruction you can cause is blowing up a bar with a couple of molatovs.
If you like a serious, powerful, cinematic game, then buy this. I wanted all three and Mafia 2 provides that.