A surprisingly realistic, unique, immersive experience that you will never forget.
-- Introduction of the plot:
As accurate as it can be, in fact. You are Vito Scaletta, born in Sicily, but brought early to America in order to experience the "American Dream". Vito grows, we are in the mid 40s, and he has become a young man. After a few short events explained at the beginning on the game, ends up as a soldier, and gets sent back to Italy to fight the Fascisti in Sicily (this will also be a short tutorial introducing the basics of the game that I will explain later on). Once back, Vito finds himself in a difficult situation: his father, before dying, had a debt of two thousand dollars with some local loan sharks, and Vito has no job. In order to maintain his mother and sister's economic situation to a decent level, he slowly begins to stray away from breaking his back at the dock for a few bucks, and gets to know people who can give him quicker, yet riskier jobs involving apparently small crimes for much more money. This is only the beginning, for Vito still does not know where those "small crimes" will lead him to...
-- General gameplay: (Note: this review is based on a single, full playthrough from start to end in Normal difficulty.)
This game revolves around a mechanic that is similar, yet kind of different, GTA's. You are able to roam freely around town, stealing cars by either forcing drivers out, by lockpicking them(involving a small, intuitive minigame), or by simply forcing your way into a locked car by smashing down the window. Obviously, you have to watch out for the cops. The police is aggressive, and will even try to make you stop your car in case you are driving too fast or crashing your vehicle into something. If that's the case, you can simply stop, pay the fine, and then you're done. If the crime is bigger, though, they will try to arrest you, and mind you, even if you shake them off your back, you will be wanted and they will remember the plates on your car. Don't worry, you'll be given means to fix this by going into shops that can change your car plate, and clothing stores to disguise yourself, but first you'll have to reach them in one piece! Eventually, one of your fabulous escapes will fail, and you will either get killed, have a chance to run for it, or if you have the money (and if you didn't cause too many fatalities) you will be able to prove your innocence to the police by showing a few bucks as evidence of such. Just don't overdo it while escaping, because you car might end up needing a gas refill or its engine may break and you'll be forced to spend time either looking for a gas station or repairing your vehicle while the cops are after you (yes, it does get that realistic).
Now let's talk about action. There is a good amount of that. Sooner or later, you'll find yourself relying more on your gun rather than in your driving skills. Mafia II decided to follow a semi-realistic approach on this. If you don't keep yourself covered all the time, you most certainly will be killed. It's just a matter of no more than three, four bullets at most. But if you get hit and cover, after a while you'll regain your lost health automatically. The AI is satisfying, and it rarely glitches. The enemy will always look for cover, and while covered, will either try to simply shoot you or to gain advantage by "stealthing" behind your position if it's possible. The environment reacts almost always appropriately to the bullets, and a good portion of it is destructible (so you may want to consider *what* your cover is made of before hiding behind it). The game also includes some stealth mechanics, which are nothing more than a "stealth" stance and a way to kill your enemies silently from behind. You will be needing that badly a couple of times, but stealth is not what the majority of this game revolves around.
-- The importance of story:
Alright, it has action, it has driving, let's talk about the juice of the game now. The plot. In fact, if you're not into following storylines, this game is not for you. There is a good amount of drama, a good amount of cutscenes, and all the chapters of which this game is made are creative and unique enough to keep you intrigued until the very end. It also has a good amount of simply driving from point A to point B for plot purposes, and if you just skip through everything, you'll be bored in no time. The cutscenes are high quality, and so is the VO (took my time to hear how the english voiced the game, and I was not disappointed. Still, if you know italian, it is much better to experience it that way. Those who dubbed the game in italian are professionals and also have an authentic Sicilian accent that really improves immersion). The Mafia organization is pictured correctly, and a large majority of what's going on there may actually happen in real life. Expect to see an extremely accurate description of what that kind of underworld is like, and of what the consequences are when you get entangled in that kind of business.
-- Graphics:
Excellent. I never had FPS problems, and if you have a high-end machine you will be experiencing a surprisingly detailed world, especially when it comes to people and facial expression. Except a couple of visual glitches I experienced during the whole playthrough, everything went nice and smooth when it comes to graphics, not that I had major issues with anything else. To be honest, after years and years of gaming, this is one of the few titles who granted me a fully smooth experience, with no lag, and not even a single crash for the whole time. Amazing.
-- Sounds:
The sounds were satisfying, and all the radios you'll encounter will be reproducing the most famous tracks from late 40s/50s. There is also a radio on every car with four different channels if you feel like listening to something vintage while travelling, or you can just turn it off.
-- Overall:
This masterpiece is bound to be remembered by those who embraced the plot from the start until the end, but do not consider spending your money on this game if what you're looking for is simply raw action. This game was made to entertain mostly through story, and also as a mean to teach what the Mafia is like to those who aren't familiar to it. As an Italian who does not live too far from where the mafia is most active, I can assure you, it's authentic. It is worth having a try. It adds to your culture. Plus, the gameplay is fun and engaging, the graphics are smooth and detailed, and the atmosphere is immersive. I just can't find any flaws other than the very few glitches I ran into during my playthrough, even if I try and think about it hard.
If you're into this kind of game I explained above, go. Buy it. Now.