Wise guys? Gun battles? Car chases? Mafia II delivers on all accounts. 2K Czech have made an excellent game.
While the city in the game you call home (Empire Bay) is fictitious, very little else about the game seems that way. The developers at 2K Czech have done an amazing job creating a living, believable, and dynamic World. This highly detailed, excellently rendered, and awe-inspiring fantasy city forms the nucleus of Mafia II and allows you to immerse yourself in Mafia life in the mid-20th century. As you play through the main story, your character will come in contact with some truly amazing works of game development, both scripted and not. During the 1940's, military bombers will fly over the city on a snowy Christmas night. Two strangers will argue on a street corner. The police of Empire Bay will get in to gun battles with non-player controlled characters as you go about your business, and reckless drivers may run through a red light to t-bone you in an intersection. There is literally too many nuances to mention, but believe me when I say that the city is constantly changing and never seems dull for a moment. You'll have to stay on your toes.
To go hand in hand with the jaw-dropping city, 2K Czech have created some excellent game play that you will NOT want to miss. Like any prospective wise-guy, you'll have to climb the proverbial corporate ladder. Your tasks start off small; stealing a car, selling stolen gas-stamps, or perhaps boot-legging cigarettes. While these tasks may seem lowly, and lets admit it they are, the developers manage to find a way to make the process of building up your reputation both fun and at times downright funny.
However what sort of Mafia game would be complete without gun fights and car chases right? Well Mafia II delivers on this aspect in full as well. Vito has a wide assortment of weapons at his disposal from pistols and shotguns, to sub-machine guns and molotov cocktails and you're given ample opportunity to use the instrument of death that you so desire. The mechanics behind the use of these weapons is very well done; your accuracy with a pistol is very inaccurate, the weapons do realistic damage to your surroundings and opponents, and the vast majority of the time, non-player characters tend to react to gun fire with a sense of realism. Throw in the cars and this game makes for an interesting play. The cars handle horribly to reflect the way they were built in the 40's and 50's. You have to be careful with your speed, not only for fear of being pulled over by the police, but because flying through the city at 60km/hr drastically increases your breaking time. In a fluid environment, like Mafia II,speed can mean the difference between completing your mission and a running gun fight with the police as you attempt to flee the scene of a 94 car pile-up.
The graphics are beautiful. The detail, with perhaps the only exception being the hair, is amazing and extremely well done. Cars get dirty as you drive them. The floor in your filthy apartment looks disgusting. And the scars on Vitos face are impressive and detailed. One very note-worthy point is with regard to how much detail 2K Czech put in to the game; In the game during the winter months, if you get in to a car that has been parked out side, you'll see a thin layer of frost on the outside and if it's been snowing there will be a thick layer of snow on the roof. However has you drive down the road, as in real life, the snow will fly off and create a wake of white behind you. Incredible detail. Not to mention the glare at night off icy roads, dust and debris flying during gun fights, and fire that looks incredibly real. Now I'm sure most people reading this are wondering how much of a resource hog all these stunning graphics are. To be honest, barely any at all. I'm playing the game with everything maxed out, including Apex Physx, on my system running an Nvidia GeForce GTX 280 for a graphics card and my system doesn't even noticed fireballs and whiskey distilleries going up in smoke.
While Mafia II has a dynamic city, gorgeous graphics, a wide assortment of weapons and flashy cars, there is one single aspect that makes this game worth your money. The voice acting. For anyone that has played the original Mafia you'll know what I mean when I say 2K Czech (known as Illusion Softworks at the time of the first Mafia game) create very realistic and believable characters. There is nothing worse than playing a really good game only to hear hammy and/or phoned in voice acting (Anyone remember Freelancer?). The voice acting in Mafia II is outstanding. Every single character you meet, whether it be your close friend Joe Barbaro, or a cop giving you a ticket, they all come equipped with well written, well spoken, emotion infused voices. To me this makes the game. It makes the characters seems less like characters, but more so like real individuals which ties in beautifully with the well designed cityscape. No other developer, other than perhaps Bethesda Softworks or Bioware, get voice acting as right or as good 2K Czech.
Mafia II is a really great game. There are minor drawbacks that I almost feel guilty for mentioning, such as limited interaction with the environment. You can buy clothes for your character and send him to restaurants, but the experience feels like it's lacking something. One glaring omission is the lack of any side missions that games such as Grand Theft Auto have made popular. You are rather hemmed in by the main story which, while entertaining, can leave things feel somewhat rushed at times. Other minor issues that one may notice are of a historical nature; someone dressed like the typical 50's "greaser" in 1945, or songs on the radio in 1951 that weren't actually released until the late 1950's. As I said the drawbacks are minor and really do little to detract from this excellent game.
To reiterate, Mafia II is a well designed, well rendered, immersive slice of Mafia life in the mid-20th century that takes voice acting and sound design to a level most games can only dream of. If being a wise-guy trying to make some dough and destroy anyone who gets in your way interests you, buy Mafia II.