Mafia II

When playing through any open-world, free-roaming adventure, one can't help but to compare it to the likes of Rockstar Games' classics; whether it's the urban gangster tale of GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption's cowboy epic, they just about have the genre sewn up. With that in mind, it's important to state that if you are expecting a typically Rockstar-esque experience from Mafia II, you are about to be somewhat disappointed. There are moments of greatness to be found in this gritty mobster adventure, but unless you can get over the fact that Mafia II is a linear story which just happens to take place within a sandbox-type gameworld, the charms of 2K Czech's latest effort will be lost on you.

At first you will be forgiven for thinking that this really is another free-roaming action adventure. The setting of Empire Bay city is vast and stunningly crafted, and bustling with life. Snow builds up on the environment and parked cars, while people go about their daily business in a very real way: opening their shops in the morning; a couple argue about the car which wont start; detectives bang on a neighbours door to ask him a few questions. It's as if life is carrying on without you, and that is one of the hallmarks of a good persistent game-world. Unfortunately it's not long before the cracks start to show. Spend more time exploring the icy streets of Empire Bay and it slowly dawns on you that things aren't quite as they seem, and instead a lot of what you are seeing is in fact just window dressing, just there to make your immediate surroundings seem more real. You soon realise that the city isn't nearly as alive as you first thought, there is very little opportunity to interact with the world around you, and the overall impression is that you've been placed in a stunningly created film set as apposed to a real world to explore. On the other hand, it's very obvious that the intention was to make a tightly focused narrative which guides the player through the story in a specific way, and in order to get that right there were compromises which had to be made. Once you come to terms with the linear nature of the game and let the story suck you in, Mafia II really does start to shine.

The story of Mafia 2 follows the life Vito Scaletta, a young Italian American who finds himself on the wrong side of the law at an early age and is promptly sent off to take part in the second World War to avoid a prison term. This WWII section acts as both a tutorial, as well as setting the scene for the rest of the story. Upon Vito's medical discharge he is sent back to Empire Bay, where old friend and partner in crime Joe quickly uses his newly acquired mob ties to pull some strings and have Vito's military career cut short. It's here where the story kicks into gear as Vito and Joe work to build a name for themselves in the world of organised crime.

Mafia II is filled with all the twists and turns of a classic gangster film, so you can expect family feuds, betrayal, and revenge, all seen through a hail of bullets and broken bones. All the mobster cliche's are firmly in place, delivered by a cast of impressive and believable voice actors and solidified by some excellent editing and direction, especially during the lengthy cut-scenes which weave the action sequences together. Lured in by the idea of the extravagant and hedonistic lifestyle of a crime boss, it's not long before Vito is firmly embroiled in the mob and the dangers which come along with that. It's a deeply engrossing story, brilliantly told, and while there isn't much to do besides the primary story, it's barely noticeable as you will be too eager to see what happens next. Without wanting to give too much away, Vito spends some time in the big house, and when he emerges blinking into the sun a lot has changed in Empire Bay, including the cars, the music, fashion, and the general consciousness of the people, since by this time the war is a memory and the world has new things to worry about. But crime never sleeps, so Vito gets back into the swing of things without barely a pause, and it's business as usual.

To get the job done, Vito will be tasked with three main activities: driving around, shooting people, and punching people in the head. Three timeless traditions in the crime world. The driving sections of the original Mafia were a serious let down, but the four-wheel action has been significantly improved for this sequel, which is a blessing because you spend an incredible amount of time driving back and forth across Empire Bay. Car handling is still a bit loose and floaty, but then again we are talking about vehicles from the late forties/early fifties, so it would be silly to expect Pagani Zonda handling and throttle response. The cars are beautifully modelled, with soft pastel colours and gleaming chrome fitting for the period, and it was a nice touch to see the cars change with the times as the story moves through the years.

Cars can be taken to one of the many garages in the city to be repaired, modified, resprayed, have new rims fitted or the license plates altered if the cops are on your tail. Since you can store up to ten vehicles in your garage, there is an element of pride of ownership involved here, if you the kind of gamer who goes for that sort of thing. Once in a while you will come across a more unique vehicle, usually during a mission, and it's great to be able to steal it, style it to suit your taste, and then keep it safe in your garage for special occasions. As much as the driving has improved for Mafia II, there were still sections where I wished for a way to 'auto-travel' to my destination, especially when attempting the same mission a few times and having to drive all the way across the city each time.

The melee combat element of the game is a simple affair, but it gets the job done. You are armed with a light punch, heavy punch and dodge, and it really comes down to timing your dodges and your counter attacks, and then finishing the fight with the right quick-time combo at the right time. Vito doesn't spend all that much time pounding skulls in, so the small issues which plague the melee system don't become too much of a bother, although it's worth mentioning that the camera can often pull in too close to the fighters, especially when indoors, obscuring your view quite badly. On the plus side, good use of sound effects during fights really do a great job of portraying the aggression involved.

When fists aren't enough, it's time to whip out some firepower, and I'm happy to report that the shooting sections of Mafia II do not disappoint. 2K Czech didn't try to reinvent the cover-based shooter, but have made it a smooth and intuitive experience that works just as you imagine it would. Vito can snap to cover with the press of a button, and then peek over to the sides of whatever he's hiding behind, fire off a few rounds, slide from cover to cover and so on. Targeting is simple enough, and the various guns, from small revolvers all the way to a WWII era MG42, have a good solid feel and kick. Gun battles vary in scale from small one-on-one skirmishes in a dirty alley to full scale turf wars across the neighbourhood, the air peppered with the kind of course language which could strip paint as the battle rages on. Violence is a way of life for mob, and 2K Czech has done well to include as much of that way of life as they could get away with. Blood is never in short supply and flows freely in the streets of Empire Bay whenever Vito and his pals are at it. Similarly, there is not shortage of booze and loose women, completing the classic mobster trifecta.

Graphically there is a lot to love about Mafia II. On a macro level, Empire Bay is stunning, even if sections of the city do seem as though they were placed there as a backdrop and weren't meant to be closely examined. But it's on the micro level that this game really shows it's stuff, especially in the indoor aesthetics. It's clear that the developers did their homework, because everything from the choice of wallpaper to the doorknobs are a perfect fit for the period. Restaurants and bars feel smokey and lived in, like the kind of places you would imagine Al Capone to frequent. Character models are also of a high standard, with impressive skin textures and facial modeling, and the quality of the animation is excellent, particularly during the cut scenes where the animation team has really captured the subtleties of human movement and interaction.

There is a reason that the quality of the cut-scenes comes up so frequently, and that is because a lot of your game time is spent watching them play out. In one way this works because it really propels the story and keeps things moving, but on the other hand there are times when you literally drive across town to a destination to trigger a cut-scene, and then drive back across town again to trigger another cut-scene, usually full of action and brilliantly put together, but leaving you feeling slightly disconnected from the whole thing because you aren't actually interacting with the situations at hand. Still, as a narrative device it works a treat, and the direction and cinematography is of such a high standard that it adds more to the story than it takes away from your involvement in it.

You can expect somewhere around 13 hours of play time from Mafia II, depending on how much time you spend driving around the city wishing there was more to do. If you decide to venture beyond the confines of the excellent storyline, don't expect Empire Bay to keep you entertained for long. There are collectables to be found, including the much publicised Playboy centerfolds, but after many hours of game time I had uncovered maybe three of them, and it really just feels like more hassle than it's worth. This is the online age, if we wanted to see naked women we know where to look. Besides that, it's really just a case of shopping for a few new outfits, maybe outrunning the cops a few times, but before long you will be drawn back to the main story.

Some might argue that at a time when games like Red Dead Redemption have taken the idea of open-world gaming to all new heights, a focused and linear title like Mafia II could be seen as a step in the wrong direction, but that would be missing the point. The point is that 2K Czech has taken the overall idea of an open-world setting, made the conscious decision to keep things focused and moving forward, and delivered one of the most enthralling single-player narratives we have seen this year. Mafia II is far from flawless, and reeks of missed potential in terms of the world in which it's set, but as a form of storytelling, it doesn't get much better than this.

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