Almost 10 years from the first release of Mafia, 2K Games released the sequel of the most popular organized-crime game. Mafia 2 is not a sequel of the first game (thou some minor parts refer to the previous release), but a complete new story set between the 1940’s and 1950’s. Most of the people who have been waiting for this release will surely have a great experience since the game has a great plot and the story is surely award winning. Mentioning the story, the best thing about Mafia 2 is the story and how 2K Games deliver it with impressive soundtrack and voice-overs.

The first release of Mafia was set during the prohibition period in the 1930’s which had Thomas Angelo as the main character. Mafia 2 is played in a third person view, having its main character, Vito Scaletta, an Italian/American nobody, who is the son of an immigrant family who came from Sicily. By time, Vito has made friends with the wrong people and ended up being a mob member. Of course a lot of complications occur and it wouldn’t be good to say the whole story since it will spoil your fun and the enthusiasm for the story-line. It was a great experience when playing the game since it always kept me on my tip-toes to know what will happen next in the story. The story takes place in a New York town which goes by the name of Empire Bay. The city map is quite big and you will have a lot of running around with the classic cars of the 1940’s and 50’s accompanied by three great classic radio stations.

The city is not a map with many places to get your missions since the game is only driven by the story, so the missions will be assigned to you and all will be continuous. This is not a bad thing on the long run since it doesn’t distract you from the main story’s experience. The city itself is a bit empty in the sense that there is a lot happening like people walking on the streets and cars moving here and there, but unfortunately there isn’t any interaction with them so apart from the story-line, the only thing you can do is just cruise around with the car or walking through the streets. Mind you, the scenery and the city details are highly rendered and sometimes I find myself just going around with my car and listening to the classic radio stations of the era enjoying the view, between missions. Oh, one must not forget to mention the collectible Playboy Centerfolds of the era spread through the game which are a nice touch.

Also, spread through the city, you can find a number of petrol stations, phone booths, clothing and car modification shops. The car modification shops can be used for various reasons, the main one being to change the plates of the car, to get the police off your tail. You can also paint the car, modify the performance, repair any dents and install some stylish rims from the era. The phone booths can also get you out of trouble since you can phone some friends to either bribe or move some papers to get you free.

The story spreads across 15 wonderful chapters filled with punches, shooting and car chases. The cut-scenes in-between the chapters are very impressive and the high-level of detail along with the cinematic effect make the game very worthwhile. Saying that, the game offers a great experience and the story is solid, unfortunately the bare-hand fighting element tends to get very easy and basic. The scene during a fight is good but the mechanics are a bit boring since when you get the hand of it, it’s a matter of holding the dodge button and counter-attack the enemies. Then again, the shooting in Mafia 2 is much better when mentioning the sounds and the cover system. The reloading is a quite instant and the aiming is rather stiff and touchy. The other problem that I noticed is that your enemies can blind-shoot you when they are on cover, but you lack the feature.

The graphics as I mentioned before are great and very detailed giving a really good feel of the 1940’s and 50’s but unfortunately on the Playstation 3 version, during the driving scenes the frame-rate tends to get quite low. Thou it gets noticeable, it didn’t affect my gameplay experience. The gameplay was quite interesting especially for the fact that in half the game, the era changes and you see a lot of things changing being the vehicles on the road, the clothing and the radio stations… which reflect the 1950’s. The cars also get dirty and the damage effect is realistic. While in the snowy weather you will see a layer of snow on the car which flies away when speeding. The cars can be stolen by either by picking the locks or just breaking the glass, but beware from passing-by policemen or police cars. When you are wanted by the police, you can be wanted either by the license plates on your car or by the cloths you wear.

When you play games like Mafia 2 which give the open-world/ sandbox feel, you would expect to play it again at a higher difficulty or just roaming free through city after you complete the whole game. Although there is not much interaction in the city, you would expect the game to allow you to free roam the city so that you just have a nice drive in the city in your red Shubert Frigate listening to the Empire Central Radio. Unfortunately Mafia 2 doesn’t have the option to free-roam after you complete the game. After playing the whole game, the biggest part that I honestly didn’t like was the ending since it was a bit cold, but on the other hand, I accept it since that the life of a made-man in the mob world. Thou to some might not be a good ending, that’s life in the mob world and it should not spoil your game experience. While looking back at the first game in the series, one can see a similar ending where the main character Thomas Angelo who gets killed in the end. Talking about Thomas Angelo make sure to keep an eye on the 14th mission named ‘Stairway to Heaven’ since it’s a reference to Mafia 1.

Conclusion

I have really enjoyed Mafia II with its solid story. It kept me always on the lookout on how Vito’s story will evolve. The linear gameplay of the game kept me focused on the story, thou some small side missions would be appreciated if included. The game needed some more polishing to prevent the low frame-rate on the Playstation 3 version, and some other minor issues, but the game story and how 2K Games deliver it, the only thing I have to say, they did a pretty good job in covering these issues with a great story, graphics with an epic experience. The game is highly recommended if you are after a great organized crime story with a very good soundtrack, voice-over, and great graphics.