8 Sep, 2010
Mafia II, the long awaited sequel to acclaimed 2002 PC shooter ‘Mafia’, is a gripping if not traditional tale of the rise and fall of a gangster in post-war America. Czech developers 2K Games, formerly Illusion Softworks, have taken pains to infuse the game with the rich historical context and style iconography that has become simultaneous with the story of organised crime. Set in 40s-50s America, we are introduced to and take the role of first generation Sicilian-American Vito Scaletta, whom we follow as he rises from petty street criminal; to war hero; to a ‘Man of Honour’ within the Mafia. Mafia II is third person shooter that has naturally been compared to contemporaries such as Grand Theft Auto in terms of its open world style game play, but these similarities are only skin deep. Whereas Grand Theft Auto leads it’s protagonist along a weaving and meandering storyline; with dating and helicopter tours thrown in for good measure, Mafia II is a much more restrained and linear experience, pushed forward by a narrative showcasing the dark and murky waters that is La Cosa Nostra.
The game immediately sets us up with an interesting premise, as after a brief introduction to our key character who we meet in a moment of quiet reflection, pondering a worn and faded photo album we are thrown back into 1943 war ravaged Sicily where Vito is a foot soldier participating in Operation Husky. This is an effective and creative way to introduce the player to the game’s combat system and the various types of weapons available, from standard handguns and shotguns, to your more heavy duty automatic machine guns and explosives. As is typical of any shooting based sequence the importance of taking cover is impressed upon you quickly. The cover system in Mafia II is fairly solid with the little flaws only beginning to show towards the end of the game, admittedly as times to an almost game breaking degree, as molotovs being able to burn you through solid structures, and bullets hitting you when you are clearly hidden. But this is hopefully something that can be fixed by patching in the future. One slight design flaw in the covering system is that while your enemies can blind fire from behind cover, you for some strange reason cannot which is shame especially approaching later sections of the game, where such a mechanic would have been invaluable.
After this brief tutorial we are brought back into the setting for the rest of our story, the city of ‘Empire Bay’ which takes its lead from the classic mob settings such New York and Chicago, and the ‘Little Italy’ ghetto where we are introduced to the family, in every sense of phrase. Your straight-laced hard working mother and sister, struggling to repay the hefty debt run up by your dearly departed father, and best friend- street tough-guy and hustler Joe Barbaro. As a means of earning enough cash to pay back your family’s sizable debts to the loan sharks, you embark and a series of tasks with Joe on behalf of the ‘Clemente Family’, and so the story fully comes into fruition. The tasks themselves can seem like generic GTA structured missions, with the classic report to the instigator, pick up equipment, head to the objective and report back to the Boss type formula, but a lot like GTA it is the sharp script and well written characters that keep this experience from going stale. Vito and Joe work their way from the ground up through the world of tempestuous alliances, booze and dames, peppered with brutal violence and betrayal. The main bulk of the story will take around 10-12 hours to complete, when considering the size of the environments and what not does seem short, especially considering that the game offers no multiplayer features as this stage. However for 10-12 hours of solid, quality game play it all goes back to the quality over quantity argument.
Graphically the game looks sharp, and makes great use of its pallet in terms of creating the tones of a dark and seedy speakeasy, the cold stone foreboding of the prison interiors to the glitz and glamour of uptown hotels and social clubs. A lot of controversy has come from the issue of graphical comparisons between the Playstation 3 version of the game versus that of Xbox 360, as it was alleged that due to a frame rate issues certain textures such as 3D grass and clothing textures were sacrificed. Having played the 360 version for the purposes of this review this did not affect my playing experience, but it has been confirmed as being the case in the PS3 rendition.
Empire Bay is a wonderfully realised city, bursting with splashes of period detail. Though it is not as free roam as you would hope or perhaps expect, when again compared to the like of GTA you spend so much of your time playing in-mission that the city simply serves as an impressive backdrop for the narrative. The ending of the game also serves as the ending of the game play as well, so by the time would have time to notice the lack of free-roaming action it is no longer an option, and therefore you don’t miss what you don’t have!
To conclude, Mafia II is a solid and worthy sequel to its much loved predecessor. For anyone who is a fan of crime thrillers or just of solid shooters with an engaging narrative for flavour, then Mafia II is your game! As mentioned previously there is an argument that there game is rather short and lacking in addition content when in context of its £40 price tag, which ultimately boils down to opinion. A few technical issues aside, I felt that Mafia offered 10 hours of intense and well written game play, complete with a good range of achievements to keep my busy for a little while after. If you are already uncertain as whether to dig into your pockets, it is probably an idea to wait for it to drop in price a little otherwise you may find yourself feel unfulfilled by what the game has to offer. However if you’re a lover of shooters armed with a dark and intriguing script, then Mafia II is really a must have!
Downloadable content for Mafia II, the first chapter being ‘Jimmy’s Vendetta’ is out now on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
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