Since we don't have an official (or by the looks of it, unofficial) review of Mafia 2 yet on the Escapist, I thought I'd give it a quick go, if only to let people know what they're getting when buying the game. Skip to the end if you want the short version of it.
There are minor spoilers ahead - nothing crucial, but I do have to say a few things about the game to describe it. I will keep off anything plot related though, mostly just a mention of cars, perhaps places, at most the obvious game characters - anything plot related will be in the spoiler tags.
To start it off, lemme say I played the first Mafia game back when it came out and loved it. Ever since the sequel was announced, I was waiting and have been excited for the game, waiting and hoping for a release date. The first few minutes, and even hours into the game, my face was contorted into a big smile like I just came out plastic surgery. It was a good bit of fun, but it left a lot to be desired by the end.
Ok myself aside, let's talk about the game. I'll start from the city:
The city/map feels small. According to a quick search, it's 2 square miles smaller than the first part (Mafia = 10, Mafia 2 = 12), but sizes aside, it just didn't live up to my expectations and felt a good deal smaller than the first game. Part of this might well be the way the game plays however.
Mafia 2 is split into chapters - the narrative is very much dragging the game along, which has it's good side and it's bad side. The good side is, if you're the kind of player that gets lost without a quest marker on their map at all times and likes to play through a story - this game's for you. The bad side is, if you're the kind of player who likes to switch between free roaming/blasting the city apart and quests, you'll feel somewhat discouraged from doing so.
The chapters move from one to another and they're pretty much 1-3 missions, depending on developments. There's an unmistakable feeling of Goodfellas (in more ways than one, you'll see if you play it, but I won't give away any spoilers here), most importantly in the way the story is told. The game feels (and I can feel Yahtzee cringing somewhere far away as I utter the word) cinematic. It's telling its story and you're there for the ride, controlling the main character. The reason I mention Goodfellas is its habit of throwing a montage cutscene of you doing stuff every once in a while, moving the story along. Most of the time it's fine, but sometimes it does give that "why am I watching a cutscene instead of doing this?" sort of feeling, especially considering the game's length.
Let me get the free roaming out of the way before I go any further. You can free roam in most chapters. However, the game loads you to a point where you're supposed to go off and start a quest. You don't have to start it off, there's no timer on it or anything, but it's there and it's sitting on your map. Note that what I'm about to say is no indication of the game's ending whatsoever - but you won't be given a free roam option at the end of the game, you have to load a chapter (which personally annoyed me, the same way Fallout 3 did before the Broken Steel).
Now, reading about the game, the developers/writers/whoever, said that the first Mafia game was a romanticised view of the gangsters, while Mafia 2 is more the gritty realism. Lemme give you a short rebuttal on that. First thought? True. Second thought? Cringe. Third thought? GTA 4.
First off, I'm gonna try not to take a side here - I know there's gonna be a group of people who are going to love this about the game, just like they loved GTA 4, but for me, realism is not worth that price. The way I see realism is that it's a necessary evil. To a point, it's a good thing - gravity is cool, semi-realistic car driving is cool, smashing a car causing damage is cool, cover based shooter is cool etc.
So what's not cool? The daily routine. Pretty much every chapter starts with you getting up from bed and getting dressed and pretty much every chapter ends with you getting into bed. It's a small thing and you don't notice it at first, but it gets old and fast. There are a few boring things in the game, which do decently well for storytelling but that really toss the gameplay aside.
On their own, none of those things is likely to bother you. They don't last long and they add that touch of realism to the game. The problem is, because the game is divided into chapters, it feels very cut up, instanced and these moments only add to that. What the point is, is that all of that constantly breaks the flow of the game. It doesn't feel like a free game where have your main storyline, it feels like a storyline that has a touch of freedom on the edges. While I'm fine with that in a game with a good story, the problem here is that the storyline itself is just built on cliches and you can see the next part of the story coming a mile away if you ever saw a movie about gangsters. Also, more to the point, it takes away the sandbox and replaces it with a guided storyline, greatly increasing the linearity of the game, to the point where it doesn't feel like the same type of game anymore.
What also bothered me about the story is the lack of choice. It's the flavour of a lot of modern games and I've acquired a taste for it, but really, considering the game's length, a couple of choices could've gone a long way to extending it. More importantly, there's several places in the story where the opportunity for a choice was just sitting there waving it's arms frantically begging to be implemented. The problem is, without that choice, my character drew a bit away from me a few times, doing things I didn't really want him to do and again, since the story is kind of built on every single cliche you could think of in this context, the main character doesn't feel like someone you can relate, admire, envy or - to the point - really want to play.
So what's fun about Mafia 2? Personally, I loved the cars the most. It's Mafia all the way, but they really couldn't go much wrong after the first game. This time around you have 2 modes, "Normal" and "Simulation". In both modes you'll need to start the engine, the cars won't go ridiculous speeds etc. You will feel like you're driving a car from Mafia either way, but Simulation mode will just add a bit more realism, in terms of the car being a little harder to handle in turns and such.
There is also a bit of customization. You have body shops and they can sort your car out a bit - they can fix the car, repaint it, change&customize license plates (a combination of 6 symbols, letters, numbers, "-" and space), tune the engine (not 100% sure on how exactly this affects the car, but I think it just allows it to reach a higher speed faster) and change the rims.
I liked not being pulled over for running through a red light or crashing into stuff that isn't other people or their cars, though it did take from the realism of the game and I can't say I'd be terribly opposed to seeing it stay, context considered.
You can rob shops in the game (basically anything you walk into you can rob), and basically take whatever the shop has - get drunk/replenish health with liquor, empty the cash register of anything you walk into, grab suits in stores (yes, there is a rain/trenchcoat with a hat, yes, there is a black version, yes, it is utterly awesome) etc.
What I properly hated is the way money works. It's pretty easy to make, you can sell cars for scrap or rob places, but it's extremely inconsistent, the quests/missions don't really reward you much (usually not at all) and again, this is where I hate the way the narrative and the chapters work. As the story progresses, one moment you can barely afford a sandwich in a bar, the next you can throw your money in a pool and go Scrooge McDuck and then the next the money's gone again and you can barely fix up a car bump. Again, fine for the story, but it's a big unapologetic fuck-you to the gameplay.
The story's decent, but that's really the kindest I can be about it. I've said it before, twice I think and I'll say it again, it's just built on cliches. It's not a big deal if you don't think about it and it would probably be more than passable if the gameplay was similar to the first game, but since the developers shoved a big pile of narrative down our throats, having it taste like last week's lunch kinda sucks. Don't get me wrong, you probably won't hate the story as you go through it - but it won't take a hold on you or leave you with anything worth remembering.
The combat's ok, cover system works well and doesn't crap out and the main character knows to rush/roll/duck to cover without having to staple yourself to the wall first (he can detect the nearest cover). It's not really revolutionary, but it works just fine, just depends if you like third person cover based shooters.
And that in the end is my short version of a review and biggest complaint. Mafia 2 is not a GTA/Mafia '1' style sandbox, instead it's a third person cover based shooter that's just thrown into what's supposed to be a sandbox. Its sales will ride on the success of the first game, whereas if it was a standalone game, it would be mostly overlooked and rightfully so. If you can get it rented, definitely do - it's worth a playthrough. But the game is really not worth it's full price in my opinion as it just won't hold you for longer than a week and you'll likely be disappointed if you shell out the cash hoping for a true sequel.
Hope that's been at all helpful, I imagine it could do with a bit of a workup and editting, but it's 6 in the morning and I should really go get some sleep (didn't expect it to take this long...
). If you have any questions about anything I might've missed that interests you, just fire away below, will be happy to answer (just quote/snip so I get notification)
There are minor spoilers ahead - nothing crucial, but I do have to say a few things about the game to describe it. I will keep off anything plot related though, mostly just a mention of cars, perhaps places, at most the obvious game characters - anything plot related will be in the spoiler tags.
To start it off, lemme say I played the first Mafia game back when it came out and loved it. Ever since the sequel was announced, I was waiting and have been excited for the game, waiting and hoping for a release date. The first few minutes, and even hours into the game, my face was contorted into a big smile like I just came out plastic surgery. It was a good bit of fun, but it left a lot to be desired by the end.
Ok myself aside, let's talk about the game. I'll start from the city:
The city/map feels small. According to a quick search, it's 2 square miles smaller than the first part (Mafia = 10, Mafia 2 = 12), but sizes aside, it just didn't live up to my expectations and felt a good deal smaller than the first game. Part of this might well be the way the game plays however.
Mafia 2 is split into chapters - the narrative is very much dragging the game along, which has it's good side and it's bad side. The good side is, if you're the kind of player that gets lost without a quest marker on their map at all times and likes to play through a story - this game's for you. The bad side is, if you're the kind of player who likes to switch between free roaming/blasting the city apart and quests, you'll feel somewhat discouraged from doing so.
The chapters move from one to another and they're pretty much 1-3 missions, depending on developments. There's an unmistakable feeling of Goodfellas (in more ways than one, you'll see if you play it, but I won't give away any spoilers here), most importantly in the way the story is told. The game feels (and I can feel Yahtzee cringing somewhere far away as I utter the word) cinematic. It's telling its story and you're there for the ride, controlling the main character. The reason I mention Goodfellas is its habit of throwing a montage cutscene of you doing stuff every once in a while, moving the story along. Most of the time it's fine, but sometimes it does give that "why am I watching a cutscene instead of doing this?" sort of feeling, especially considering the game's length.
Let me get the free roaming out of the way before I go any further. You can free roam in most chapters. However, the game loads you to a point where you're supposed to go off and start a quest. You don't have to start it off, there's no timer on it or anything, but it's there and it's sitting on your map. Note that what I'm about to say is no indication of the game's ending whatsoever - but you won't be given a free roam option at the end of the game, you have to load a chapter (which personally annoyed me, the same way Fallout 3 did before the Broken Steel).
Now, reading about the game, the developers/writers/whoever, said that the first Mafia game was a romanticised view of the gangsters, while Mafia 2 is more the gritty realism. Lemme give you a short rebuttal on that. First thought? True. Second thought? Cringe. Third thought? GTA 4.
First off, I'm gonna try not to take a side here - I know there's gonna be a group of people who are going to love this about the game, just like they loved GTA 4, but for me, realism is not worth that price. The way I see realism is that it's a necessary evil. To a point, it's a good thing - gravity is cool, semi-realistic car driving is cool, smashing a car causing damage is cool, cover based shooter is cool etc.
So what's not cool? The daily routine. Pretty much every chapter starts with you getting up from bed and getting dressed and pretty much every chapter ends with you getting into bed. It's a small thing and you don't notice it at first, but it gets old and fast. There are a few boring things in the game, which do decently well for storytelling but that really toss the gameplay aside.
Selling cigarettes from a truck, your movement restricted to the flatbed of the truck, with the awesome minigame of 'move 2 feet to the right brand of cigarettes, click a button, wait 5-10 seconds, do it again'
On their own, none of those things is likely to bother you. They don't last long and they add that touch of realism to the game. The problem is, because the game is divided into chapters, it feels very cut up, instanced and these moments only add to that. What the point is, is that all of that constantly breaks the flow of the game. It doesn't feel like a free game where have your main storyline, it feels like a storyline that has a touch of freedom on the edges. While I'm fine with that in a game with a good story, the problem here is that the storyline itself is just built on cliches and you can see the next part of the story coming a mile away if you ever saw a movie about gangsters. Also, more to the point, it takes away the sandbox and replaces it with a guided storyline, greatly increasing the linearity of the game, to the point where it doesn't feel like the same type of game anymore.
What also bothered me about the story is the lack of choice. It's the flavour of a lot of modern games and I've acquired a taste for it, but really, considering the game's length, a couple of choices could've gone a long way to extending it. More importantly, there's several places in the story where the opportunity for a choice was just sitting there waving it's arms frantically begging to be implemented. The problem is, without that choice, my character drew a bit away from me a few times, doing things I didn't really want him to do and again, since the story is kind of built on every single cliche you could think of in this context, the main character doesn't feel like someone you can relate, admire, envy or - to the point - really want to play.
So what's fun about Mafia 2? Personally, I loved the cars the most. It's Mafia all the way, but they really couldn't go much wrong after the first game. This time around you have 2 modes, "Normal" and "Simulation". In both modes you'll need to start the engine, the cars won't go ridiculous speeds etc. You will feel like you're driving a car from Mafia either way, but Simulation mode will just add a bit more realism, in terms of the car being a little harder to handle in turns and such.
There is also a bit of customization. You have body shops and they can sort your car out a bit - they can fix the car, repaint it, change&customize license plates (a combination of 6 symbols, letters, numbers, "-" and space), tune the engine (not 100% sure on how exactly this affects the car, but I think it just allows it to reach a higher speed faster) and change the rims.
I liked not being pulled over for running through a red light or crashing into stuff that isn't other people or their cars, though it did take from the realism of the game and I can't say I'd be terribly opposed to seeing it stay, context considered.
You can rob shops in the game (basically anything you walk into you can rob), and basically take whatever the shop has - get drunk/replenish health with liquor, empty the cash register of anything you walk into, grab suits in stores (yes, there is a rain/trenchcoat with a hat, yes, there is a black version, yes, it is utterly awesome) etc.
What I properly hated is the way money works. It's pretty easy to make, you can sell cars for scrap or rob places, but it's extremely inconsistent, the quests/missions don't really reward you much (usually not at all) and again, this is where I hate the way the narrative and the chapters work. As the story progresses, one moment you can barely afford a sandwich in a bar, the next you can throw your money in a pool and go Scrooge McDuck and then the next the money's gone again and you can barely fix up a car bump. Again, fine for the story, but it's a big unapologetic fuck-you to the gameplay.
The story's decent, but that's really the kindest I can be about it. I've said it before, twice I think and I'll say it again, it's just built on cliches. It's not a big deal if you don't think about it and it would probably be more than passable if the gameplay was similar to the first game, but since the developers shoved a big pile of narrative down our throats, having it taste like last week's lunch kinda sucks. Don't get me wrong, you probably won't hate the story as you go through it - but it won't take a hold on you or leave you with anything worth remembering.
The combat's ok, cover system works well and doesn't crap out and the main character knows to rush/roll/duck to cover without having to staple yourself to the wall first (he can detect the nearest cover). It's not really revolutionary, but it works just fine, just depends if you like third person cover based shooters.
And that in the end is my short version of a review and biggest complaint. Mafia 2 is not a GTA/Mafia '1' style sandbox, instead it's a third person cover based shooter that's just thrown into what's supposed to be a sandbox. Its sales will ride on the success of the first game, whereas if it was a standalone game, it would be mostly overlooked and rightfully so. If you can get it rented, definitely do - it's worth a playthrough. But the game is really not worth it's full price in my opinion as it just won't hold you for longer than a week and you'll likely be disappointed if you shell out the cash hoping for a true sequel.
Hope that's been at all helpful, I imagine it could do with a bit of a workup and editting, but it's 6 in the morning and I should really go get some sleep (didn't expect it to take this long...
). If you have any questions about anything I might've missed that interests you, just fire away below, will be happy to answer (just quote/snip so I get notification) 