Reviews// Mafia II

Posted 2 Sep 2010 16:08 by
Companies:
Games: Mafia II
It's a reviewer's conundrum. Are you having fun with a game, or is the game fun? This is a question that I had to keep asking while playing Mafia II. Is the game actually any good? Do the various elements work together to form an enjoyable experience or am I just ignoring the faults and forcing my own enjoyment?

The flaws are there for everyone to see. The first of which becomes apparent in the opening chapter, the checkpoint system. It's an issue that pops up from time to time within the gaming world and it's always one that I've never quite understood seeing in a finished product.

Checkpoints play an important part in an overall impression of a game. Have them too close together and the player will feel no fear in dying. It removes all sense of tension from a large gun battles and can leave you detached from the protagonist. Have them too far apart and you're left with a frustrating experience that'll see you fall short of the credits.

Mafia II falls so close to being the latter. There are moments where the slightest glance out from your cover will mean you'll have to watch a cutscene, steal a car and make your way to a firefight just to get back to where you were in the first place. It's a complaint that is easily avoidable, and it's a shame the problem was overlooked.

Then there are the little niggles that irritate throughout. Like the frame dropping during most cutscenes. The terrible traffic AI making travel resemblie journeys I've taken around central London on a Sunday. Getting constantly cut up and pulled out on is enough to wish that Boris' rent-a-bike scheme was invented in New York circa 1945.

Character models can look a little dated, ruining the hard work put in by the animation team. A foe being shot may stumble to the ground realistically, but when coupled with a lack of expression and detailed facial features, it can count for nothing when you're involved in close combat. There's also a problem with lip syncing within cutscenes which harp back to the N64 era.

So why, then, did I have such a huge smile on my face as the credits rolled? Had I simply forced fun out of a very average game or was this a hidden gem with just a few flaws holding it back from being a classic?

Despite the story being a straightforward tale of a man's climb up the criminal ladder, it manages to surprise throughout. It's a simple case of an average story told well. The majority of the game is set in a crime-ridden abstract version of New York City, so it was quite an eye opener to start out in war torn Italy. It's something that could have easily been done in a cut scene, but Mafia II decided that it wanted the player to experience lead character Vito's war days and it works.

That's not the only departure from the main game world throughout Mafia II and it makes a refreshing change from the free roaming third-person action games that have come before it. With a simple change of environment Mafia II manages to keep the story fresh. It adds a welcome break to the constant run of missions, driving and shooting and is something that the rest of Rockstar might want to take note of.

Due to the surprises in store and the interesting story threads throughout, Mafia II manages to create an experience that is hard to put down. On many occasions I found myself having to turn leap for the off button on my Xbox to avoid another four hour session. The pace sits just right. No drive is too long or uneventful and no chapter too short giving you the perfect opportunity to walk away from your games machine.

Some are complaining that the main campaign is too short. I disagree. A narrative-driven game should only be as long as the story being told. There's no need to bulk out missions just to add to the total hours of gameplay. I want to play out a story at the pace at which it is meant to be received and after 11 hours I felt that Mafia II had offered me enough to satisfy, and to be honest the game only felt short because I was so interested in getting to the end.
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Companies:
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Comments

Jimmer 10 Sep 2010 10:12
1/7
I agree with most of this review, particularly the part about "giving yourself to the setting". It really pulled me in right from the start, filling me with a warm sense of nostalgia - strange as the game is set quite some time before I was born!

I am a big fan of GTA but found that the sandbox aspect of it was massively detrimental to the cohesiveness of the world and the atmosphere created. In fact the only GTA game that comes close to Mafia II in terms of character has to be Vice City.

I guess it's yet another case of "EUROGAMER IN BEING SHOCKING SHOCKER!". Tossers.
Jimmer 10 Sep 2010 10:21
2/7
Oh, and it's not by Rockstar btw - it's by 2K Czech. They do both share the same publisher in Take-Two Interactive though...
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Jimmer 13 Sep 2010 13:20
3/7
I quite like having a forum almost to myself.
elmo 13 Sep 2010 21:47
4/7
Jimmer wrote:
I quite like having a forum almost to myself.


hahaha

Glad you liked the review. If I was going on how much i enjoyed the game it would have got a higher mark, i really did love it. But you have to recognise that there are enough faults there to lower the score some what. Some of those faults (the checkpoint layout) will be game0breakers for some people. If you'r able to look past all that, you're in for a treat!
Jimmer 14 Sep 2010 09:24
5/7
I played it on PC and found the checkpoints at worse mildly annoying. I certainly never had to go back more than five minutes. Maybe I am just L337...

The soundtrack did add a lot to the experience for me, so much so that I have managed to acquire a copy for my iPod. Not quite as good as Fallout 3 soundtrack but pretty close imho.
elmo 14 Sep 2010 12:26
6/7
The problem with the soundtrack in Fallout 3 is that there were only like 5 or 6 tracks and for a game long they really started to grate!

There are a lot more in this one and with the time shift, it opens up a lot more tracks!
Jimmer 14 Sep 2010 12:37
7/7
Actually, there were at least 20 songs in the Fallout 3 soundtrack. Only a total geek would list them all, so here goes...

1. Allan Gray - Swing Doors
2. Billie Holiday - Crazy He Calls Me*
3. Billie Holiday - Easy Living
4. Billy Munn - Jazz Interlude
5. Bob Crosby & The Bobcats - Happy Times
6. Bob Crosby & The Bobcats - Way Back Home*
7. Cole Porter - Anything Goes
8. Danny Kaye & The Andrews Sisters - Civilization*
9. Eddy Christiani & Frans Poptie - Rhythm For You
10. Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots - Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
11. Gerhard Trede - Fox Boogie
12. Gerhard Trede - Jolly Days
13. The Ink Spots - I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire*
14. The Ink Spots - Maybe
15. Jack Shaindlin - I'm Tickled Pink
16. Jack Shaindlin - Let's Go Sunning
17. Roy Brown - Butcher Pete (Part I)*
18. Roy Brown - Mighty Mighty Man
19. Sid Phillips - Boogie Man
20. Tex Beneke - A Wonderful Guy

* My personal favourites

So there.
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