Mafia 2 Review

Mafia 2 is an epic story of friendship, money , betrayal and risks. Whilst climbing the ranks of the Mafia, in 1940/50's America. Life hasn't treated Vito very well, our protagonist arrived in America living in poverty. In search of a better life, he turns to crime with childhood friend Joe. After a botched attempt at robbing a jewellery store, he serves the US Army as punishment.

The first mission takes place in Italy, where a battle is taking place. This is where you experience a taste of firepower and cover based action. Weapons your presented with  here, are military bolt rifles and pistols. All with realistic sounds and configurations, replicating their weight and power in reality. Throughout the game you will be presented with a selection of pistols, machine guns, rifles, projectiles and a shotgun. In most shootouts the infamous Tommy Gun, is the weapon of choice.

After getting shot in the war, Vito is sent home temporarily. However with Joe's contacts, our war hero is discharged. From here on out he embarks on a journey to gain the respect, money and women, being a wise guy in the Mafia.

Much sooner than later he learns of the consequences and responsibilities, of choosing this life style. Often questioning whether he's chosen the right path in life. Aside from the carefree lifestyle of whores and booze, the Mafia is a murderous and brutal line of work. You have to be prepared to kill anyone and everybody, just because you're told to. This is an ever present theme portrayed throughout the game.

Empire Bay is the fictional setting of Mafia 2, inspired by locations such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago. The city has been beautifully crafted, creating some of the best designed levels and scenarios, seen in an open world game. It's a shame the city doesn't have much use outside of  missions. Optional features such as customising vehicles and crushing cars for money, eventually wears thin of excitement.

All the thrilling jobs, like racketeering, bruising shop owners and killing undercover cops etc, are played out through a cutscene. However there is evidence, of side missions once being in the game. Characters such as Derek and Mike can be approached at any time. Interacting with them, you'll get a response like "come back later" or "there's no jobs for you yet". Telephones around the city, could be utilized a lot more in missions.

You can bet they had more use in side missions, activating or ending jobs. Mafia 2's Gamescom trailer is a testament to this and a lot more. Including permit for guns, melee weapons and stealth attacks etc.

Playing through the game, I felt a large portion of missions were wasted transporting characters back and forth. Although side missions are said to be implemented in the story, I would have preferred more missions centring daily Mafia life.

Cars in Empire Bay perform uniquely depending on their weight. Driving will take some practice, as it simulates the era. Driving too fast will result in instant death upon collision. In most cases your better off using the speed limiter. Limiting your speed to the legal limit and keeping the cops at bay. Very rarely will you put petrol in your car, unless you've used it for majority of the game.

Mafia 2 has a lot of heart but is farfetched, from the epic gangster experience it craves for. One of the greatest issues with the game, is the decision to make it open world. To differentiate itself from GTA, the devs avoided any distractions to the main story. which has led to a point where your forced to either, proceed with the story or collect Playboy magazines. After 8 years of development you would expect a wealth of content. It seems the longer the delay, the more they left on the cutting floor.

If you take a shine to gangster tales,  you'll be deeply immersed by Mafia 2. Just don't expect to have the freedom of a GTA title, as this isn't Mafia's forte.