Mafia II

Gamers who loved the original Mafia despite all its flaws will no doubt embrace the story and flair that this title has, however others expecting another sandbox free-roam title will be dreadfully disappointed, because that, it is certainly not.

Mafia 2 is, to put it mildly, a tightly controlled experience, to an extent that may be a little shocking to those of us who've become acclimated to the freedom of most open world games.

Mafia II is an interesting mobster tale with some great voice acting and cool cutscenes; if you have a "made man" itch, feel free to scratch it here, but be prepared for a pretty standard third-person shooter in the gameplay department. The "take cover, kill everyone, do it again" mechanic didn't wow me, but it didn't let me down either.

Mafia II's strong points are the story and believable gameworld, as well as an authentic atmosphere. Unfortunately the game doesn't take enough risk and as a result makes less impact than the original. Players don't get enough freedom to come up with their own creative solutions during missions. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of filler during the missions.

The sequel is far worse than the original game. We don't know if it was lack of development time, budget or ideas, but Mafia II is not what 2K promised to fans.

Mafia 2 is a step backward for this franchise, failing to innovate or learn from the mistakes of the original. A nice setting and potentially interesting story is wasted by a lack of creativity and polish.

There are moments when it feels like it's on the cusp of greatness, threatening to make you an offer you can't refuse, but the inevitable letdown is never far behind. [Sept 2010, p.104]

Mafia 2 feels like a game that could have been great. Clunky controls are hardly game-breaking, and some might argue part and parcel with the open-world genre, but without the features associated with open-world games Mafia 2 is more easily compared to Uncharted and Gears of War - and in that circle it's simply not action-packed enough.

All things considered, Mafia 2 is a good game. The problem is, it only takes a little over ten hours to complete the story, and once you're done that... that's it.

For such an intricate setup, Mafia II doesn't quite deliver on the promise of making you feel like a gangster until the last few chapters. You spend a lot of the game watching things develop slowly from behind the glass, as Vito makes a name for himself in action sequences separated by a little too much downtime.

After 2010 has given us open worlds as complex as Red Dead Redemption, Mafia 2's empty city and two-dimensional campaign is hard to tolerate. No matter how much the game may pride itself on supplying a mature tale of crime, it can't overshadow a relentlessly bland gameplay experience.

I'm a sucker for a good mob story, but Mafia II's is merely decent.

It's in Mafia II's second act that it takes a real dive, and familiarity plunges into cliché. When the writers run out of literary coal, there's little to keep you on the rails, and nowhere to take a time-out. It descends into a festival of stereotypes and expletives, laying waste to the hints of narrative depth proffered earlier and offending beyond justification as it ticks the down-and-dirty genre boxes.

Mafia II is the opposite of Portal, taking no risks, putting forth no new ideas, and settling for the status quo. Mafia II didn't have to reinvent a genre, but it could have avoided littering itself with such dreadful mission design that is sometimes void of refinement and full of average mechanics.

The gameplay moments in Mafia II are forgettable with action that has been seen and done hundreds of times over.

After enjoying the original game I had high hopes for Mafia 2, but despite putting the bad things about the original right they seem to have taken everything that was good about it and trashed it.

Mafia II is enjoyable and polished, but we could expect way more from 2K Czech.