Mafia II

Spending time with Mafia II is like visiting a studio back lot – it's a great looking recreation of a bygone era but there's not much behind the façade

It's abundantly clear that 2K Czech put an emphasis on story and ambience over gameplay in Mafia II and it really shows. With a repetitive mission structure, long arduous drives across a limited open-world and a bog standard shooter mechanic, Mafia II as a game rarely delivers. As a Mafia experience though, it delivers in spades. There are few open-worlds in video games that show this much depth, this much character and this much charm.

The only aspect that really shines in Mafia II is its story, the rest is only reasonable.

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.

It's never nice being mean about a game with as much ambition as this, but if we're talking sheer value for money then halfway through the 14 hours it takes to complete Maria II you'll have experienced one really good shooting mission and absolutely no decent car chases, of which there are only a couple in the entire game. [Sept 2010, p.81]

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.

But even though it offers some worthwhile moments, it unfortunately squanders most of its vast potential on a heavily scripted experience that doesn't take full advantage of the compelling world around it.

For now, despite the niggles and frustrations, the sum total of Mafia II's parts is greater than it should be and still equals an enjoyable romp through what you might expect old-school Mafia life to be like. How much you enjoy the game really does come down to your patience levels and how much leeway you're prepared to give.

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.

I cannot recommend more than renting Mafia II unless you have a particularly strong affection for the subject material. Mafia II is not broken nor does do any one thing particularly badly; the overall experience is just a real disappointment and I would rather swim with the fishes than play it again.

Folks who love a decent mafia tale -- one of family ties, betrayal, and revenge -- will want to experience the world of Mafia II. Its competent game mechanics and absorbing narrative are enough to warrant a playthrough. But in the end, the repetitive nature of the game's sometimes mind-blowingly boring missions and lack of content will leave most gamers wanting more.

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.

A great story that manages to make old ground seem fresh, coupled with out-of-this world sound design, is sadly attached to a middle-of-the-road, limited third-person gaming experience.

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

Mafia II isn't really what it should have been after the brilliant Mafia. It's just another wannabe action sand box games, but with a good story.

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.

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.

In the end, Mafia II has the makings of a quicker and darker paced GTA clone that is unfortunately short of greatness due to its forced driving and overall sterile setting.