Mafia II got quite a lot of attention too. But the attention seems to be full of disappointment. Disappointment of people who haven’t played the original and expected something different. Disappointment of people who have played the original and expected something incredible. Disappointment of people who played the original and expected the sequel to be “more of the same and not worse”. I found the game to be incredible, different and worse.
If you’ve not played the original and ignored the promises of the developers to continue making the story-driven linear game set in the open world, expecting GTA sandbox, well… I can see you being disappointed that this is something different. There are no real side content in this game. Just main story. Additionally, this game lacks some of the modern features of the open world, like inability to hail a cab. Like the citizen AI who seem to scramble and panic if you drive in the vicinity, even if you’re as far as you can possibly be. While the drivers seem to turn directly into you and don’t have blinkers on. And there are no trams nor subway running despite there being rails for them.
You had that last thing mentioned in the original. And AI was in general far smarter, or at least appeared to be. The overlay map is gone. Cops don’t really care about you breaking the traffic code. Game never remembers you setting the speed limiter on. I mean, one thing is to wait for the game to be as incredible and innovative as the original. Another – seeing lots of tiny yet important features gone.
And why does the game feel like it’s mostly just driving from point A to point B. Not like the original game didn’t have as much driving, but in that one the game usually knew when to cut the unnecessary downtime and quickly switch to the fun story bits or action. In this game, you just drive, sometimes in complete silence (apart from the radio).
I wish there was more action, in fact, since the action is improved by a lot here. The health regeneration and cover system take the ideas that were clumsy in the original and make them better. So you want more of it used in the game. Yet, instead, most of the missions are incredibly dull. There are better missions in other games, and there are better missions in the original game.
Yet, what I really liked are the characters. Tommy from the original game was the kind of guy to “kill only those who deserved it”. Vito is a very different kind of guy. And the times have changed. Being a gangster isn’t “romantic” in this game, it’s far closer to Goodfellas than to Godfather. Hell, Vito isn’t even as much of a bastard as Henry Hill (as shown in the movie), but seeing his story is far more down to earth, far more gritty and simple than whatever you saw happen in the first game. You’re a soldier, selling cigarettes and alcohol, getting people to pay, nothing romantic about that. The ending is also just perfect for a story like this. No huge shootouts between families or loud explosive car chases, neither are you becoming Don’s buddy. Just a tool of the family, ignored by the big guys for the most part.
Game looks good too. It’s not the most amazing title out there, but it’s really nice and works well on PC (as long as you don’t enable PhysX). Voice acting is top notch. Music change is somewhat questionable – instead of having a “theme” for the city district like in the first game, you have a generic concept of a car radio. Some good songs in the soundtrack, but the choice is limited and feels less memorable.
I genuinely enjoyed playing this game. It hasn’t excited me on the same level as the original did, but I feel like the developers weren’t even aiming to do that. They tried to tell a dark, somewhat unpleasant and unfulfilling story. It shows people often being at their worst, doing dirty deeds for the sake of money. And it works. Not sure I agree with the fact that the Free Ride mode of the original is being, essentially, sold as a separate DLC. Neither do I like the fact that most of the city feels far less detailed and instead full of “collectibles” like Playboy magazines… Oh and speaking of that – at the same time, there’s no in-game nudity even when you’d expect some…
Either way, the game isn’t as amazing as I wish it could’ve been. And I doubt a lot of people will love it. And I also feel like it might be intentional. But I did. And I’m off replaying it on Hard mode.