Mafia II

Mafia 2 is authentic. Really authentic. Never before have i quite played a game that seemed to depict it's era so perfectly. From the music to the clothes to the cars to the general layout and feel of the world in which it sits - Czech 2k games REALLY went above and beyond the call of duty on detail.

They also go the extra mile on game settings too. There are different handling settings for the cars in the options menu, so if some people dont like the realism of handling cars in the snow, they can change it to arcade and get more grip. It's these little things that really make the game stand out.

However, it's unfortunate that Czech 2k didnt take the same dedication to the overall experience of the game itself.

The game is short. Extremely short. 8-10 hours is the best you can expect of it, and when you put that alongside a game of a similar ilk like Grand Theft Auto 4 with its 30+ possible hours of gameplay, or some of the Bioware RPG titles of 40+ then you see where the feeling of being sold short comes in.

Mafia 2's story is good, if a little stereotypical and obvious, - the missions all felt more bland and cliched than Mafia 1's did - and the real disappointment is the ending comes ALL too soon, and you're left after the not-so-grand-final mission thinking "wait... that was the last mission? Thats the end of the game???"

The story leaves it extremely open and doesnt really give any closure to proceedings, be it to what Vito Scaletta was getting up to nor to his life story.

To be frank, if the credits rolling is a surprise to you - it means the story was either cut back by time/money constraints, or it was secondary in the game creators thinking, and when a game which is so linear as Mafia 2 is dependant upon its story, it should be ranking at #1 in their minds.

So, coupled with this knowledge, and married together with its amazing feel, i can only give Mafia 2 a 3/5.

It would be a 5/5 from me if there had been just another 5 hours or so to finish off Vito's life story, or if there had been more "meat" to the gameplay (much of it is driving to and from places, not on errands, but missions like "Drive home".
GTA used to be the "we concentrate on driving" game, and Mafia's was "our cars are slow, 1920-30s, so we concentrate on the action and shooting". Sadly, they dipped over the wrong side of the line in this game, and there could've been SO much more done to maximize its potential.

So for that, and the shortness of the game, its a 3/5.

Buy it if you loved Mafia 1, buy it if you dont mind the idea of just 8-10 hours of gameplay out of your £30.

Dont buy it if you're wanting to try a game out for the first time or using this as a benchmark of its game genre

Like many others I bought and played the original Mafia game back in 2002/3 and thought it was brilliant. The storyline in particular was very good. The game contained 20 Chapters. There were lots of side missions and you could also hop onto the trains and trams to explore the city. Graphics for the time were spectacular. The game included music from the 20s and 30s and was a genuinely classic game.

I eagerly awaited the release of Mafia 2 hoping that this second installment from 2K would contain everything that the first game had...and perhaps more. Sadly this has proved not to be the case. 15 moderate chapters with no side missions and nor can you access the public transport. It is a severely cut down version of what it could have and should have been.

Yes the graphics are fine with lots of detail but the fairly repetitive game playing experience barely last 10 hours. It seems that 2K have lost the plot and instead of offering a genuinely good product at a decent price are now more concerned with the revenue generation that the upcoming DLC will potentially provide. I for one will not purchase any addons. Nor will I recommend Mafia 2 to anyone. Overall I'm very disappointed with this game.

I was really looking forward to play Mafia 2, but when i put the disc in all it wanted to do was go on the internet. I bought this game why should i have to go online. Not every was has the internet. So i am unable to play, as i dont have the internet at home.