Mafia 2 Xbox 360 Review

Mafia 2 is the story of Vito Scaletta and his adventures in the world of the Italian mob. Being a poor immigrant Vito saw that only men who took what they wanted got somewhere in life, Vito wanted to be someone. He wanted the money, the women and most importantly the respect his father never had. The story in the game takes place in the city of Empire bay as well as a few other locations that are thrown in for a good variety of scenery. These locations all appear in different chapters, with montage cut scenes linking locations, seasons and the story together. The game is also brave enough to make a open world city with a few chapters taking place in the winter which is not done too often.

The graphics in this game look gorgeous for an open world game with a lot of detail put into the city on every season. Winter looks great with tracks in the snow and footprints as well as the driving physics to accompany it. The summer scenes are great looking as well with lush trees and details normally not seen in open world games, mainly the bushes and grass on the xbox 360 version. The closed spaces also have a lot of details added to them with minimal loading times between locations if any is present. Most loading times happen because of cut scenes that are coming up but there is not a single hiccup when in the heat of battle.  Environments are semi-destructible, especially from a large amount of gunfire. The lighting in this game does give a good perception about the time of day the mission takes place in and during the night it really makes the city stand out, though sometimes it is a little too blinding when driving down the street into a well lit tunnel. The cut scenes were done withing the game engine and as far as i could tell were all in real time, there was very little to distinguish some cut scenes from the in-game gameplay. This is a nice touch because the clothes Vito is wearing are consistent, it may not seem like much but its the small details that make games that much better.

The gameplay mechanics in this game aren’t anything that hasn’t been done before but it is done quite well.  Where you may get frustrated is because of the controls because they did not respond well or because of a glitch in the cover system in certain parts however it is nothing game breaking. The only gripe I had with the button mapping is that (X) was used to pick up guns, and also used to move around corners while in cover, this got me killed a few times becauseI wanted to pick up a gun and Vito decided to move along the wall instead into the line of Tommy gun fire. The cover works well overall and if you played Grand Theft Auto you will feel right at home, and if this is your first time with this type of game then it will take only moments to pick up, considering that the first mission is a tutorial on the combat system. The AI shooting at you is pretty smart as well, they take cover and try to flank you when possible. There were a few missions that I found myself checking all around me because I was afraid of being shot in the back by the goons I lost track of while shooting at another group of goons.

During driving missions there are radio stations available for your listening pleasure. However these songs are from the years that the game is based on and a lot of the time I found myself just turning off the radio because I didn’t like the song or it was interfering in the dialogue between characters. At certain points you will get into a car and the perfect song will be cued by the game, making the experience pretty cool but if you are just cruising then this will not be the case because there are too few songs for variety and you will be hearing the same songs over and over. For the cut scenes and the parts that are out of the car, the music is done quite well to set the mood for what is happening on screen giving a very movie feel to the game, at parts I actually felt like I was watching a movie.

The collectibles in Mafia 2 are something very daring for games in general, especially in North America. The main collectibles which are found chapter to chapter are Playboy centerfolds from the era of the game, with complete nudity in high definition. The first one I picked up without knowing I caught myself saying “ohhh, hello..” However these are rarely laying around, they are usually hidden and each magazine is chapter specific so you cannot get them later on, you have to replay the chapter. There are also wanted posters which are actually the 159 developers of the game, these can be picked up any time. During a normal play-through you are not likely to even notice them as they look like part of the scenery, and some are very well hidden. There is even one that requires you to jump a car from the freeway at high speeds onto a building, which is not easy to do at all. As difficult as these collectibles are, it feels rewarding to get them all.

Mafia 2 is a game that has been anticipated by many people that played the original Mafia and loved the story and mechanics. The developer (2KGames) delivered in this case, making a sequel that leaves you wanting more once its over, just one more over the top, no way out, gun battle with a Molotov or grenade thrown in for spice. The visuals are top notch, sounds and music are well done and collectibles are very rewarding to find. There is planned DLC for all platforms so this game will have some legs for those that can not get enough. Only downside to this game is that there is no free roam, but hopefully that will be rectified in the future with DLC. So if you are a fan of open world games, shooters or just gangsters in general pick this game up, you will not be disappointed.