lost
09-01-2010, 02:04 PM
Title: Mafia 2
Platform: 360 / PS3 / PC
Platform Reviewed: PS3
Developer: 2K Czech (http://www.2kgames.com)
Publisher: 2K Games (http://www.2kgames.com)
MSRP: $59.99
Writer: Martin 'lost' Perry
Mafia 2 Review
So you want to be a made man, son?
2K have a pretty strong thing going on when it comes to open-world games. Publishing partners with Rockstar, they can claim credit for helping to bring landmark titles such as GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption to market. It’s no wonder then, that they have tried to create another car-thieving cash cow, resurrecting the divisive Mafia for a brand new sequel. With all the bad blood surrounding bugs and poor car handling, Mafia II has had a surprisingly easy time gathering hype up towards release. Now, with the full game in our hands, how does this gangster tale measure up?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_1.jpg
Our protagonist, if you can call him that, is a Sicilian born guy called Vito. Following a hard upbringing in Empire Bay (read: New York) he is eventually drafted to fight in World War II. The game’s opening chapter sees you take on Mussolini’s forces, defending Vito’s homeland before taking a bullet. Returning to Empire Bay for rest and recuperation, childhood friend Joe gets his hands on some forged discharge papers and convinces you to go into the mob business. The story that unfolds from that point on is a fairly standard gangster yarn, with double-crossers and federal informers making life difficult for our fledgling goodfellas, but without any of the heart or character that franchises like Red Dead can claim. Score off ‘involving story’, this just doesn’t have it.
What the story does facilitate is a satisfying trip through two decades of a New York inspired environment. Empire Bay has been lovingly crafted, struggling under the weight of its period authenticity with faux brands and detailed texture work carefully recreating the 40s and 50s. Side-shows include the aforementioned Sicily and also, following a plot twist, the inside of a state penitentiary, equally well realised. When you stand inside one of the internal areas, a shop or one of your homes, the world outside bustles along without you. It creates a unique sensation within open-world games – this is not a city created for you, nor around you, this is a city that your story merely inhabits.
The negative side of this is that without contrivances built to suit gameplay, it’s difficult to find your place within Empire Bay. The structure of the game is surprisingly linear, with very little tertiary content such as the usual street races or side-quests, so that sensation of realism stretches into the missions. They are dull, real-life dull. A driving focused mission is just a standard chase through the streets, no surprise events, and a shooting focused mission is just a plod through a building. The third-person shooting model is robust if unexciting, but the locales are plain, and the game features almost no theatre or spectacle. The very best open-world games, in my opinion, use the city as a stage to astound the player; here you are just a pawn within a world that feels as though it would carry on without you.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_2.jpg
The fifteen chapters that make up the considerable majority of the gameplay content can be finished comfortably inside of ten hours. While the game doesn’t really get the heart pumping, this content is perfectly serviceable if entirely standard. The driving model is hugely improved over the original and the cars have a pleasing authenticity in the way they move. Bugs wise, I experienced one crash throughout my play-time. The police are now an awful lot fairer – speeding violations are overlooked on occasion, seemingly at random – and regular checkpoints mean that the game is rarely frustrating or messy. Playing it safe has led to developers to produce one of the tamest open-world games in recent memory but at least it is robust, mechanically sound and herein reasonably enjoyable.
With the input of a redeem code you soon find out where all the additional content has disappeared to. If you purchase new on the PS3, ‘The Betrayal of Jimmy’ downloadable content features thieving, killing and high-speed driving set to a timer, with points awarded for carnage. If you’ve ever played Bizarre Creation’s ‘The Club’, then you have a reasonably accurate idea of how this content plays out. The primary issue is, of course, that this is filler content designed to make the player feel like a working criminal aside from the story content. Separated out like this, it just doesn’t have enough merit to warrant extended play. Plus, Mafia II isn’t a big bangs and bullet ballet type of game and therefore the score system feels entirely out of place. Should you not be entitled to download this content for free, I would not recommend that you shell out your hard saved dollars gained from buying the game used.
The authenticity of Empire City could have been achieved without the game being quite as pretty as it is. The console versions certainly suffer, PC gamers will definitely get the best looking version of the game provided they have the right hardware, but they still look great. On the PS3 version, shadow pop-in is a little too prevalent and a clever fade-effect hides scenery/model pop-in. Music fits the period, although the selection is a little limited, alongside sound effects and voice acting that suit the overall tone. However, the actors do seem to struggle to emote effectively during the short dialog held between a high volume of characters. Some of the biggest players in this story must not have more than five minutes worth of lines throughout the course of the story; a major factor in the story being quite so disposable.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_3.jpg
The time I spent with Mafia II was enjoyable enough, just unremarkable and guilty of some of the worst trappings of videogame storytelling. I’ll confess, my expectations were high following the convincing demo but, arguably the true showcase of that demo, the authenticity of the period still shines through. Exciting missions, a truly involving story and convincing characters, Mafia II does not have. Those hallmarks of the great open-world games haven’t often been earned outside of the studio walls of Rockstar, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that Mafia II is yet another ‘almost, but not quite’. Wait for a sale before picking this one up.
Score: 3 out of 5
http://evavhost.com/public/3.gif
The Good
Extremely authentic period setting.
Visually the game is outstanding, on any platform.
Enjoyable missions and robust mechanics.
The collectible vintage Playboy cover girl images are really beautiful. Honest.
The Bad
Very little grandeur, spectacle or excitement in the missions.
Poorly realised story.
Quite a slim package for an open-world game from 2K.
The Ugly
The Betrayal of Jimmy stuff is pants.
Platform: 360 / PS3 / PC
Platform Reviewed: PS3
Developer: 2K Czech (http://www.2kgames.com)
Publisher: 2K Games (http://www.2kgames.com)
MSRP: $59.99
Writer: Martin 'lost' Perry
Mafia 2 Review
So you want to be a made man, son?
2K have a pretty strong thing going on when it comes to open-world games. Publishing partners with Rockstar, they can claim credit for helping to bring landmark titles such as GTAIV and Red Dead Redemption to market. It’s no wonder then, that they have tried to create another car-thieving cash cow, resurrecting the divisive Mafia for a brand new sequel. With all the bad blood surrounding bugs and poor car handling, Mafia II has had a surprisingly easy time gathering hype up towards release. Now, with the full game in our hands, how does this gangster tale measure up?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_1.jpg
Our protagonist, if you can call him that, is a Sicilian born guy called Vito. Following a hard upbringing in Empire Bay (read: New York) he is eventually drafted to fight in World War II. The game’s opening chapter sees you take on Mussolini’s forces, defending Vito’s homeland before taking a bullet. Returning to Empire Bay for rest and recuperation, childhood friend Joe gets his hands on some forged discharge papers and convinces you to go into the mob business. The story that unfolds from that point on is a fairly standard gangster yarn, with double-crossers and federal informers making life difficult for our fledgling goodfellas, but without any of the heart or character that franchises like Red Dead can claim. Score off ‘involving story’, this just doesn’t have it.
What the story does facilitate is a satisfying trip through two decades of a New York inspired environment. Empire Bay has been lovingly crafted, struggling under the weight of its period authenticity with faux brands and detailed texture work carefully recreating the 40s and 50s. Side-shows include the aforementioned Sicily and also, following a plot twist, the inside of a state penitentiary, equally well realised. When you stand inside one of the internal areas, a shop or one of your homes, the world outside bustles along without you. It creates a unique sensation within open-world games – this is not a city created for you, nor around you, this is a city that your story merely inhabits.
The negative side of this is that without contrivances built to suit gameplay, it’s difficult to find your place within Empire Bay. The structure of the game is surprisingly linear, with very little tertiary content such as the usual street races or side-quests, so that sensation of realism stretches into the missions. They are dull, real-life dull. A driving focused mission is just a standard chase through the streets, no surprise events, and a shooting focused mission is just a plod through a building. The third-person shooting model is robust if unexciting, but the locales are plain, and the game features almost no theatre or spectacle. The very best open-world games, in my opinion, use the city as a stage to astound the player; here you are just a pawn within a world that feels as though it would carry on without you.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_2.jpg
The fifteen chapters that make up the considerable majority of the gameplay content can be finished comfortably inside of ten hours. While the game doesn’t really get the heart pumping, this content is perfectly serviceable if entirely standard. The driving model is hugely improved over the original and the cars have a pleasing authenticity in the way they move. Bugs wise, I experienced one crash throughout my play-time. The police are now an awful lot fairer – speeding violations are overlooked on occasion, seemingly at random – and regular checkpoints mean that the game is rarely frustrating or messy. Playing it safe has led to developers to produce one of the tamest open-world games in recent memory but at least it is robust, mechanically sound and herein reasonably enjoyable.
With the input of a redeem code you soon find out where all the additional content has disappeared to. If you purchase new on the PS3, ‘The Betrayal of Jimmy’ downloadable content features thieving, killing and high-speed driving set to a timer, with points awarded for carnage. If you’ve ever played Bizarre Creation’s ‘The Club’, then you have a reasonably accurate idea of how this content plays out. The primary issue is, of course, that this is filler content designed to make the player feel like a working criminal aside from the story content. Separated out like this, it just doesn’t have enough merit to warrant extended play. Plus, Mafia II isn’t a big bangs and bullet ballet type of game and therefore the score system feels entirely out of place. Should you not be entitled to download this content for free, I would not recommend that you shell out your hard saved dollars gained from buying the game used.
The authenticity of Empire City could have been achieved without the game being quite as pretty as it is. The console versions certainly suffer, PC gamers will definitely get the best looking version of the game provided they have the right hardware, but they still look great. On the PS3 version, shadow pop-in is a little too prevalent and a clever fade-effect hides scenery/model pop-in. Music fits the period, although the selection is a little limited, alongside sound effects and voice acting that suit the overall tone. However, the actors do seem to struggle to emote effectively during the short dialog held between a high volume of characters. Some of the biggest players in this story must not have more than five minutes worth of lines throughout the course of the story; a major factor in the story being quite so disposable.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y242/LostGames/mafia2_3.jpg
The time I spent with Mafia II was enjoyable enough, just unremarkable and guilty of some of the worst trappings of videogame storytelling. I’ll confess, my expectations were high following the convincing demo but, arguably the true showcase of that demo, the authenticity of the period still shines through. Exciting missions, a truly involving story and convincing characters, Mafia II does not have. Those hallmarks of the great open-world games haven’t often been earned outside of the studio walls of Rockstar, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as a great surprise that Mafia II is yet another ‘almost, but not quite’. Wait for a sale before picking this one up.
Score: 3 out of 5
http://evavhost.com/public/3.gif
The Good
Extremely authentic period setting.
Visually the game is outstanding, on any platform.
Enjoyable missions and robust mechanics.
The collectible vintage Playboy cover girl images are really beautiful. Honest.
The Bad
Very little grandeur, spectacle or excitement in the missions.
Poorly realised story.
Quite a slim package for an open-world game from 2K.
The Ugly
The Betrayal of Jimmy stuff is pants.