Pc game review mafia 2

Not that this is a mechanical problem — 2K Czech have never made any bones about Mafia II being a linear experience — but when the city itself looks so inviting, it's a shame you can't do more. Unless you make your own fun, that is. I enjoyed people-watching in a city where every pedestrian and car driver has the situational awareness of a frightened rabbit. Drive near one of the AI humans on foot and their preset reactions kick in, launching them in a seemingly random direction. Sometimes, this would be toward safety; more regularly, they'd hurl themselves into speeding traffic.

Having a woman — a few moments earlier happily strolling down a sunny street — chuck herself in front of a nearby van is certainly a surprise. Having that van then swerve to try to avoid her and plough through another three pedestrians is brilliant.

Having that van then be spotted by a police car, having those police open fire before getting squished by the panicky, blood-leaking van driver, is better than another cover-shooting 'kill 50 goons' story mission. And those are too regular. Combat is supported by a pleasing system of gunplay that leads to weighty, inaccurate firefights heavily reliant on ducking behind cover. Bad guys just pop up and down from the same spots of cover like sharply dressed moles: whacking them is simply a matter of waiting.

Early in the storyline, Mafia II displays a convincing unwillingness to murder indiscriminately, surmising that the repeated and wholesale murder of swathes of humanity isn't the mafia's major focus. This was the time I built my connections, prepared my lip for wobbling when my contacts became friends and my friends went to sleep with the fishes, as all mafia friends do.

But then, three quarters of the way through, it forgets all that, and puts you up against waves of baddies, dehumanised after all that work to build Empire Bay's factions into tangible things. Mafia II is a mafia movie run once through a game grinder, and that's simultaneously the worst thing about the game and the compliment it was developed for. But detach the story from its very familiar housings, and we're not left with much: a bit of walking, a lot of driving and too much shooting.

Each is good, but rarely superb. Even supported by a neat script and great voicework, Mafia II is treading ground already chewed up by cinema's very best. Release Date. Mafia II Review. What did you think? Have you played Mafia II? More Reviews by Greg Miller. The Walking Dead: Days Review. Presented by truth. If you've run over a pedestrian, robbed a jewelry store, or committed some other serious offense, the cops even set up blockades, though if you're chased down, it's not usually too difficult to shoot your way out of a bind.

Or for the easy way out, lose the cops and change clothes, or steal a new vehicle. Vito is always ready to fight for a damsel in distress. If you aren't driving to and fro, you may instead be loading some crates, selling contraband smokes, cleaning a men's room urinal, or mopping up a puddle.

The story offers good reasons for these tasks, but they're as thrilling as they sound. Yet while some undertakings might have you longing for Mafia II to deliver more action, the context granted by the story gives some of these mundane jobs an intriguing sense of urgency. A drive to the doctor's house may not seem all that interesting, but it is when you believe someone's life is on the line.

Cleaning a window with a squeegee isn't all that electrifying, but it feels a lot more tense when you know an explosive turn of events is imminent. A few car chases with Joe hanging out the window taking shots at your target help speed up the pace.

You might run into some weird annoyances during these vehicle-focused sections, however; the cops could arrest the driver you're discreetly following if he collides with a police car, for example, which ends the mission through no fault of your own.

Mafia II is an excellent return of a franchise with great promise. Vito and his associates are memorable characters in a city bursting with subtle visual details and violent undertones. The story pulls no punches, neither glorifying nor demeaning the difficult lives its protagonists lead--just presenting them with brutal honesty and letting you reach your own conclusions. After the or-so hours it might take you to gun through Vito's story, it's hard not to come away with the sense that there should have been more to do in this beautiful city.

Yet while you might be disappointed with what Mafia II doesn't do, it's hard to be disappointed by what this excellent game does do: deliver fun shoot-outs and pockets of shocking brutality in a world you're delighted to be a part of. The sequel to Mafia immerses players once again in the late s mob underworld. You need a javascript enabled browser to watch videos. Click To Unmute. Start at: End at: Autoplay Loop. Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

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The Good Fantastic action set pieces Shooting and hand-to-hand combat are both highly satisfying Empire City is beautiful and stuffed with period detail Brutal, involving story populated with interesting, well-acted characters The Bad Not enough to do in the open world Too much time spent on mundane tasks.

Game Revolution. Flaws and linear nature taken into account, Mafia II is a beautiful, gripping, engaging game-and where it doesn't allow you to go is more than made up for by where it does. Here's how to sum up Mafia II : 12 hours of repetitive, linear missions, with but a few gameplay mechanics.

Shoot, drive, punch, a tiny little bit of stealth, that's it. There's nothing more to be done than to follow the unfolding of the plot, which is clearly sub-par, especially when considering how easy it is to watch a rerun of The Godfather or a season of the Sopranos instead.

Replay value is nil, there's no multiplayer. You can't even roam freely in the city after the ending what for anyway, one may ask. Combat is way to easy, cars don't provide much thrill. In the end, Mafia II is a very pretty box, but an empty one. The rest isn't enough to make a great game. If you're a die hard fan of the 50's atmosphere nicely rendered , and the Mafia genre, you might still enjoy it.

User Reviews. Write a Review. Positive: out of Mixed: 91 out of Negative: 40 out of The game's plot like is basically a mixture of the Godfather, and Goodfellas, you're a war hero, come back from the war and fall into a life The game's plot like is basically a mixture of the Godfather, and Goodfellas, you're a war hero, come back from the war and fall into a life of crime with your friend.

The open world nature of this game is not the same as GTA, which to me is a good thing, there aren't a million half-assed mini-games to play. Each section of the city feels different, China-town feels different than Little Italy. I'm not going to list any spoilers but I do feel like this plot is decent, the voice acting is pretty good for the most part, the in-car conversations are pretty humorous a lot of the time. The driving is a HUGE improvement over the first game, the cars feel like real cars would from the 40s that is spongey suspension and sluggish acceleration, this is not bad design, it's how the actual cars behaved back then.

The map is actually displayed in the radar instead of the lame "map" that's in the first game. The guns are all fun, though the pistols pretty much all seem the same power, even the magnum and the magnum sound a little goofy, like a cartoon gun.

There is an actual cover system in the game, and overall the fights are much improved over the first game. This is a great game, it's heavy on graphics card, so I recommend looking into mods on how to disable the physics of the clothing in the game.