Mafia 2

During the recent Steam Holiday sale I spent more money than was wise, but ended up with a number of games, if I ever get around to playing them. While on this budget spending spree I decided to take a chance on Mafia II. While it's a bit late in the game for a review on it I thought I'd put out a few thoughts about it.

First, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've never played any of the Grand Theft Auto's but what I understand of them seems to put this game in the same genre; the campaign takes you through 10 years of the life of Vito Scaletta, from the middle of World War 2 to the early 50's, as he rises through the ranks of a crime family in Empire City, using theft and violence as his tools. You make friends and enemies along the way and learn a few life lessons. Sounds trite, but actual ends up being a bit deeper than you'd expect, the ending actually threw me for a bit of a loop, really didn't see it coming.

The joy and the pain of the game was the lack of apparent sandbox attributes. While not on a specific campaign related mission you were free to roam the city and do as you please, steal cars or hold up stores for cash, beat up people, or just make trouble with the police, do what you want, it wasn't necessary for the main story line; sure you got some extra cash for upgrading cars and buying clothes, but the campaign supplied you with most of what you needed anyway. In short, you could take it or leave it, so I left most of it, which was good for me as I don't care for sandbox freeplay, but it left the game feeling a little incomplete. I would have liked to see more side missions like in Gun, which was essentially a polar opposite of Mafia 2, there was essentially no sandbox freeplay and the side quests were pretty much required to level your skills.

As for the driving, well, I'm on my second playthrough and I still haven't mastered it, although I'm doing much better. AI is a problem as you never know what to expect from the other drivers and they will often react in the exact opposite manner of a real driver; stray across the street a little bit and an oncoming car is just as likely to turn into you as it is to swerve away. Police can be arbitrary too, often ignoring hit and run accidents, but then deciding to chase you down for grazing another car when it suits them. On the plus side, they could care less about you obeying signs and lights; you can pull into the oncoming lane and drive past them to run a red light, just don't hit them while you're doing it.

So why do I like the game? The story was rock solid and the game played like an interactive graphic novel. The writers portrayed what I think is a good window into organized crime, from the rush of power to crushing depths of defeat, you manage to like Vito and sympathize with him, but at the same time realize that he's in the wrong. The shootouts are fun with a number of different weapons to use, the locations are great, the cars are varied and fun, and the music is used perfectly; I've never realized how much good music came out of the 50's both Jazz and Rock. You spend a lot of time driving so giving you the option to change stations really helped keep the music varied and fresh, from Chuck Barry and Eddie Cochran to Dean Martin and the Andrews Sisters.

Finally, I won't lie, the Playboy collectibles were great. The writers chose to ignore the fact that Playboy wasn't first published until the mid 50's, 5 years after the end of the game, and threw 50 different centerfolds in the game that you collect as you go through the missions by finding magazines lying around; pick one up and you're given an actual uncensored centerfold from the 50's and 60's. Sounds dated, but it was refreshing to see the women Playboy published before plastic bodies became he norm. Sex was generally rampant throughout the game, and if there is one caution I would make, it's that this is a VERY adult game, and not just because of the graphic language.

If I had payed 50 bucks for the game I might not have been as enthused, but since I got it for 12, I couldn't be happier. I highly recommend this game if you can get it on sale, however you might not want to spend the full price for it, just not enough going on for my money.