[i][b]TL;DR:[/b] A pretty good game with a slow, evolving narrative. Cover-shooter and driving mechanics. Story is worth playing. Smoothes out the kinks of the predecessor. Didn't like how they keep taking away your stuff towards the end. DLCs are GTA like. Can be fun, but not a lot of story.[/i]
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Mafia II is a beautiful adventure that portrays the tale of Vito Scalleta as he enters the criminal underbelly of Empire Bay, a ficitonal city in the US, and climbs the ranks of the Mafia. The game looks really stunning and even makes quite a lot of imporvements over Mafia I. At the same, there are a few factors about the game which make it less immersive, and it primarily has to do with the driving part of the game. The DLCs, on the other hand, are another story altogether.
The game is essentially a narrative oriented title which would've been a walking, or perhaps a driving, simulator if it hadn't been for the shootouts and the stealth sections here and there. Oh, and don't forget about the fisticuffs. Vito returns home after being conscripted in WWII and is helped by Joe, who releases him from his debts to the nation. However, he finds his family in debt and with the regular jobs paying as well as they do, the only option he has is to turn to a life of crime with the aid of his friend, Joe. With how well it all pays, Vito doesn't seem to have many complaints about it either and whatever objections he might have once developed, have already been trained out of him courtesy of the US Army. The rest is a tale of how he gets further embroiled into a life of crime and makes a few allies and enemies alike in the process. The story is pretty much the reason that you play the game. There isn't much else by way of gameplay apart from it.
The "gameplay," if you would consider there to be much, revolves mostly around driving around in the "open world" of Empire Bay. But when you aren't driving from once place to another, you might be tasked with either sneaking around and stealing certain things, or shooting some people dead. Some missions also involve driving to certain destination(s) within a time limit. The shootout sections are fine in their own regard and make for a good enough cover-shooting experience with limited scope for action or tactics. And despite the vast variety of weaponry available to you, they fail to differentiate themselves for the most part. The stealth sections are fine as well, with the stealth being very simplified, but at least you have the option to ghost through entire levels which is a definite plus in my book. The game also features fistfights, which aren't particularly deep, but are immersive and quite fun nonetheless. As for the driving missions, I would highly recommend turning Driving Mode from 'Simulation' to 'Normal' since the former makes things very difficult. Apparently, when the developers made the time limits on these driving missions, they didn't account for the increase in difficulty of driving around in Simulation mode. For all intents and purposes, Mafia II is one game meant to played for the story and strictly for the story.
As for the "Open World," it really isn't all that open. Sure, you have the map to a an entire fictional city at your disposal, but you can't really do much in it apart from driving to your next destination. As far as games like Saints Row or GTA are concerned, there is a lot of chaos to be caused in those titles when you aren't completing missions. That is not the case here, as you die pretty easily and causing chaos in general isn't a whole bunch of fun either. In some regards, it is quite realistic how these little things are handled. But on the other hand, driving around in the city feels a lot like padding for the story. What further makes this a problem is how the lenient the cops are towards people who break the traffic rules. In the first game, any cop would fine you for so much as running a red light. In this title, however, running red lights is perfectly acceptable and you don't even get fined for speeding unless you're exceeding the speed limit by a large margin. Even then, in most cases, outrunning the cops is very easy and you can usually buy your way out of the most severe of crimes simply by bribing the police. On the plus side, though, the change in seasons and weather also affects the slickness of the roads, making driving around in different seasons a vastle different experience. That, plus watching the different moods of the city, especially at different points throughout the day, give it a really immersive feel. You also have the option to upgrade your vehicles, and that makes the game just that much more entertaining. I recommend driving aroud with Simulation mode on for the greatest immersion unless you have to complete a time-based mission.
The graphics of the game are beautiful for its time and add a layer of immersion of their own. Even the soundtrack is pretty apropriate. The cutscenes, especially, most of which are rendered in real-time, looking stunning, particularly the faces and expressions of the characters that add a whole bunch of drama to an already amazing narrative. The various seasons of the city
As far as the quality of gameplay is concerned, I noticed no bugs whatsoever. Just a few bumps in Vito's life that led to an immersive kind of frustration. Vito has a tendency to keep losing whatever he has every now and then, and it becomes more and more frequent by the end of the game. And when that happens, you need to acquire new things all over again, making the procurement of immersive goods in the game an immersively frustrating affair. I keep calling it immersive primarily because the protagonist is probably feeling the same way about it all. Another issue I noticed with the game is how some chase sequences are scripted and how they'll force you to evade the cops time and time again despite how careful you are to avoid them. In an otherwise immersive experience, it can serve break the very same thing.
Comparing it to Mafia I, I would definitely say that they've smoothed out the shootouts and enhanced the driving by giving you more control and options. They've also gotten rid of the more mundane parts of the game which led to boredom, such as pointlessly driving people around in your taxi or manually piling twenty boxes of shipment at the docks. But at the same time, they've also gotten rid of a lot of things that made the game more immersive, such as the strict enforcement of traffic laws, or how the map no longer allows you to leave the city.
The DLC stories, on the other hand, are a hot mess. They are supposed to be the cut stories that the devs were working on in conjunction with Vito's tale. But the stories in these DLC are so padded out with pointless side-missions lacking any kind of immersion whatsoever, that they feel like to chore to play. I played Joe's Adventures and decided not to play the other two. The primary issues are the time limit within which to complete the missions, combined with the fact that these are arcade style missions in a game not built around aracde style play. These things rid the game of the biggest thing it had going for it: the immersion. The fact that you always get a Wanted Status in these DLC when you kill anyone who isn't an explicit target even the police haven't seen you is also a major annoyance.
All things considered, Mafia II is a game that is definitely worth playing for its beautiful story, and is even an upgrade when compared to its predecessor. However, I found it the story to be a bit too padded out by the driving sections for the most part, and the game to be lacking a certain level of immersion in certain sections in comparison. While the game certainly has annoying aspects to it, the rest of it can be pleasurable enough to warrant dealing with minor game mechanics to actually be able to progress the tale further. Not a bad game by any means. One of my favourites.
