365//365: Day 244 – Mafia II (360)

Video games with an open world usually offer a wealth of activity and scenery that you’ll come across within steps of any direction you take. Some titles, such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, contains what seems like an endless world around you, with activity isolated to the more populated areas of the map. Others, such as Mafia II on the Xbox 360, offer a modestly sized game world, with a main story that’s engaging enough (though has its issues) to keep you from straying from the path of the main plot in order for you to get an in-depth look through the city you’re driving through. Unfortunately, the storyline doesn’t completely mask the fact that the city of Empire Bay is as deprived of activity and life as a vacant lot.

While the open world available to you isn’t as big as a Rockstar title, there’s enough bulk to Empire City (yet another bastardization of New York City) to feel as if you’re far from completely exploring the world around you. On a visual note, the two different seasons that you’ll encounter Empire City, both reflect a city with enough care and attention to detail, that it stands out as one of the more visually pleasing game worlds in this current generation. A minor fault to the visual presentation lays with the landscape. Understandably, there’s a bit of repetition when it comes to building designs in a small area. It’s nothing something you’ll come across within every city block, but you’ll notice it when you stumble upon it.

Character models run into a minor stumbling block on occasions, mostly during during any cut scene that utilizes in-game models for the storytelling. Facial details, from birthmarks to five o’clock shadows, all have a careful crafting to them, but for some reason, facial textures begin to show some odd deformations. It’s nothing drastic, but seeing an iron mesh-like textural sheen does detract somewhat from an otherwise pleasant character model. Vehicular and character animations are smooth, with only a few quirks here and there, though nothing that adversely affects the gameplay.

2K did a rather commendable job with the vehicular controls in Mafia II, although some will have fits for the similarities between Grand Theft Auto IV and Mafia II’s car based mechanics. Every vehicle you come across has a noticeable weight to it, with handling not changing overly much unless you pick up a hot rod or one of the brawny vehicles, like a truck. You’ll have to slow down on each turn if you want to make it without careening into pedestrians, mailboxes and parked vehicles. It’s definitely not going to sit well with everyone, however it does work well for what it’s intended. Moving Vito Scaletta, Mafia II’s protagonist, has a few hangups here and there, mostly in regards to a bit of a tank-like turning while moving around, and the cover system.

The way the cover mechanic is laid out feels a bit counter-intuitive. Pressing A near cover will latch you onto said cover, but instead of pressing away on your analog stick, you have to press A once more to detach yourself from said cover. It just doesn’t feel natural enough to have to press A a second time to dip off of your cover. Moreover, there are occasions where you’ll suffer from a similar issue that plagued Transformers: War for Cybertron — although there was no cover system installed, it seemed like no matter where you were behind an obstruction, enemies still had a decent chance at picking you off. This happens more often when you’re behind a short barricade than anything, as the very top of your head always seems to be exposed to the AI’s rather generous accuracy.

One interesting aspect to the controls comes from the close quarter combat bits you’ll either run into, or initiate by shoving certain people. The camera comes tight into both you and your adversary, putting up their dukes and battling it out with nothing but their fists. While the elementary combat system leads to fights that feel like you have complete control over, the camera has some issues keeping up with the action. Both combatants will pace about constantly, forcing you to move the camera along constantly. There’s also a few quirks with the x axis camera work, as it seems to move a bit too high when you’re only trying to pan the camera to the left or right. While the CQC can get old relatively fast, the simplicity to it is very much a welcome thing, as most games within the genre forgo any proper fighting mechanics of this nature.

If there’s something 2K did considerably well with Mafia II, it’s the audio package. From the classic tunes and radio chatter on the radio stations in your car and apartment, to the vocal delivery for each character you encounter, 2K put together an overall audio performance that gives a further immersion into the game world. While a few of the supporting cast have a bit of an annoying pitch to their voices, you can distinctly tell Italians from greasers and so on.

The one thing that should matter the most to a title such as this, has some uneven feelings to it. After the story begins with a brief narrative about a young Vito Scaletta and his scheming friend Joe Barbaro, you’re actually given control of Vito while he’s deployed for battle in World War II. After a failed robbery landed Vito in jail, he was shipped overseas to do battle, which would have been explained nicely via cut scenes. Throwing Vito from the frying pan into the fire as a form of a tutorial, could have been better served during the scene where he returns back home to Empire City, especially since subtle tutorials still pop up during this time. It feels so out of place and unnecessary to have to play through, and can really sour a first impression. The whole overseas segment acts as a minor plot device that comes into play soon after returning home, though to be frank, it’s not a major story changing event.

Landing back in Empire City, you return home to your mother and sister, who both welcome him home with open arms. Soon after, you’ll see your sister run across some brooding thug, out for something out of her, which introduces you to the CQC portion of Mafia II, and which could have served as a full fledged tutorial in a setting more appropriate to the story. After you beat the thugs face in, your sister reveals that your father, who passed away, took out a rather sizable loan that they have not been able to pay back. After you meet up with your old friend Joe Barbaro, he reveals that he knows how you can make some quick, sometimes bloody cash. Without much of a choice, Vito begins his money making quest, which eventually turns into more than he’d bargained for.

Throughout the course of the game, which barely manages to reach 12 hours on a single play-through (this is dedicated solely to the storyline, with no deviance from it), there’s a bit more inconsistency that comes about. Like the opening piece, there’s another instance in which you’ll have a significant change of venue. To elaborate more would only spoil some of the developments, but in a non-spoiler description, you basically go through a major transition that will throw you off from the fact that you just started getting comfortable with your surroundings. This leads to a chapter that has absolutely no combat whatsoever, with Vito acting more as a driver and a babysitter than a man trying to make some money. Although the drive home provides one of a handful of hilarious moments, the inconsistencies with the games pacing build up slowly, though in general, the story will keep your interest until the very end.

Speaking of the end, in a non spoiler description, during the third act, developments become so interesting with certain actions going down, the last scenes make you gasp and wish for an extension to the story. Hopefully 2K can deliver some DLC that will take off after the events of that rather impressionable ending, because they’ll really hook you in at the end, and leave you hungry for more.

As a whole, the story, especially the final chapters, are captivating enough that you’ll bypass any other optional goals, sight seeing and so on, just to see what will unfold next for Vito. The truth of the matter is, yes the story is worth playing through Mafia II at least once, but it tries to, and fails miserably, at masking the fact that Empire City is devoid of activity.

There’s just not enough variation to the shops and activities that you can engage in. There’s only so many times one can visit a clothing store that offers pretty much the same threads throughout, with the same decor as well. There’s no plausible use for a Gas Station, as they act more like a plot device than a necessity. Gun shops are helpful, though in general, you can get away with using a default handgun and any ballistics acquired from a body of your adversaries. Diners and bars offer health replenishment via food and beverage purchases, which you won’t really need, as either you’ll find food laying around during longer missions involving gun battles, or staying behind cover long enough when you’re low on health will regenerate just enough health to get you to the end of the mission. Finally, body shops have some value, if you wish to hold onto one or two vehicles throughout the course of the game and repair it when you all but total it, change the rims, license plate number and color. There’s no real urge to go out and take charge of your own destiny, as there’s so little to do, even the most mundane of sandbox activities, such as carjacking, is something that doesn’t even feel necessary.

You can cut down the games length by an hour, maybe even two, due to the vast amount of padding thrown in. Constant long distance drives just to initiate a chapter’s end, or extend a chapter that probably should have ended ten minutes prior, become quite aggravating. Most sandbox games have this padding in place, however it might just be the dull city you are playing in that enhances the annoyance factor of the needless driving from point A to point B, then to point C so you can drive back to point A so you can finally reach point D just to end the chapter. One chapter near the late portion of the game involves doing a job, which has a complication involved. You’ll drive away from Joe’s house to go to sleep, be called to a bar to pick up Joe after a drunken tirade, have another complication right before you take Joe home, drive Joe back home, drive the same vehicle to a car compactor, and then drive back home once again. This needless plodding can get extremely tiresome, and is an unpleasing way of artificially extending the games length. Without it, you can breeze through Mafia II in 9-11 hours, but with it, you’ll get 12+. It’s a lose/lose situation.

Police AI seems to be a bit erratic as well. The wealth of police vehicles and street walking law enforcement at any given time forces you to abide by the rules more often than you might have wished to. However, the selective memory of the AI, as well as the timing of their appearance during a major plot point, can cause some massive headaches. One instance saw my vehicle careen into a pedestrian, killing them instantly, as a squad car was a mere 10′ ahead of the situation, totally unaware of the murder I committed. Thirty seconds later, after traveling two miles over the speed limit past a cop car, sirens go off and the pursuit begins.

Being forced to drive slowly past police vehicles will hamper certain missions in which you need to drive cross city in order to meet a time sensitive objective. If the cops are after you, the game requires you ditch them completely before you’re allowed to hit certain checkpoints in certain missions. Sometimes you’ll be chased by the fuzz up to a checkpoint, where even if it’s a multi-star pursuit, not only do the police completely vanish, but your wanted level zeros out. On rare occasions, a police car will spontaneously appear out of thin air, initiating a chase due to your speeding antics.

With regards to longevity, with the lack of interest, deviance and variety offered by Empire City, there’s no real point to staying in town after the credits roll. As with most sandbox titles, you’ll have optional collection based tasks, such as Wanted posters sprinkled throughout the city. If you’re a sticker for getting a 100% completion rate to every game you play, you might find a reason to stay longer, though the utterly dull city will not feel so welcoming after a while. Need another incentive? Throughout the game you’ll find fifty Playboy magazines hidden in unsuspecting areas, or sometimes right in front of your face. We’re not talking random magazines with indescribable covers….we’re talking collectibles that, when picked up, immediately display a high resolution picture of a naked woman. While the secondary collectible task is definitely a plus for attempting to add replay value, it seems rather pointless to stumble across the sewers, have jets of sewer water sprayed all over you, only for you to stumble forward three steps and have a pair of breasts pop up on screen. While you shouldn’t be playing these games around young children anyway, Mafia II is one you’ll want to play when the little ones are off to dreamland.

When it comes down to whether Mafia II is worth playing or not, the short answer is “definitely”. The story, which is not without its inconsistencies in pacing and patience, provides enough thrills and drama to keep you hooked until the end. Unfortunately, one significant reason why you’ll stick with the story from beginning to end is because Empire City lacks life, luxury and a reason to explore. That’s not to mention the amount of padding in terms of driving all the way back to your home base to end the chapter. Put this at the top of your Gamefly list for sure, but once you’re done with the story, which isn’t quite that long to begin with, there’s no reason to go back for more, until the DLC sometime in the immediate future.

Rating: 7.0