TheVine: Mafia 2 Review

TheVine: As the world of interactive entertainment becomes more cinematic, epic and story-driven, it sometimes becomes hard to differentiate between the video game you're playing, and a full length feature film (albeit rendered in 3D animation, with occasional lip-synching issues). Mafia 2 is a prime case in point here - it's a saga that sprawls across two decades, with a colourful cast of characters and more plot twists than a strand of spaghetti. In between all the cutscenes, narration and soaring orchestral scores, the question is - does strong gameplay (surely the core foundation of any video game) remain intact? Will players still have good, old fashioned fun, or has it all been lost in an ocean of backstory, montages and cutting-edge graphics? 8.5/10