To start, put aside your memories of another crime-centric gaming series. First and foremost, Mafia 2 is an action game, hauling you along a linear path from chapter to chapter completing one story-based objective after another. If you want a more traditional sandbox-style game with missions scattered across the map, then that’s where the new-game-purchase bonus “The Betrayal of Jimmy” comes in. If you don’t care either way, it’s a small but sweet addition to the universe that shouldn’t affect your decision to wait for a used copy. As for the main story, you play as Vito Scaletta as he makes his way through a long, hardship-filled life. You’ll watch this guy go up, down, around, and sideways in the world of organized crime, and because of this, you may find yourself getting surprisingly attached to the wise-cracking Sicilian. The narrative is slow, if not a bit clichéd, but it’s enough to keep you going from mission to mission ‘til the end. Add that to quality voice acting, period music, and a dynamic setting that changes significantly as events unfold, and you have a world that you can easily find yourself getting lost in.
Speaking of the music, the original tunes here are few, but beautiful. The gripping title theme alone will send chills down your spine, and it’s a great listen as you’re “browsing” the unlockable “art”. That’s right. Mafia 2 has the best collectibles in video game history: HD uncensored photos of some of the most beloved playmates in history (which, honestly, could probably sell for $60 by themselves).
The gameplay itself is solid run-and-gun cover-based fare. You’ll use everything from M1 grands and pistols to Thompsons in your quest to become a made man. The guns behave like you want them to, delivering accuracy where you want and crowd control where necessary, making them solid tools to do your job. However, you may find enemy fire to be a tad more lethal in this game than in others. On anything other than easy, you simply won’t have the time to fall back into cover once you start taking damage, so you’ll quickly learn to only pop out of safety long enough to shoot. The gunplay’s broken up with occasional fistfights that might feel a bit shallow, and, at worst, frustrating. Even after you figure out how to dodge and counter successfully, you’ll often have a hard time covering the distance you need without getting pummeled. The action also occasionally takes a backseat to awkward sequences where you perform menial and sometimes degrading tasks, slowly being led to where you get to shoot people again. On one hand, it often feels unnecessary and frustrating, but on the other, it’s a strangely effective way to keep the action from getting stale, so it shouldn’t be a problem as long as you have a little patience.
Packed with atmosphere and enough bullets to supply an army, Mafia II is a nice way to spend time if you’re willing to play by its rules. If you’re hard-up for some action, then dive right in. Capiché?
With E3 starting next week, 2K Games revealed the biggest E3 line up they have for the year
Only game iam waiting for is for mafia 2 nothing else intrest me well only Metal gear solid peace walkers but ill get that soon
nice. waiting to see what mafia 2 and spec ops the line has too offer. not into rts games, so civ 5 not for me, and not too familiar with x-com series.
GF365: "There are some games with extraordinary visuals that impress us to this day. Here are old games with outstanding graphics."
Same as Killzone 2 and 3, uncharted 2 and 3, Infamous 2, Heavy Rain, Resistance 3
I wish this was entirely true, but you might want to load up Killzone 2 and Resistance 3 again.
@jason I watched some gameplay videos of KZ2 and R3 on my full screen. They are on par or succeed graphically to the first person shooters mentioned in the article that also launched on the seventh generation of consoles. Try the same and see what you think
Killzone 3 was super impressive! I could not believe the graphics back then as I was regularly pausing the game to stand in awe looking at the surroundings! Resistance however did not impress me that much. Heavy rain is also another amazing graphically speaking game. It almost felt next gen
I always thought the first 3 Gears of War games looked great and still hold up for today.
They did for their day. I recently played gears judgement with on the 360 and the draw distance was so blurry. The characters up close look great though
Far Cry 2 was awesome. In addition to having demonstrably better physics and AI than later games in the series, it had a lot of design decisions that, criticized at the time, have since been praised in games like BOTW and Dark Souls.
It might not be super amazing by today's standard but I thought Mgs3 looked really good
Today, Mafia: Definitive Edition showed up on Microsoft's Store. The listing was immediately taken down not before a lot of people saved the screenshots.
Honestly, this is the only game that has me excited. Currently all the games now I have lost interest in gaming not the same. But this.... I'm so down for this. I only played Mafia 1 a little bit because I was introduced at Mafia 2, which I loved. I'm bias though because I love that time era of the mobsters.
SPOILER OF MAFIA 2 SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
I love how the setting changes completely after you are released from jail. From snowy to colorful. Vehicles, music, clothing. It was amazing and refreshing. It felt like you really did spent time in jail. It was so immersive for me. Amazing.
There's so many good and great games coming out literally every week, it's baffling to see someone say something like this.
Not to mention the older good and great games you haven't played.
People like lovemetal is more of a casual gamer. He just so happens to frequent game sites.
Mafia 2 is awesome, it is my all-time fav game. The environment is so fresh, you really get into the game. Finding out papalardo kiling your father, seeing your mother die while in jail. The Post WW2 environment where people are happy, dancing, christmas. Its so great, I am so happy.
I was so excited for the mafia 2 remaster we've been hearing about the past few months, so I ordered mafia 1 for PS2. It literally showed up the day they showed mafia 1 remake. It figures, but I am so hyped they actually remade the first game.
The first game is the only one i want. Amazing game and one of the best games ever.
The next GTA 6 should dwell into that era. Not appealing to the masses but would be perfect for it
GTA can dance in any era if Rockstar would get back to being confident again.
Grand theft Auto is all about sales That's the biggest IP for take two so don't expect them to take a lot of chances with that IP
Maybe since they did three characters for Grand theft Auto v maybe they can do more than one location within the game universe and the player can fly there drive there is etc etc
Just to tell everyone, the Playboys alone are definitely not worth $60. It's a nice addition to an average game, but not a deal breaker or something I'd spend my $60 for.