Mafia II

Mafia II offers a third person action packed experience that puts players inside the mob and builds on the original Mafia experience to once again challenge players to rise the criminal ranks. Originally released in 2010 a Definitive Edition remastered the experience with HD graphics for modern platforms (PS4 and Xbox One) and combined all of the downloadable content to date in 2020.

Serving as an action adventure sequel to Mafia players will return to the fictional Empire Bay between the era 1945 and 1951. While the setting for your adventure in Mafia II is fictional Empire Bay players will find familiar designs from well known US locations such as Boston, Chicago and New York which have been combined into one thriving city of crime. Set just after the events of World War II the game world is open for player exploration and features accurate weapons and other story elements that mirror our own real world history. This sees an Empire Bay that is split into distinct game regions that each house different immigrant families, suburbs, wealthy businessman and slums alongside industrial buildings, a large prison on the city limits and countless businesses servicing the community in between.

During the main story component of Mafia II players will visit all of these locations with your own plot weaved into the the story of three notable criminal families. Alongside the Falcone, Vinci and Clemente families you’ll find the Chinese Triad, Irish Mob and several lower ranked street gangs all fighting for control over territory in the fictional city. Playing as the Sicilian immigrant Vito Scaletta players are introduced into the dark underworld of the city by their childhood friend Joe Barbaro who works within the Clemente crime family. While players quickly find themselves in prison for their contribution to the family the potential to better your financial position proves too eluding as players set a goal to climb the criminal ranks.

The game of Mafia II has many improvements over the original Mafia game with this core gameplay once again providing a varied amount of content for players that focuses on exploration and action variety. A notable mechanic in particular of Mafia II is the introduction of significantly expanded interaction options with players able to interact with most objects in either a standard or violent action which helps you feel like you are part of the mafia and simply don’t care about anything. An example that players will run into often is the option to pick a lock or simply break a window to gain access to a location or car.

These petty crimes though are just part of your broader exploration of the city that allows players to utilise over 50 vehicles to move from quest to quest while obtaining new weapons to assist with harder challenges. As an open world third person adventure Mafia II features a mixture of core story missions that explore your own rise through the mafia ranks and side content that offers opportunities to explore the world, take part in different world mechanics or practice important combat skills.

When violence is required you’ll be able to use the Thompson submachine gun, pistols and shotguns that combine with the games combat cover system that ensures gun fights are accessible and maintain realism even on console devices. This combat difficulty is also modified by your choice of the three game settings that range from low damage and regenerative health on easy mode to hard where your HUD radar disappears.

To further build on the game level of realism players will find that Mafia II does not use pre-rendered cut scenes and as a result this means your character, clothes, weapons and even car that you are driving will be part of scenes which is a really nice touch to the overall atmosphere.

Summary:

• Play as part of the mafia as you seek to climb the family crime ranks.
• Great variety of missions as you explore the fictional diverse city.
• Extensive soundtrack that will have you feeling like you’ve stepped back in time.
• Large number of weapons to enforce your authority and maximise the use of the cover system.
• Lack of pre-rendered cut scenes ensures your choice of clothes and car are integrated into the story.

Links:

• Buy Mafia II (Steam)
• Buy Mafia II (Amazon – PC/PS3/Xbox 360)
• Buy Mafia II (Microsoft Store – Xbox One)
• Buy Mafia Trilogy (PlayStation Store)
• Buy Mafia Trilogy (Microsoft Store)

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Review Platform: PC