[Official] Mafia II

[Spookie]

the driving doesn't seem too bad in this game though tbh, but i could see it getting tedious if you spend more time in teh story driving than doing interesting stuff.

Hit the nail on the head.

[Massiveterra]

To me, the driving sections of the game would make more sense if:

1.You are given the freedom to choose which mission you wanted to start (not having such a linear story)

2. There are side missions to choose from

3. There are objectives with driving, like getting somewhere under a specific time, similar to the gas rations mission. Or discovering a path to completely avoid the police.

If there's one thing I've learned about the evolution of open world games, it's about the density of the world, not the area. Depth over breadth. This was the same reason Far Cry 2 didn't appeal to me either.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

I can see both sides of the argument about the driving vs quick travel, as I finally really got a chance to play the game today since I got back from vacation. I am now at 14%, I just did the gas rations mission, and I would say 11% of my time has been spent driving / watching cutscenes, so it is indeed a little annoying. Also, I have not died yet, or had to restart any mission, but if it turns out I have to start a mission from the very beginning, and drive all over again, then yeah, that is going to be way more annoying then fun. I would think a happy medium would have been once you visit a certain location, you could quick travel to it. If you choose not to, then you choose not to, if you do use it, then it is because you want to. My biggest thing is as I have said a million times now on these forums, I just do not have the time like I once did to play games. So when I can and do play, that time is precious so to speak. So if the game is going to dedicate this much time to driving for the sake of authenticity, which I do get, I do, I may have to just move on to something else that makes better use of my gaming time.

[Sethos]

Driving is an integral part of Mafia and people really have to understand that. You also drove everywhere in Mafia 1 at snail pace, police was even less lenient and the cars were authentic but really some slowboats until you get to the later years. This is a true sequel to one of the best games ever made, in my opinion and despite riding the DLC wave a bit too hard and suffering from the watering down thing most games do, it still sticks to its roots and caters for the real Mafia fans. I truly enjoyed every second of driving in this game because the cars are so fun to drive, they handle great. Never have I ever felt so much behind the wheel of a car like I do in this game simply because of how the car reacts, even the tires seem to have physics of their own ( See the rubber bend and flex as you drive ).

People are mistaking this series as a shooter with driving features - This is a driving game with shooter elements, just like Mafia 1. First game, every car got so much love and attention, the developers test drove some of the older models ( Mainly re-build machines ) and implemented it all into the game. They put a lot of emphasis on the driving and because of the slow build up to everything, because of the authentic and realistic feel, the game stood head and heels above every other game at that time and even now. So they obviously tried to re-create that and they did so to a B+ in my book. Yes the game isn't perfect, yes the story is a bit weak, yes it lacks in a few departments, yes it suffers from next-gen AIDS but at the core it sticks to its roots.

So if you were expecting a GTA like game or loads of shooting, you sure picked the wrong game - The game doesn't miss, it hits the core segment bang on but because the market today has to cater for such a broad spectrum, a lot of people unfamiliar with Mafia's much slower feel just doesn't "get" the mentality behind the game.

The game doesn't fit into this generation of gaming because it isn't constant action, it doesn't have a metric ton of random crap just crowbarred in to cater for the ADD kids, it doesn't allow people to quick travel or just rush everywhere. It's a much more laid back title that pays a tribute to true fans of the Mafia series.

[Spookie]

People are mistaking this series as a shooter with driving features - This is a driving game with shooter elements, just like Mafia 1.

That's our fault?

If that were the case why was it marketed the way it was? Sure that's not your misconceptions? Granted I never read the interviews but I'd love to see where they said otherwise.

The game doesn't fit into this generation of gaming because it isn't constant action, it doesn't have a metric ton of random crap just crowbarred in to cater for the ADD kids, it doesn't allow people to quick travel or just rush everywhere. It's a much more laid back title that pays a tribute to true fans of the Mafia series.

This seems like such a catch all excuse these days. Hell the action-adventure/open world genre isn't even that old (really kicked off in the late 90's?) and GTA was little more than running people over and shooting things all the time.

But off on a tangent on the Live Bombcast where Pachter was a guest he called Take Two CEO a "****ing *******" for calling him out on Mafia II's profit potential. Comedy gold. :D

[Huleboeren]

snip

People are mistaking this series as a shooter with driving features - This is a driving game with shooter elements, just like Mafia 1. First game, every car got so much love and attention, the developers test drove some of the older models ( Mainly re-build machines ) and implemented it all into the game. They put a lot of emphasis on the driving and because of the slow build up to everything, because of the authentic and realistic feel, the game stood head and heels above every other game at that time and even now. So they obviously tried to re-create that and they did so to a B+ in my book. Yes the game isn't perfect, yes the story is a bit weak, yes it lacks in a few departments, yes it suffers from next-gen AIDS but at the core it sticks to its roots.

snip

wtf are you on about lol

source?

[Spookie]

Ripped this from the Giantbomb Panel at PAX. Had to cringe when he asked who bought the game!

[nub]

Could have been an awesome game, but instead made a lot of very poor decisions and turned in it into a mediocre game.

[chevyordeath]

I have to agree with Sethos on this one. The first one was all about driving, but the driving was great and realistic. I loved the first game to death, played through it many times. I have to admit that I haven't played this one yet, but I plan to pick it up soon. If it's anything like the first one, I won't be disappointed.

[psreloaded]

They also have copied some stuffs from Godfather 1, like shooting from cover, etc

[MightyJordan]

They also have copied some stuffs from Godfather 1, like shooting from cover, etc

No. The cover system started off in Gears of War, and has been copied by so many other games, including The Godfather, and Mafia II.

[Mr_Edwardo]

Sooo I just noticed that 'Jimmy's Vendetta' DLC is out this morning on Steam.

Anyone gonna get this? Seems to contain a lot more shooting than driving, so I'm guessing it may address the balance for some of those who complained about this.

EDIT - On second thoughts, there seem to be plenty of driving missions too - maybe I was wrong...

Downloading now!

[WastedJoker]

I'm also downloading Jimmy's Vendetta if only because it sounds like an interesting game mode - you get points for your driving style etc.

Sounds like it'll be a less story-driven blast.

[Singh400]

Personally, I think to play Mafia II you should be made to play Mafia I. Perhaps then some of you will understand where we are coming from. Mafia #1 was excellent, #2 was OK. But it didn't capture me as #1 did.

Now lets all hug (or kiss! ;) ;) ) and make up.

:D

[ahmz]

In the first half of the game I found the driving extremely tedious, but then it became a bit more fun after that because the cars were faster. But besides that, the only good thing about the constant driving was that it made the gun battles more exciting and something to savour.

Anyway if you have an opinion you don't have to keep repeating yourself and going back n forth, just say it once (or twice) and move on.

[|Rapture|]

GTA was little more than running people over and shooting things all the time

I hate this misconception. If you played through the missions the original top down GTA wasn't that far away from GTA3. The gangs, the humour, the movie clich? characters were all there, you just had to read the writing at the bottom of the screen instead of watching a cutscene.

Also, why on earth would you think Mafia 2 was going to be a sequel for *insert any sandbox game that isn't the original Mafia here*?

[Spookie]

Sethos: Fine ignore me.

I hate this misconception. If you played through the missions the original top down GTA wasn't that far away from GTA3. The gangs, the humour, the movie clich? characters were all there, you just had to read the writing at the bottom of the screen instead of watching a cutscene.

Also, why on earth would you think Mafia 2 was going to be a sequel for *insert any sandbox game that isn't the original Mafia here*?

Much like GTA I haven't played the original Mafia in quite some time so like anyone I have a vague memory of the games. I may well be selling them short, but I haven't played them for a good 10 years!

I guess the point I was trying to make, though I can't find my post, is the difference between Mafia and GTA is that GTA advanced the series. It added new features, mission types and so on. Mafia 2 feels like a game which is almost archaic in it's structure from how I remember Mafia I. They feel very similar. I just expected a bigger leap.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

At this point certain people are just beating a dead horse, somehow finding ways to say the same thing 15 different ways. Can we all just agree to let it go and move on? At this point the same opinion has been shared multiple times, some people love the game, some do not, so let's just leave it at that (if possible) and move on please.

[Massiveterra]

At this point certain people are just beating a dead horse, somehow finding ways to say the same thing 15 different ways. Can we all just agree to let it go and move on? At this point the same opinion has been shared multiple times, some people love the game, some do not, so let's just leave it at that (if possible) and move on please.

But it's the internet :p

So far I'm about 6 hours of the game, and I agree that it indeed gets better. Perfect? Maybe not. But the story indeed is compelling. The driving really does become a lot less tedius, and I'd have to say, my favorite level so far was the

prison level. It gave me the Shawshank Redemption vibe, and since it's my favorite movie of all time, that level really hit home for me.

Also, that level gave me the impression that the game probably wouldn't be so bad in first person, because the first person perspective definitely reflects a nice gloomy vibe of the game.

I just completed the

warehouse level

, which was the level I saw at Pax East. That level truly made up for the lack of gunplay during the beginning parts of the game. And it also made me realize how unforgiving the checkpoint system is. It was an enjoyable challenge.

Since I never played the first game, I looked up reviews of the first game. It really does seem very similar to this Mafia. I can understand why people who loved the first game loved this game. But the thing is, in 2002 the 3rd person sandbox open world game was still in its infancy, so many things in the original Mafia may have seemed new and exciting at the time. Many open world sandbox games have came out since then, and it seems that keeping the same type of game won't impress newcomers to the franchise, since so many other sandbox-type games have been released since then.

I don't think calling this game a driving game with shooter elements is a fair description because the core of the story and plot doesn't revolve around cars, or even driving for that matter. Driving just seems a way to connect the plot and the gunplay together. I really think that if the developers decided to take advantage of the fact that the have a huge open world game, like adding side missions, small objectives, and a non-linear plot where the player has the opportunity which missions to start, the game would have been received better.

I do, however, see an issue with the fact that I've been playing the game for 6 hours and I still don't know my way around the world without looking at the map or being guided by the radar. I hate to compare this with GTA, but as far as level progression, GTA and other recent sandbox games allows you to get familiar with the map by limiting missions to specific areas so that you are truly familiar with it. Then as the map areas open up, so does your familiarity with them. I think this was another lost opportunity with this game where the player could have known the entire world my memory.

[Boxster17]

By the way, I may have missed something but why did the health bar only cover, like, 60% of the circle? I figured it was like GTA when you get body armour that makes up the other half but I saw nothing on my run through.

Didn't see this answered before but the other part of it is used for when you're wanted, it'll start filling up with blue as cops begin to identify you. Once it fills up completely then they'll give chase.

[WastedJoker]

Didn't see this answered before but the other part of it is used for when you're wanted, it'll start filling up with blue as cops begin to identify you. Once it fills up completely then they'll give chase.

Y'know, you're right and I'm amazed I didn't know this already :laugh:

Jimmy's Vendetta is a bit of an enigma. It's fun but some of the missions feel a bit easy to circumvent - one of them involves blowing up two gas stations and I did it so easily by simply driving around until the enemy shot the garages up themselves until they went boom. This allowed me to then drive quickly away from the enemy and back to the "safe spot".

Likewise other missions you only have to kill the two main guys and get back to a safe spot - the two targets aren't hiding or well-protected by a rank of cohorts. You basically just shoot them then jump into a car and drive away from the 12 or so other enemy.

Annoyingly, despite the police being way too stupid in the full game, in JV the missions don't hide away from the police (like in the scripted shoot outs where your gun fire attracts ZERO police attention unless it's part of the script) and as such you can easily get help from the police because the enemy AI open fire first - if there's police nearby, they start taking out the enemy.

So, 6/10 for this DLC so far but it's still a good laugh because it feels faster/busier and crazier. Jimmy is a cool character too - he needs more catch phrases though!

[Ironman273]

Well, I didn't get into this thread because I wanted to finish the game and didn't want to get tempted into reading spoilers...

A couple of things I liked: the different "locations", i.e. winter city, prison, summer city. The story was good and kept me interested. You didn't get chased every time you ran a red light or sped. I thought it made the driving tedious in the first one.

Some of my quibbles: Like it was mentioned, I never seemed to get my bearings in the environment. The map didn't seem that big, I guess there just wasn't enough differentiation like I found in the GTA universe. Also, I never seemed to be able to explore the area. In GTA and other sandbox games when you finish a mission it seems like you had time to wander around after before heading to the next trigger point for a mission. I guess I could've wandered before I went "home" but then the missions never felt finished and I was worried if I screwed up I would start before the end of the mission. Once you went home the next missions pretty much started (probably with a phone call) that asked me to quickly make my way to a location. I wish I would've had time to walk or drive around to explore. I would've liked some separate missions too, like the car finding missions in GTA. I thought I would get that from Brock but every time I went by he told me he didn't have anything for me. It was only later in the game that I realized I could get cars to crush for money, but it could be any car and money was never really a problem in the game anyways.

Overall the game was fun. My favorite moment was

the tie in with the first game where you fulfill the contract to kill Tommy Angelo :D That was a welcome surprise.

[neoadorable]

don't understand why the driving is such a bone of contention here, it's what the game does and that's how it does it. doesn't detract from the experience, actually adds to it. i already know this will be one of those games that'll stay with me, like i'll be driving somewhere and think that it looks like Empire Bay. and i don't mean just because the city's such a good riff on LA/Chicago/NYC/Cleveland, i mean in general.

[Mr_Edwardo]

Jimmy's Vendetta is.. kind of fun I guess. Just don't expect it to be any more than mission after mission of "kill this guy. blow up this car. beat up this gang." There's really no story tied into it at all.

I guess it's good in that there's more to do - if you take it at face value, and don't expect any kind of extension of the storyline you'll probably enjoy blasting through the missions.

[Ironman273]

I'm curious if people explored the world and, if they did, when would be the best time in the game to do it. I guess I'll go back in for the centerfolds and wanted posters. I didn't realize you needed to get them until I accidentally ran into a Playboy magazine towards the end and got the button prompt to pick it up. I ended up with 3 centerfolds and no posters.