Mafia II Review

Oh Mafia 2. I recently replayed the Definitive Edition of the first game after I recently finished The Old Country. I recall being lukewarm when I initially beat Mafia 2. The game seemingly didn't have the open world that Mafia 3 would be infamous for. If it didn't why was so I lukewarm on Mafia 2 but really enjoyed the first game's remake? Playing it again, I understand better.

I recall really enjoying to Mafia Definitive Edition and still do after replaying it. Mafia 2 on the other hand was a lot more hazey by comparison. I can see why that is now. I see on some parts on the internet that Mafia 1's story is cliched and Mafia 2 is more interesting due to being more ambitious. I disagree with that notion. I prefer a simple story that is well presented over a poorly presented complex one.

Mafia 1 was following the story of Tommy Angelo who starts off as a lowly cab driver but then discovers the mob, rise through the family ranks becomes disillusioned then tries to leave.

Mafia 2 tries have more subplots and be told over the course of multiple years and eras. A big issue is how there are a number of plot points and threads that ultimately go nowhere. Some examples include the hinted romance between Vito and the hooker. It seems that they're going to happen but once he goes to jail, this sub plot is dropped.

Vito's sister in Francesca shows up and here and there but has no promient presence in the story. A particularly ergregious example is during a chapter, you think everything about to wrap up but then out of nowhere she calls him about her cheating boyfriend. After this? Gone. In the same chapter, you get attack by the irish and get your house burned down out of nowhere considering the boyfriend subplot was disconnected from this.

Late game there's someone who is revealed to be a rat for the feds and the character is so underdeveloped that the twist can come out of nowhere.

No joke, on the last mission of the game. Vito's father who by this point in the story has accepted that his dad was a deadbeat loser turns out his death was actually a murder and he was standing up for his fellow workers. I usually try not to use the term "retcon" when something feels out of nowhere in a story since they happen with prequels and sequels but how out of nowhere this was, it can feel that way.

Don Clemente is also just randomly comes back in the story after seemingly is written out.

To top off all this, the ending can feel like a cliffhanger and is a massive step down compared to the first game's very well written conclusion.

After all this, what prevents me from being harsher on the story? The voice acting is very good and the chemestry between Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro carries A LOT of the game's story. Their interactions are very fun to listening to and the journey the two have together is the one narrative thread that persists throughout the game. If you cut this aspect out, I wouldn't even get to the end.

Gameplay is where it's really easy for me to get harsh on. Yes, Mafia 2 seemingly has the structure of the first game and it's remake where the open world is optional...but that is deceptive. Most of your time in Mafia 2 is spent driving. It's almost 60% of the game. If not 70%. You watch a cutscene that lasts less than 5 minutes and then 5-10 minute driving sequence then watch another cutscene and back to more driving. They changed the police system this time but considering how long driving to the next destination is, the cops can feel more like an annoying progression roadblock.

Compare that to the first game where car rides went by quickly and the car chases happened during big story moments. In Mafia 2, it's easy to call it downtime driving simulator. At times, it felt like the plot points dropped were supposed to be their own quest lines in a traditional open world.

Fist fighting is just kind of there. It doesn't have much going on to really go into detail on.

Then there's the shooting. Oh the shooting. I originally played on normal difficulty and thought easy mode might make it more bearable. It didn't. You can get down to critical health very fast on easy mode too.

A big issue with cover combat is that the higher you raise the difficulty or the more that is added, the longer time is spent waiting for health to regen. Mafia 2 is this. The big challenge of the shooting is hoping you can kill an enemy fast enough before they hit you and your health goes down to critical. Die? Do it all again since checkpoints aren't that frequent.

So much time is spent just waiting for health to regen and trying to land a shot on an enemy. Third party controller did add extra issues I will admit.

A good aspect of combat is that weapons kind of feel punchy. Sound design could be better.

Overal when looking back on my time with Mafia 2, I can't help but say to myself, "oh my god I spent hours of my life doing boring car rides and drawn out cover shootouts. I don't want to touch this again."