Building on the foundation of the former title, 2K Czech’s Mafia II is a third-person open-world action game set in the 1940s and 1950s. It stars a dashing protagonist come home to a fictional East coast city after eating a bullet in World War II. Sad events turned sadder as he's pulled into the mafia after he seeking money to pay off his dead father’s defaulted loan.
Last afternoon I played about 35 minutes of the game during a mission at some point late in the “second chapter.” In the eyes of the developer present, this was a swathe of game that revealed all its features: the driving, the shooting, the interaction and the city.
[Note: I'm building off previous impressions by our own Conrad Zimmerman.]
No Don, no Problem
The mission, called “Wild Ones,” kicks off with a bang. The protagonist finds himself selling cigarettes out of the back of a truck until a rival gang shows up and tosses a Molotov cocktail at the goods. Much like any open-world title in the Grand Theft Auto tradition, you start by attempting to catch the fire starters in a wobbly vehicle. Then, you’ll have to hoof it on foot within a narrow alleyway, battling gangsters as you move from cover piece to impromptu cover piece.
A lot of Rough
The core components of Mafia II all feel rough at this stage. The driving is awkward, almost shoddy. Like in Pandemic’s The Saboteur, the cars are center weighted, meaning the front and back end slip and slide around each turn.
The combat is better, but lacks that essential, good-feeling layer of polish. The protagonist can slam behind cover with gusto of a wide-shouldered Marcus Fenix, however, his movement outside of the back end of cement is too rigid. When coupled with the game’s 1940s weaponry (which have massive recoil and terrible accuracy) the character’s slim health bar, and the horrifying checkpoint system there’s not much to feel good about.
Keep in mind, though, that Mafia II is a [Edit: Fiscal Q4] release. There’s time to make these elements feel better.
The City
Outside of the weird shading and edging issues, the city in Mafia II looks great and appears to have that emergent kind of feel most devs aim for. People wander the 1940s era streets, react to the change in day and night as well as the weather. I couldn’t get a sense of scale during my preview, but from what I understand, this place is more focused than a sprawling and mundane Liberty City.
It Has Boobs
I found a "Playboy" magazine in the alleyway after I destroyed a couple of gangsters. To my surprise, it showed a centerfold in the nude. It was explained to me that the covers of these collectible magazines are digital recreations of the actual magazines released in the 50s. Saucy.
Parting Thought
I’d like to see Mafia II closer to release and much more feature complete. The build I had in my hands was early and the room admitted as much. That said, all the pieces for a solid open-world action title are in place. Things just need tweaked.
Contest:
3:20 PM on 03.10.2010
| 
@Xzyliac
Technically it isn't in develoment hell, they must be takin their time to make this game. You know, the Gran Turismo 5 time.
The whole Playboy thing is a cool if it's just an aside thing that comes up a few times during the game, but it looks like they're shoehorning into too many places to the point where it look like blatant product placement. I can believe that a lot of dudes read Playboy back then, but if it's in EVERYONE'S house, EVERY office and EVERY OTHER ally, it's going to seem lame.
... or AWESOME.
In any case, I don't really care. I'll be buying this on PC and it will be the best game I play this year, even if it's the worst game I play this year.
MafiaII seems to have maintained that realistic touch that was so perfect and enjoyable in the original Mafia. That much i deciphered from this review and hell yeah, that`s one great thing.