Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I wasn’t really following the Mafia II is-it-good-or-nob controversy, for the simple reason that I thought it was probably a little bit nob. When the initial reviews came in, there was a clear division between people who thought it was a bit of a disappointment and people who thought it was supa-dupa-fly. To be honest, I presumed that the people who liked it were presumably just not very bright and had fell into the AAA-game + pretty + a bit of hype = 9/10 trap, because I can be just as judgemental as any reader when I put my mind to it. Quinns didn’t like it much. John felt similarly. Both particularly singled out the narrative for eye-rolling, with Walker noting it “should be damned is for its banal story” and despite the perhaps-best-ever acting “the lines they’re delivering, however, are blabber.”

So, no, none of this exactly put it on my To Play list.
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We’re awaiting our copy of the Mafia II DLC, Jimmy’s Vendetta, which we’ve heard makes the city a little bit more lively. It’s a series of assassination missions, taking place in the streets of Empire Bay. Something that might have gone a long way to satisfying all those who got very cross that the world wasn’t open enough, had they included it in the original game. We’ll let you know how it is as soon as we receive our code. In the meantime, know that it’s out, and there’s a trailer below to show it off. You can read my review of Mafia II here.

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Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, we were not able to get Mafia II review code before the game was released. So I’ve not slept much in the last 24 hours to complete the game, in order that I can tell you my thoughts. It’s a game I’ve been hoping to play for eight years, and have followed extremely closely during development. The reviews so far have been confusingly mixed, even the Eurogamer Network giving both a 4 and a 10. Below I’m finally able to tell you Wot I Think.

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Have you heard of Steam? It’s apparently a sort of electronic shop, from which you can buy games without even leaving your house! Via this frankly terrifying-sounding system it has become apparent that one can download a demo for Mafia II. It’s just over a GB, and will let you get a decent glimpse of the 1940s/50s open city.

It seems pretty clear that Mafia II is going to be one of those games where the publisher-released assets are going keep on coming until they flood the internet, burying life as we know it under a series of informative or excitingly-edited game footage clips featuring well-dressed men doing violence. (Because, if you hadn’t already realised, dudes are going to get shot.) This latest trailer is probably my favourite so far, because it’s not spoilering so much as just leaping from event to event. It’s also reminding me that I need to nip over and see John to get a glimpse of the thing in action. If you want to see what he thought about the early preview build, go have a read of this handsome preview.
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Ooh, ooh, it’s Mafia II. That’s the official song. I sing it because there are two more trailers, one of which features an interview with the splendid Director of Creative Production Jack Scalici. He discusses the story, the motivations, and the music. (If you want to read a lot more thoughts from Scalici, be sure to check out my feature on voice direction.) The second is an advert for NVidia. Oh, and don’t forget to check out our recent preview of the game.

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I’ve had my hands on a preview build of Mafia II, limited to four missions but with the whole city open. Below you can read my impressions at this stage, a couple of months ahead of release. You should be warned, at the end of this article is a picture of a lady with her boobies showing. It’s from the game, I swear.

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EDIT: Ahem.

E3 is starting next week, but we aren’t affected by the trifling issues of linear time. So we have for you a world unexclusive reveal of the new Mafia II trailer, The Made Man.

This is not the only place you can watch the trailer until it’s released properly at E3 next week. Which means we’re the same as everyone else.

Sigh.

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I got a chance to sit down with Mafia II on PC, and play through a complete mission. Then run on a lunatic rampage around the city. Read my impressions below.

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Mafia II is the year’s most anticipated game about watching lavish cutscenes, driving to places and shooting people then watching more lavish cutscenes before driving to places and shooting people. Expect vast quantities of gloss and pizazz from this one. Oooh, I’ve never written the word ‘pizazz’ before. It’s fun, isn’t it? Anyway: I believe our man John ‘Giggles’ Walker will be presenting you with a write-up of his forthcoming hands-on time with the PC build in the not-too-distant, but in the meantime here’s a few of the devs (including Czech guys dubbed into English) talking about and, more importantly, demonstrating some of the finer points* of this highly anticipated driving/shooting/watching game.

*I.e. “smashing men’s faces into car doors.”
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Last week, I finally got to spend a little quality time with the rarely-seen, much-delayed Mafia 2. While I was there, I made Alex Cox, one of the game’s producers, an offer he couldn’t refuse. He refused it anyway. So I decided to ask him about the game instead. Read on for the chatty chap’s thoughts on the game’s excellent music, open world versus linear and whether ‘dickcheese’ is an authentic 1950s swear word or not.
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