chzr
Scholar
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2010
- Messages
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I have finished Mafia II today so here is a wall of text if anyone's interested. I'll try to avoid spoilers (or tag them).
As we know, demo was a big disappointment and skyway was right about it. Still, i had some hopes that they will improve at least something in the full game. They didn't. Anything at all. Since i didn't played late 'open world action advantures' like GTA IV or RDR, i will compare it only to the original Mafia. Also i won't judge graphix because my pc is crap, watch yt videos FFS, but i will say that you can't turn off bloom and other shit, which sucks.
Background of the game is obvious, you are Vito and returned home from WW2, you meet friend Joe who is a complete douché and the advanture of a big gangsta can begin. Well, sort of, but if you care about Mafia 2 at all, you probably know all of this so let's move on.
The game literally begins with combat, which is not hard to sum up - it's bad. And I mean, really bad even for popamole shooter standards. You all probably know that there is health regen, but it has one improvement - 'permanent damage', which means that all health lost isn't always regenerated. Although it's not a big deal, I though i'd be cool if I had to visit doctor after being shot a lot... wrong. To fully heal, you have to eat or drink. Okay... Then we have were... oh yes, cover system! You enter/leave cover with hotkey. You can't shoot without using zoom/aim, os even if there's guys next to you, you have to zoom the shit out of him before shooting 3 meters from you. That also applies if you're not looking 'in front of you' but covering you flanks. On the other hand you have extremely useful feature - moving around corner while staying 'glued' in cover. Isn't it awesome? Rather then run to another cover, slowly walk against enemy guns but hey man, you are still glued to the wall! Although there are some guns to choose from, it really doesn't matter because everything is extremely accurate on any range (btw war veteran firing smgs from the hip?), even fucking shotgun. In case you are retarded, the crosshair turns red when you aim at enemies. Even if it's not like in Mass Effect 2 where enemies have suddenly 100% accuracy when u're not in cover and you can't crouch, you can still win a lot of gunfights just by running around and shooting, especially in open areas. Vito can take a lot of bullets unless you catch a lucky shotgun so dying is almost impossible when you do not want.
Apart from shooting, there is even better melee combat. So let's make this quick, if shooting is bad, melee is terrible. They ditched ALL melee weapons, leaving you only fists and superb beating system. Right? Let's see, if you approach hostile guy who wants to beat you too, the camera change to shitty 'boxing sim view' and both you and your enemy have two attacks (fast and heavy) and 'dodge'. Now, if you simply hold dodge, enemy simply can't hit you. There also 'counterattack', when you dodge enemy hit and right after that you hit back. So how this extremely enjoyable fights look? If enemy doesn't cover, you punch him 3 times (or 2 using heavy punch) and he staggers or falls down few steps from you. You come back to him and repeat. If he covers, you simply wait (holding dodge) until he tries to hit you and then you 'counterattack' him. repeat until he staggers longer, then you few times randomly click both mouse buttons and you get random 'finishing move'. And that's it. Banal, shit, boring. If you try to melee someone armed, you simply punch him 3 times and take him out because he can't defend.
So now that we've found out combat is crap, it's time to check out vehicles. There are 2 driving mode. 'Normal', where vehicles move like in generic arcade racing and 'simulation'. Obviously playing simulation whole time, I have to say that cars feel in my opinion right and it's maybe the best part of the game. Vehicles feel 'heavy', oversteer, slowly accelerate and even slower brake. Even worse on snow or wet roads. To sum this up, handling is brilliant and cars are fun to drive. 'Dynamic car damage' is back, so cars can end in various shape, even if it seems to be harder to 'deform' the car then in Mafia, not mentioning there is no baseball bat to make it easier. Damage overall is done quite well. cars explode only by other explosions or by shooting fuel tank (not doors or roof) and engine is damaged only when it's actually hit (front crashes). Problem with all this is that they removed all things that made driving car fun in Mafia. That is mainly manual gearbox and minor stuff like odometer. Even if fuel is present, it seems that unlike Mafia, fuel tank can't be 'penetrated' and fuel can't leak, so you actually can't run out of it if you don't want to (and even if you do, you have to try really hard). There are about 35 cars available, which is not much tbh and you can either pick lock (oblivion like minigame) or smash window. Guess what's faster... It's a shame that 'easy' things like manual gearbox aren't present, they'd make it much better. oh well...
When talking about driving and vehicles,police definitely has to be mentioned. Again, police will be butthurt if you break the law, although it is not nearly as strict as in M1. Basically, police has now one more 'level', or start in M2. Fine, arrest and shooting on sight is back with 'auto weapons' added. Basically, if you kill few people, police will have tommyguns instead of pistols and shotguns. Less strict is more liek more blind. Sometimes police won't notice you drive like crazy, sometimes yes. Also police now doesn't care about traffic lights at all and crashes that are not into other cars (no more fines after hitting bin on a street). Another new thing is how police 'detect' you. If you are seen commiting a crime (by policeman), you are 'wanted' until you change clothes. If you enter vehicle while wanted or use it to break law, then vehicles is 'wanted' until you change color/license plate. If you are out of sight, there is sort of 'cooldown' bar, similar to need for speed one. If you are caught, you can either resist arrest or pay a fine/bribe. Usually, fastest way to get rid of lone policemen chasing you is to stop and shoot him. Anyway, example of police in action (after 'robbing' clothes shop).
I can rant about gameplay much longer but there is no point. Shooting is crappy, vehicles are unfortunately 'dumbed down' and police isn't really much better. Let's take a short look at the story and city itself.
You play as Vito who fought in WW2 and returned to Empire City. Meeting his childhood friend and complete douche Joe, who helps him to get 'job'. The story is decent but it's far from M1. It's also somewhat inconsistent. You work for 1 family then for another, then personal revenge, then for again for mafia... End after all you get a really weak and unsatisfying ending. The game tries too hard to feel mature but doesn't have balls to actually 'act' like it. Yes, guy get's brutally killed but you can see coming miles away that he will die at some point. Then you are told how bad he actually was (if it was your 'ally').
The story is set during 40s and 50s. While it was said u'll see how the city 'changes', in fact, you play about half game in 40s and then you 'jump' few years to 50s. Bad thing is that city is completely dull. There is no point at any 'exploration'. What is worse, there isn't any point in learning the city either, because there isn't just 'quest compass', but GPS, so you just follow 'radar'. The story itself is completely linear, so no reason there either.
It takes about 12 hours max to beat to game which is short but what then? Well, nothing. There is no freeride... NO FREERIDE, no EXTREME ride, simply nothing except some pointless collectibles.
There's one more thing worth mentioning and that is music/radio stations. Even if there are only 3 stations, music is good, you can hear ads and even 'breaking news' shortly after your actions.
(tl;dr)
Something wrong happened and Mafia 2 managed to screw almost everything that made M1 so good. There are some bright points but it doesn't really even all those retardo things. Not mentioning 2K is actually selling 'DLC' content that is already on the fucking disc (vehicles + outfits).
For Mafia fans, either don't bother at all or 'demo' it.
For everyone else, don't bother. Or better, play Mafia 1.
edit: im tired, sozzy for mistakes but im not rereading it now. gn.
As we know, demo was a big disappointment and skyway was right about it. Still, i had some hopes that they will improve at least something in the full game. They didn't. Anything at all. Since i didn't played late 'open world action advantures' like GTA IV or RDR, i will compare it only to the original Mafia. Also i won't judge graphix because my pc is crap, watch yt videos FFS, but i will say that you can't turn off bloom and other shit, which sucks.
Background of the game is obvious, you are Vito and returned home from WW2, you meet friend Joe who is a complete douché and the advanture of a big gangsta can begin. Well, sort of, but if you care about Mafia 2 at all, you probably know all of this so let's move on.
The game literally begins with combat, which is not hard to sum up - it's bad. And I mean, really bad even for popamole shooter standards. You all probably know that there is health regen, but it has one improvement - 'permanent damage', which means that all health lost isn't always regenerated. Although it's not a big deal, I though i'd be cool if I had to visit doctor after being shot a lot... wrong. To fully heal, you have to eat or drink. Okay... Then we have were... oh yes, cover system! You enter/leave cover with hotkey. You can't shoot without using zoom/aim, os even if there's guys next to you, you have to zoom the shit out of him before shooting 3 meters from you. That also applies if you're not looking 'in front of you' but covering you flanks. On the other hand you have extremely useful feature - moving around corner while staying 'glued' in cover. Isn't it awesome? Rather then run to another cover, slowly walk against enemy guns but hey man, you are still glued to the wall! Although there are some guns to choose from, it really doesn't matter because everything is extremely accurate on any range (btw war veteran firing smgs from the hip?), even fucking shotgun. In case you are retarded, the crosshair turns red when you aim at enemies. Even if it's not like in Mass Effect 2 where enemies have suddenly 100% accuracy when u're not in cover and you can't crouch, you can still win a lot of gunfights just by running around and shooting, especially in open areas. Vito can take a lot of bullets unless you catch a lucky shotgun so dying is almost impossible when you do not want.
Apart from shooting, there is even better melee combat. So let's make this quick, if shooting is bad, melee is terrible. They ditched ALL melee weapons, leaving you only fists and superb beating system. Right? Let's see, if you approach hostile guy who wants to beat you too, the camera change to shitty 'boxing sim view' and both you and your enemy have two attacks (fast and heavy) and 'dodge'. Now, if you simply hold dodge, enemy simply can't hit you. There also 'counterattack', when you dodge enemy hit and right after that you hit back. So how this extremely enjoyable fights look? If enemy doesn't cover, you punch him 3 times (or 2 using heavy punch) and he staggers or falls down few steps from you. You come back to him and repeat. If he covers, you simply wait (holding dodge) until he tries to hit you and then you 'counterattack' him. repeat until he staggers longer, then you few times randomly click both mouse buttons and you get random 'finishing move'. And that's it. Banal, shit, boring. If you try to melee someone armed, you simply punch him 3 times and take him out because he can't defend.
So now that we've found out combat is crap, it's time to check out vehicles. There are 2 driving mode. 'Normal', where vehicles move like in generic arcade racing and 'simulation'. Obviously playing simulation whole time, I have to say that cars feel in my opinion right and it's maybe the best part of the game. Vehicles feel 'heavy', oversteer, slowly accelerate and even slower brake. Even worse on snow or wet roads. To sum this up, handling is brilliant and cars are fun to drive. 'Dynamic car damage' is back, so cars can end in various shape, even if it seems to be harder to 'deform' the car then in Mafia, not mentioning there is no baseball bat to make it easier. Damage overall is done quite well. cars explode only by other explosions or by shooting fuel tank (not doors or roof) and engine is damaged only when it's actually hit (front crashes). Problem with all this is that they removed all things that made driving car fun in Mafia. That is mainly manual gearbox and minor stuff like odometer. Even if fuel is present, it seems that unlike Mafia, fuel tank can't be 'penetrated' and fuel can't leak, so you actually can't run out of it if you don't want to (and even if you do, you have to try really hard). There are about 35 cars available, which is not much tbh and you can either pick lock (oblivion like minigame) or smash window. Guess what's faster... It's a shame that 'easy' things like manual gearbox aren't present, they'd make it much better. oh well...
When talking about driving and vehicles,police definitely has to be mentioned. Again, police will be butthurt if you break the law, although it is not nearly as strict as in M1. Basically, police has now one more 'level', or start in M2. Fine, arrest and shooting on sight is back with 'auto weapons' added. Basically, if you kill few people, police will have tommyguns instead of pistols and shotguns. Less strict is more liek more blind. Sometimes police won't notice you drive like crazy, sometimes yes. Also police now doesn't care about traffic lights at all and crashes that are not into other cars (no more fines after hitting bin on a street). Another new thing is how police 'detect' you. If you are seen commiting a crime (by policeman), you are 'wanted' until you change clothes. If you enter vehicle while wanted or use it to break law, then vehicles is 'wanted' until you change color/license plate. If you are out of sight, there is sort of 'cooldown' bar, similar to need for speed one. If you are caught, you can either resist arrest or pay a fine/bribe. Usually, fastest way to get rid of lone policemen chasing you is to stop and shoot him. Anyway, example of police in action (after 'robbing' clothes shop).
I can rant about gameplay much longer but there is no point. Shooting is crappy, vehicles are unfortunately 'dumbed down' and police isn't really much better. Let's take a short look at the story and city itself.
You play as Vito who fought in WW2 and returned to Empire City. Meeting his childhood friend and complete douche Joe, who helps him to get 'job'. The story is decent but it's far from M1. It's also somewhat inconsistent. You work for 1 family then for another, then personal revenge, then for again for mafia... End after all you get a really weak and unsatisfying ending. The game tries too hard to feel mature but doesn't have balls to actually 'act' like it. Yes, guy get's brutally killed but you can see coming miles away that he will die at some point. Then you are told how bad he actually was (if it was your 'ally').
The story is set during 40s and 50s. While it was said u'll see how the city 'changes', in fact, you play about half game in 40s and then you 'jump' few years to 50s. Bad thing is that city is completely dull. There is no point at any 'exploration'. What is worse, there isn't any point in learning the city either, because there isn't just 'quest compass', but GPS, so you just follow 'radar'. The story itself is completely linear, so no reason there either.
It takes about 12 hours max to beat to game which is short but what then? Well, nothing. There is no freeride... NO FREERIDE, no EXTREME ride, simply nothing except some pointless collectibles.
There's one more thing worth mentioning and that is music/radio stations. Even if there are only 3 stations, music is good, you can hear ads and even 'breaking news' shortly after your actions.
(tl;dr)
Something wrong happened and Mafia 2 managed to screw almost everything that made M1 so good. There are some bright points but it doesn't really even all those retardo things. Not mentioning 2K is actually selling 'DLC' content that is already on the fucking disc (vehicles + outfits).
For Mafia fans, either don't bother at all or 'demo' it.
For everyone else, don't bother. Or better, play Mafia 1.
edit: im tired, sozzy for mistakes but im not rereading it now. gn.
for Eurogamer. 
