As a sequel to the original Mafia title, Mafia II takes us into the dark and mysterious world of the underworld Mafia set within the meticulously created, living, breathing metropolis of Empire Bay. As the storyline carries you along on your way to become a 'made man', you will be immersed in a realistic gangster experience, pulled in by it's alluring glamour and soon realizing that there's no way out.

In the mob underworld of a fictitious late 1940's-early 1950's scenario, the storyline surrounds Vito, the son of a poor immigrant, as he tries to escape the life of poverty that he has experienced throughout his childhood. On the unforgiving streets of Empire Bay, Vito is quickly lured by the wealth and power offered by the factions of organized crime. Along with his lifelong friend, Joe, they both work to prove themselves worthy of the respect of the mob quickly realizing that it's not as easy as it seems. Starting with petty robbery and auto theft, they quickly work their way up the ladder with dreams about becoming a “made man.”

Mafia 2 is a game that truly brings the essence of living in the 40’s and 50’s. You can drive down the streets and listen to the radio playing the ecstatic classical era music, and watch as the environment around you reacts realistically in real time. It would almost seem that even the pedestrians have their own personalities, each one acting in a certain way and animating in distinctive manners. What really brings the game to life is the combination of the graphics and the sounds of the game. The graphics are highly detailed, the lighting is excellent, and the environmental sounds make everything seem as if they were really happening right in front of you.

As alive as the city seems, it exists for no other reason than to guide your actions. As great as the storyline is, you have to complete one single mission at a time before going on to the next without any freedom of deviating from the conclusion. It even seems that the cops don’t react to anything illegal that you do unless it’s to carry the story forward. Not that this is a bad thing but if you’re expecting interesting side missions, they just aren’t there.

Mafia 2’s graphics surpassed even what the developers had portrayed and the physics of 2K Czech’s proprietary Illusion Engine renders the car chases, gut wrenching combat and intense gunplay into a deep and engrossing gameplay experience. Whether getting shot or diving for cover, the animations were solid and fluent producing a realistic enough feeling to give you a sense of the character you play, Vito. Game fluidity is punctuated by the minimal loading screens; you could pull up to a store to buy some additional weapons and it would generate before you arrive, without freezing the game or causing it to lag. Another factor was the animations - never before has a game had such fluent animations, and even your character reacts to events. You could be sitting in cover as bullets are whizzing past your head and as one might get too close and impact your cover, your character would turn and lean back saying something like “Oh crap! That was close!” in a pristine mobster accent. What did stand out was that the clothes did not phase through the player, which happens a lot in many games.

The game features authentic sounds, the guns, cars, people, and even something as simple as footsteps sound like any real life equal. With the realistic sounds it would further make you feel as if this game was something more then just a game, you could even consider it a work of art, and the time and effort placed by 2K Games to retrieve these sounds were worth it, because without it, the game may have not been as excellent. With a decent audio system you will find that the explosions and gunfire are so accurately reproduced that you find yourself reacting to them. There was also no generic duplication of sound effects with each gun fire acoustic, motor rumble and explosion distinctly identifiable.

Mafia 2 may look incredible and sounds realistic but without a great storyline, it would be just another game. Fortunately, 2K Games has written a very riveting story to complement the gaming engine. The story may be fictional, but it unfolds in a way that you actually feel for the characters, so much so that even when the death of a loved one or a best friend comes by you want to cry with characters and even seek revenge just as much as they do.

There were very few things that could qualify as negative, just some basic glitches. All in all the game was exciting and visually appealing, but the ending to the game was very disappointing. Ending a game like the way it was is not what 2K Games should have done because it leaves you with nothing, and the last mission felt exactly like the same final mission in the first Mafia game.

The fact there was no “Free Ride” mode after completing the missions is disappointing, and should have been implemented, giving Mafia II more replay value just like the Grand Theft Auto series does. 2KGames has promised a bunch of additional downloadable content and here’s hoping that they expand on the story some more and, possibly, add some free roaming features.

As a sequel to the original Mafia title, Mafia II takes us into the dark and mysterious world of the underworld Mafia set within the meticulously created, living, breathing metropolis of Empire Bay. As the storyline carries you along on your way to become a 'made man', you will be immersed in a realistic gangster experience, pulled in by it's alluring glamour and soon realizing that there's no way out.

In the mob underworld of a fictitious late 1940's-early 1950's scenario, the storyline surrounds Vito, the son of a poor immigrant, as he tries to escape the life of poverty that he has experienced throughout his childhood. On the unforgiving streets of Empire Bay, Vito is quickly lured by the wealth and power offered by the factions of organized crime. Along with his lifelong friend, Joe, they both work to prove themselves worthy of the respect of the mob quickly realizing that it's not as easy as it seems. Starting with petty robbery and auto theft, they quickly work their way up the ladder with dreams about becoming a “made man.”

Mafia 2 is a game that truly brings the essence of living in the 40’s and 50’s. You can drive down the streets and listen to the radio playing the ecstatic classical era music, and watch as the environment around you reacts realistically in real time. It would almost seem that even the pedestrians have their own personalities, each one acting in a certain way and animating in distinctive manners. What really brings the game to life is the combination of the graphics and the sounds of the game. The graphics are highly detailed, the lighting is excellent, and the environmental sounds make everything seem as if they were really happening right in front of you.

As alive as the city seems, it exists for no other reason than to guide your actions. As great as the storyline is, you have to complete one single mission at a time before going on to the next without any freedom of deviating from the conclusion. It even seems that the cops don’t react to anything illegal that you do unless it’s to carry the story forward. Not that this is a bad thing but if you’re expecting interesting side missions, they just aren’t there.

Mafia 2’s graphics surpassed even what the developers had portrayed and the physics of 2K Czech’s proprietary Illusion Engine renders the car chases, gut wrenching combat and intense gunplay into a deep and engrossing gameplay experience. Whether getting shot or diving for cover, the animations were solid and fluent producing a realistic enough feeling to give you a sense of the character you play, Vito. Game fluidity is punctuated by the minimal loading screens; you could pull up to a store to buy some additional weapons and it would generate before you arrive, without freezing the game or causing it to lag. Another factor was the animations - never before has a game had such fluent animations, and even your character reacts to events. You could be sitting in cover as bullets are whizzing past your head and as one might get too close and impact your cover, your character would turn and lean back saying something like “Oh crap! That was close!” in a pristine mobster accent. What did stand out was that the clothes did not phase through the player, which happens a lot in many games.

The game features authentic sounds, the guns, cars, people, and even something as simple as footsteps sound like any real life equal. With the realistic sounds it would further make you feel as if this game was something more then just a game, you could even consider it a work of art, and the time and effort placed by 2K Games to retrieve these sounds were worth it, because without it, the game may have not been as excellent. With a decent audio system you will find that the explosions and gunfire are so accurately reproduced that you find yourself reacting to them. There was also no generic duplication of sound effects with each gun fire acoustic, motor rumble and explosion distinctly identifiable.

Mafia 2 may look incredible and sounds realistic but without a great storyline, it would be just another game. Fortunately, 2K Games has written a very riveting story to complement the gaming engine. The story may be fictional, but it unfolds in a way that you actually feel for the characters, so much so that even when the death of a loved one or a best friend comes by you want to cry with characters and even seek revenge just as much as they do.

There were very few things that could qualify as negative, just some basic glitches. All in all the game was exciting and visually appealing, but the ending to the game was very disappointing. Ending a game like the way it was is not what 2K Games should have done because it leaves you with nothing, and the last mission felt exactly like the same final mission in the first Mafia game.

The fact there was no “Free Ride” mode after completing the missions is disappointing, and should have been implemented, giving Mafia II more replay value just like the Grand Theft Auto series does. 2KGames has promised a bunch of additional downloadable content and here’s hoping that they expand on the story some more and, possibly, add some free roaming features.