Are you a fan of trench coats? Do you like mobsters? Have you ever woken up, only to find yourself spooning a disembodied horse’s head? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then you are definitely going to want to check out the newest installment in the Mafia franchise.
After taking an eight-year break, the franchise seems to be back and better than ever. Based off of their internally developed Imagine Engine, the team over at 2K Czech has been hard at work crafting the next iteration in the series for the last 3+ years and boy does it show. Ironically enough, the game tends to share a visual style to what you might find in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but more on that later. Whether or not tech is actually shared between the Rockstar and 2K Czech, they look and play very similarly… and that is a VERY good thing.
The demo starts out by placing the player in the home of your generic mobster character, left to explore as you see fit. In another callback to the GTA style of presentation, the cut scenes are all in-engine, which is great for cutting out the player disconnect that can occur during the switch between pre-rendered and in-engine set pieces. Sure, the textures may look a little rough in spots, but not to worry, this is an early build. I am sure that with more time spit shine, everything will look as great as the hyper-textured faces of the main characters.
One thing that caught me off guard was how prominent the partnership between Playboy and 2K seems to be. In the first stage alone there was a random issue of the notorious “lad mag” blatantly lying out on a counter, just begging to be perused. While the publication was founded during the same era the game takes place and helps add to the period immersion slightly, it left a sour taste in my mouth. Personally, it seemed like shameless titillation, with no real reasoning or practical application. I would hope that this was a publisher mandated prerequisite, in order to earn another bullet point for the game’s packaging or an excuse to have Playboy models help hock the title. If not, this is shameless pandering to the lowest common denominator of the immature gaming audience, and is better left out of our already much maligned industry.
Now to step down off of my soapbox and touch on the game’s map. From what was shown in the E3 build, it appears that the game will give you a fairly large sandbox to explore. While it doesn’t look to be as large as what you might find in GTA’s Liberty City or the impossibly massive Panau found in Just Cause II, there should be more than enough room to incite plenty mayhem.
After soaking all of this in, it became evident that I actually needed to get started playing the game, so I made my way to the front door… and ran directly into it. Unlike conventions that have been established in other open world titles, players actually have to press a button to do virtually every single interaction in the game, which also includes opening doors. My guess is that this is done to limit the need to stream content into a loading state, but really this is a more minor gripe.
I needed to make my way over to the garage in order to take one of my character’s numerous cars out for a spin. Once again true to the era, only vintage cars where available for joyriding. After picking out my wheels, I set off to do the bidding of the local Don that I can only assume I owed a favor or two. Our task was to go with another fellow crony and ambush someone who needed to be taught a lesson, the kind of lesson that can earn you a comfy new pair of cement shoes.
At this point the action got heated and a massive gunfight broke out. Dispatching mobster after mobster is as simple as pressing the focus button and pulling the trigger. With the disclaimer that this may change in the final release of the game, on many to most occasions, the focus button not only snaps the reticule to the nearest opposition, but it also lines up a perfect headshot. Sure, it made me feel like Annie Oakley on steroids in the middle of trench coat shooting gallery, but at the same time I felt the twinge of being slightly cheated out of a challenge.
What shines through most of my time with the game is the attention to detail that 2K Czech has put into making this game feel as authentic as possible. With everything from true-to-the-period music on the radio to an extensive variety of mobster-themed incidental dialog trees, everything feels like it belongs. Yes, I realize that Mafia II isn’t a Rockstar developed game, but it certainly seems to be playing the right notes necessary to strike the same chord with gamers.
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