Short. Played conservatively it only took a total of 8 hours to beat. And after that, there's just nothing to do. And I mean nothing as in the game ends. No free roaming the city. No conquering of territory. No wooing young ladies. Nothing. Just the "thanks for playing credits". What a let down. I was looking forward to this one. Sadly, I'll have to pass on their next game release because now I feel sort of robbed. On a side note, the graphics are nice and the gameplay mechanics are decent. I just wish there were more to it. I paid $50 but I think the game is only worth about $30 (and that's being generous).… Expand

If you're looking for a good third-person cover shooter with some minimal open world elements, then Mafia II is surely the game for you. However, should you be looking for anything more than that, then you might play this game feeling unfulfilled. The high point of this game is in its presentation, where it truly immerses you into the 1940's, and you could tell that it really took advantage of this era when it provides 40's music (whether you like it or not) all the way to the clothing styles. It's all very intricate and nice to look at, even if there are some elements that seem to be added in with no purpose (such as the ability to turn on sinks and flush toilets). However, apart from this, Mafia II is a pretty average third-person shooter. Nothing prolific, but still fun to play. Don't expect a fun open world game such as Grand Theft Auto, because Mafia II seems to really discourage you from toying around in the beautiful New York rendition they had crafted. For example, there are no side missions, few enterable buildings, and your time to explore is limited to a few sections during missions. And as such, Mafia II doesn't feel like a Sandbox game, but rather a third-person shooter taking place in a somewhat open-world environment. Gameplay consists of shooting from the third person perspective, cover playing a large role. Most cover can be destroyed easily, which adds a cool perspective to combat. Weapon selection is standard, and there really isn't anything here that hasn't been done before in other third-person shooters. When you are not participating in these gunfights, you will often be doing some tedious driving missions which are long-winded and unnecessary. However, the story is what is really going to hook people in to buy Mafia II. So, is it any good? Well, if you look at it by itself without any knowledge of other mobster films, then I suppose it is an alright story, but since I'm sure we've all watched Goodfellas and The Godfather, then Mafia II seems unoriginal and downright boring at times, but does have some very cool moments amidst the tedium. I had really hyped up this game due to its predecessor being groundbreaking and great fun, and Mafia II was slightly disappointing. But in its own right, its a fun game; nothing special. You'll likely be hooked to it until the finish, don't expect a clean resolution. The setpiece battles can be quite visceral at times, and everything in the game works with few bugs. Overall, I don't think you should go into this game with the high expectations that the original Mafia may have brought, but as a third-person shooter with nothing to hide, Mafia II is a good game. Even without a true open world structure, the world still manages to feel massive and alive, and the 40's environment is used to its fullest potential.… Expand

After a long wait for the sequel of the cult game Mafia, it has finally been released. Mafia 2 set you in the shoes of Vito Scaletta, a young boy that that is sent to the army....well you probably know the small details already, since this will probably not be the first review you will read. I decided to put my review up here because this game has been getting some questionable scores from very known sites. I however see it in a different approach then these have. Actually it has been getting some false hate because most people have expected something that wasn`t really there, and was properly advertised in this way to. Mafia II is in fact a story game, with Empire Bay just as an extra asset. This isn`t you`re typical free roam game, simply because it really wasn`t designed as one either. It heavily relies on the story, which is in fact really great put, though there could have been some better pacing at certain times. Some of the missions actually has some really great locations and good action packed is it also. All from simply lifting boxes in to a truck, to be telephone operator that steals jewelery, it goes away from the dated "go there and kill these people" and that was the mission. In fact, most of the missions is like this, but it hides it in such a good way that it really immerses you in every way possible. In this aspect, it shines more than I have seen in almost any game, if not the most of them all. Remember, this could have been just a game that didn`t actually have a city at all, but it`s still there. This was never a free roam game, the developers have stated this several times. Soundtrack in itself is simply put amazing. It fits the 40s and the 50s era perfect, even if some of the songs it not entirely accurate of the timeline. Voice acting is as strong as you can get in a video game, it really is believable and makes the characters more believable than there actions make them out to be. You feel sympathy with Vito and his situation, it is really close to perfection this area. In the end, if you can retract the fact that this is not a free roam game like GTA, you will have one of the best experiences this gen. 9.2… Expand

If you enjoy the following: Lots of long winded driving sections, race against time missions, basic fight mechanics of a 1980's arcade game, cars which handle like shopping trolleys with all the weight at the front, answering the telephone, a predictable story, a sandbox setting which is actually on rails, driving every where at 40kmh, a beautifully rendered city completely squandered, being ripped off... then get this game. I thought gaming was slowly progressing beyond style over substance, Mafia II makes me think otherwise. I wish they could have made Mafia II the movie, because it would have saved me the depressing interaction.… Expand

BETTER THAN GTA! I really love the whole Mafia idea. This game steals all the cliche you can imagine from The Godfather, but that's what I would really like anyways. It plays surprisingly linear for an open world game, but the story is fantastic. There are many surprises and jaw dropping moments. Not to mention the cars are loads of fun to drive. The DLCs (I have them all) are great also. "Jimmy's Vendetta" is, well, crap- but it lets you roam free world and collect cars. I highly recommend this game to anyone of mature age.… Expand

Mafia II suffers from everything, that name 2K reminds me off - System Shock 2 fans disappointed with Bioshock, should know what's the word - simplicity! That's right - Mafia 2 is just too simple, when it supposed to be much more complicated - it's even more simple than the first game. All you do is, you take a care, you go to place marked on a map, you do what you're asked for and you go back home, you take a sleep, next chapter begins and a cycle starts over again. Fortunately, it's not all that bad - 2K Czech took care about a few gameplay twists, to the game isn't boring, while the whole "get to the point" thing helps to speed up the plot and somehow build a great atmosphere. Speaking of plot, it isn't better than in Mafia (1), but that doesn't stop it from being great and surprising player... although, I figured out some of a surprises in game long before, they happened (especially when it comes to Vito's father death). Also, players who played Mafia (1) will be pleasantly surprised here and there, seeing the referees to the first game (I almost cried in Chapter 14: Stairway to Heaven... I won't spoil it what it was, anyway who finished the first game, will notice it as soon as cutscene starts). Before, I get to the technical part, I must mention thought, that was haunting me through almost entire game and that is - "Give me, more freedom!". That's right, developers gave the players some ability to choose (for example who to get rid of cops, who to dress, what to change in car)... but when you watch cutscenes, you will quickly notice that there was supposed to be some choices in game - after watching the main part of dialogue there, the character usually ask "So, are you in?". You'd like to grab a mouse and choose the action, but unfortunately, you won't get that chance... too bad, because watching Vito wrong decisions is kind of annoying sometimes. When it comes to a technical part of Mafia - it's almost a masterpiece! The sounds are great! It's been a long time, since I've heard such a great sounds in video games and the graphics? Well, let's just say it's the best looking game, I've seen so far. The city is extremely highly detailed - I couldn't believed that the all that was rendered in real-time and ran over 30 frames per seconds on my already old PC. Better, a lot of elements of environment can be destroyed, metal that covers a car folds when you hit some obstacles and there is even a realistic snow that will cover parts of a car, not to mention scratches... with that said, the game's engine has a one major problem - it isn't very stable. It has a tendency to crash in some certain parts of game. The last thing, that I have to mention is that players will be disappointed after finishing the game (it took me about 8 hours on Hard difficulty, so it's not a long game)... why? Because there's nothing. All you get is "Family Album" and that's it. There's not Free Ride mode, nothing. You can only load a previous save and replay some episode - that's probably the biggest flaws of this game... but overall - it's a good sequel.… Expand

Beautiful and gritty game. Really sad that some of the only negative reviews are due to it NOT being GTA. The only comparison between this and gta is this is an open world game. Not every game in the world needs to live up or even try to be that game. My only problem were some of the mechanics: Inability to leap over covered objects, the cover system itself is slightly clunky, but those are minor in the grander scheme of this great story game.… Expand

This game is very weak. Great graphic and sound is not everything, poor story, dialogs and characters, very boring game play and no fun from shooting or riding a car. This game is nice on the first look but then about 1-2 hours of playing comes very disappointing moment of truth. This is not Mafia sequel, this is some outstanding position with no spirit of this old great game. I'm very sad, I was waiting for this game long time and now I must say, that I was waiting for nothing special. Just another shooting game. PS. Game is having huge requirements so You have to have great computer to run this game in decent frame rate.… Expand

I have been waiting for this game to happen for years now. And when it finally comes out, it falls short of the first game. Admittedly I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the game, but I started to notice a sense of repetition in the gameplay. It had it's ups and downs, but I at least expected a better ending; It didn't do justice to the predecessor's finale. I felt cheated that the game was so short (finished it under 10 hours). To summarize, I really expected more from the game, but overall what I got was something above mediocre with some good bits here and there.… Expand

That game could have been so much better. The graphics are really nice and even the characters and story are, for about the first hour. Later you will notice how unfinished and unbalanced the story and the characters are. There isn't even much gameplay. What's the point of a mission in that all you've got to do ist press one button to pick something up? Everywhere in Empire Bay you kan see how much they cut off. From the story, the gameplay and all the details like a traffic system that could have made Mafia 2 a good game. There are even NO Side Missions in the game, even the guys from 2k said there will be lots of them, there are still the guys who should give you that mission but who never have any job for you to do. 2K killed Mafia. And you can see in almost every aspect of the game, that the lead designer and story author already left the team 2 years before Mafia 2 got "finnished"… Expand

Mafia II seems to have thrown out all that was good with the original, absorbed all that was bad about The Godfather and created a resource-hungry, cut-scene spamming monster. Don't trust the trailers with the nice voice acting and cut-scenes. That is all the game has to it. The game play is virtually non-existent and completely linear. I would have given this a rating of 1 but there must be something worse out there. Surely?… Expand

"Mafia 2" is a good game to enjoy. If you can live on with a 8 hour campaign and a linear story driven story, you'll love this. The graphics are undeniably sweet as well as the keyboard controls. If you have time to spare, try playing it.

Good graphics and sounds, great optimization... If you`ve liked first part of mafia story, you must play the second... It is very easy to spot a bad sides of the game and did not spot the really good ones. This game is not a "sandbox" type, and clearly it is different from overrated "GTA IV" game (when we`re talking about game play), - it is not game for kids, it`s good action game with very good story... Because of few bigger "bugs", and because it is way to short, to completely feel all true spirit of the game, I`ll give it "strong" 8 out of 10.… Expand

First of all: All comparisons to GTA (and any other game) are moot in my opinion, they are not even trying to do the same thing, not even close. And on the game: If you are looking for a story driven game (story is good but not super amazing), that is strictly mission based (missions are mostly good), then this game is for you. It is nothing more, nothing less.

Very pretty game, runs nicely. Good characters, great voice acting, fantastic immersion, one of the few games which actually makes a 1940-50's game feel like a real city. Needs free roam and a few things to spend your money and time on outside of the campaign, but as good a game as any, and worth a buy for anyone who likes GTA style games.

Good story, bad gameplay. That's it. It's like Metro2033 that had same problem. Mafia 2 is good as movie, but as game it's awful. Still, I suggest it's nice buy for fans and nostalgic gamers.

As far as a linear movie game goes, it's great. Good controls, challenging but not frustrating combat, but it's not the game I was expecting when I bought it. This release seems to be formulated entirely to sell DLC. On the one hand there's a large, detailed open world, on the other hand there's absolutely nothing to do in it outside of the 6-10 hours of story missions. The only real reason to rob stores or scrap/export stolen cars is for the steam achievements. The story missions provide you with everything you need from the get-go. Lo and behold, it turns out that 2K Czech has a ton of completed sandbox content they simply chose not to release with the box copy. You'll be buying it in DLC format at $10 a pop. If you're after a sandbox wait a year and buy the bundle with DLC for half the price.… Expand

Extremely disappointing! The game focused heavily on graphics and sounds, and not so much on the story or game play. The city, characters and cars all looked good, each district felt and looked completely different, providing a nice environment for the city. Many of the nicer looking areas of the city were not essential to the story mode, leaving them unappreciated and un required really. I liked the ability to customise your character and cars, it added a nice touch to the game, even though there were not that many options, a minor problem that could easily be fixed by mods or DLC. The Story of a young Italian going from war-hero to leading a life of crime, a story that was bursting with potential, but went no where. No "depth" given to the story left many things unanswered. The "ending" to Mafia 2 was probably the biggest disappointment the game had to offer. Looking past how the actual "story" was rushed along from chapter to chapter, the ending only showed you that little or no effort had been put into it. A major let down was the lack of freedom that Mafia 2 offered. There are no side missions, no mini games, and no free-ride mode, offering little to no reason to replay this game. Restricting players to follow the story makes the "open world" a bit redundant. Ok you could drive around anywhere before or after the missions, but there was no reason to, nothing to do other than to take in the graphics of the city. Missing features like shooting whilst driving and melee weapons, took out some of the "realism" of the mafia world. Hand to Hand combat had been greatly improved, but was only really needed during story elements, everyone else you just shot. Many reviews say that this is because its not like GTA, which is true, its not, but its not even like the first Mafia game anymore. I think that if Mafia 2 had been made by Rockstar Games, or had fixed the mistakes of Mafia, and added from there, this review would have been very different. To me it seems that 2K Games have destroyed a potentially great sequel, to a very good first game. DLC will probably be released for Mafia 2 to try to incorporate features that should have been in the game in the first place. End Result - Disaster 1/10 Poor Game Play, Worst Story, No Replay Value, Far Too Short.… Expand

Disappointing for fans of both mob stories and open world games. It's been said before but it bears repeating: you can not save your game and go explore the open world as you please. The game only saves at checkpoints, and if you die before the next checkpoint it drags you all the way back. Your weapons, money, outfits, etc are taken away from you every other mission. This is a linear story with the beautiful open world only there to make you forget you're driving the exact same route across town for the 50th time (there are what, a dozen destinations total?). Every once in a while I would spend my money on all of the guns and ammo available and soup up a nice vehicle, and try to cause a little chaos. Don't even bother. There is no dying and restarting at a hospital, and there is no getting arrested and going to jail. If either of those happen you're taken back to the last time the game decided to autosave-- often this is way further back than you thought. I've beaten a mission, been told to go home to sleep on my couch, gotten killed, and started back 2/3rds through my previous mission (usually a long driving trip ahead of me...). I don't want to come off as just trying to find problems, so I probably shouldn't mention the story. I will say that it was cliche and predictable (as many of these mob stories tend to be), and ultimately is rather fruitless. All the characters are forgettable to the point where they have to reintroduce them with your character exclaiming their name and a little exposition about what you should remember them by. This is really telling in a game that only take a day or so to beat (depending on how many times you turn off the game in disbelief because you died and went to a check point that was 10+ minutes ago). As far as the PC version itself, it appears fine to me. Graphics could be turned up to look stunning. I used a 360 controller and the buttons it showed on screen were the correct color (not sure if they just used common sense or if it adjusts to known controllers). I don't know that I encountered any bugs.… Expand

Total waste of time and money but its pretty! Review by : Kaldire Mafia 2 is nothing like its predecessor. In fact it doesnt even hold a glimmer or visage of the expansive world that used to be called Mafia. There are no side quests and the open world is shut down on you so that there is nothing to do at all, save for collecting 2 item sets that do nothing anyway. In an era where we have such open worlds, its impossible for me to fathom why the creators didn't make more content within this beautiful game. Also the fact that the game is SO very short, 5-7 hours on (even the hardest) was a major let down the time you do spend in those few hours are usually chores and drive to X back to Y then home again all the way across zzzzzzzz....sorry where was I? The game is really only about 5 hours of game play if you skip the cut scenes, 6-7 if you don't(triple the time for getting 2 pointless object fetches that do nothing in game. No multiplayer and no DLC in the works again save for one that will add 10 minutes to game play for 10$ No online interaction whatsoever, no reasons to buy clothes to do anything in this game but the quests given to you. SO MUCH WASTED SPACE in this game The AI of the enemy be police or mobster needs fixed asap as this game is totally unplayable. Though some of the bugs did have a plus.. like watching the police ram into a gas station, killing ten wee! The only thing that saved this game was the scenery and voice acting which itself is not enough to hold a game together. Its like owning a really beautiful world in a snow globe... you can look at it but when you try to interact, all you can do is just watch. I for one will never say I'm the proud owner of this game and I've spent a lot of time with it and waiting for it. I for one will not recommend this game to anyone...in fact steer very clear until the price drop, and there WILL be one. All those are giving this decent scores need to play the game fully not for 10 min and go WOW.. really play the game then compare it to other open world titles and you will see this is an epic fail with an awesome soundtrack and cool voice overs. other than that.. run far.. run fast..… Expand

This game looks good and the general atmosphere is pretty sweet. However, that doesn't make up for poor gameplay: repetitive driving (literally driving across town, watching a short cutscene and then back across town the other way is not fun), whack-a-mole cover-based gunfights, nothing to do except follow the ridiculously linear missions and general lack of depth. When you first start the game you'll be excited to explore the city. Then you will realize that the city is dead beyond a few hat stores. The story is fine, not great. The ending isn't as bad as some people would lead you to believe. But in general this a great looking game that has hardly any substance. It's like the developers were told to make a 50s version of GTA, but then halfway through they ran out of money and shipped what they had.… Expand

Having pre-ordered the Digital Deluxe Edition on Steam for this game, my expectations for this game were extremely high. A few months later we received a demo of the game and my expectations remained very high. Sadly though the game wasn't quite able to deliver a fully rounded experience. The game comes off at first as an open world sandbox experience, but you shall soon learn that all the shops in the entire world are just there for no real specific reason! This game lacks side quests, the open world free roam is non-existent and if you do decide to free roam a bit and buy some guns, steal a car and buy a new suit. To save all of this you have to actually go and do another entire mission (or part of a mission, till the next save point) just to get all of this saved! Since all the game pretty much has is the missions (I would call them main missions, but there are no side quests so they are the only missions) one would expect for them to be top notch. Sadly this is not always the case. The game starts off very slow and it isn't really till after 6 hours into it that it finally picks up, which is most disappointing when the full game is only 13 hours long (on medium difficulty)! Story wise it is very emotional and will probably touch your heart at some points, however it never really goes as deep as other experiences do in other games (even GTA 4 has some much more touching moments than Mafia 2 and GTA 4 overall is a pretty far fetched story that is more hilarious than it is serious). As to be expected with any Mafia game, people die... even some of your character's best friends. The bummer is that you never really cared much for most of these characters in the first place since you hardly know them! One of the main disappointments of this game is that upon finishing chapter 9 you suddenly get greeted with a montage and then when chapter 10 begins the story has skipped quite a lot, this is one of the reasons the game has absolutely no character development. During the main years where you would actually have gotten a chance to work with these characters and get to like them and care for them it just suddenly skips it all with a cheap (and not to mention poor quality pre-recorded) montage! Sometimes you have to wonder why game developers chose to use pre-recorded videos instead of in-game cutscenes, especially when the pre-recorded video is just using the in-game engine anyway! This game has some amazing in-game cutscenes using motion capture, high quality voice acting and amazing graphics. Sadly though this game also has pre-recorded cutscenes that are blocky, low quality and look downright awful.… Expand

I give one just for the story. Other "features" seems uncompleted. Ending - Poor, Graphics - average, No game after story - WTF?! - No MP - oh no, Short story - np, you can buy new DLC for 10 bucks and a lot of another bad things...

Terrible, disappointing game, with poor story. Only graphic is good. After 10 hours of playing it i feel like taxi driver. Ohh im sorry, sometimes i can also "press a button". Extremely boring to play. Linear game - there's absolutely nothing to do beetween chapters.

When I first played the original Mafia game on Xbox back in the early 2000's I was amazed how good the quality of game play was and the extent of game play was outstanding. When I heard about Mafia II I jumped for joy, I cannot say one bad thing about it, It is full of action and adventure and is very entertaining right to the end. The game is set from 1943 to 1955 in Empire Bay, a fictional city based on New York city and Detroit. You follow the life of a War Hero named Vito Scaletta getting back on his feet in a life of crime after he came back from World War II. Just to get it out of the way no this game is not Grand Theft Auto in the 40-50's, it is alot better and more involved than GTA is and always will be. There are no limits on the map from the second the game boots up, you can go anywhere and do anything, lots of cars from the era and weapons to match. This game is defiantly worth picking up buying or renting, It's alot of fun and worth you money.… Expand

A beautiful game filled with nothing to do. The game developers have crafted a large and well-designed city. However, there's almost nothing to do beyond driving from mission to mission. The combat is a generic third-person cover based shooter which we've all seen before. The game's pace is slow, and with nothing beyond doing story missions there's little depth here or free-roaming. The story and voice-acting is fine, but it's not enough to prop up an ultimately boring game.… Expand

When I first saw the trailer for the game, I was simply amazed. I am a new fan to the first Mafia, and as soon as I played it, I was simply amazed. Like many games, this one still has its flaws, such as not having side quests/missions, because when I play an open world game I expect some side missions. But otherwise, this game is simply beautiful, and the cut scenes were fun to watch. The city feels sorta empty, but it doesn't bother me. I do hate that the gun shops around the cities only have a Police .38 Revolver, a Colt 1911, or a shotgun. When I go to a gun shop I expect a Thompson Police Issue or something like that. But of course, you have to drive a mile to get to Harry who has more guns than the gun shops around the city combined, but of course the drive is worth it. The driving in this game is very realistic. If you're planning on trying to reach 120 MPH and expect to stop unharmed, you're wrong, he-he. I'm saddened by the length of this game. I beat it in about 10-11 hours, but of course this is longer than most games out in the market, but in Mafia 1 terms this is short. The collectibles in this game will want gamers want to replay the game just to find them, such as the playboys, wanted posters, etc, etc. I give this game a 9.2, for being a gritty, beautiful, and fun game that i'm sure anyone that loves the original Mafia game and the Godfather series will enjoy.… Expand

Alright so pretty much the best things this game has going for it have been said. Beautiful graphics, exciting story, and a great open world. The game really fell short to me on two accounts the first being that the missions dont have any real variety. Its really just run around from cover to cover and shoot people. The second and biggest negative to me was the ending. I wont give anything away, but you can see that they tried to make a cliffhanger ending but just leave you saying what the hell? I wouldnt mind it so much if you could continue playing from the ending on. You cant, the game is over, no more side quests, no more exploration, after the story is over you cant play again unless you start from a point further back. In an open world game its ridiculous to not allow your character to continue exploration. If the release some FREE DLC within the next month allowing you to explore, I could recommend this game at the 50 dollar price, as it is id wait until it drops to 20 bucks.… Expand

After waiting years from the release of mafia one to mafia 2, Mafia 2 left me pretty disappointed i am not even sure i will even finish the game. The story might be great but how do you bring WORSE gameplay than mafia one to mafia two years later escapes me. I will give a nice 3 for the story, because the gameplay just by itself i would try to figure out a negative rating to it...

I've followed the development of Mafia II for some time now, and I have to say the product that I received wasn't quite as I imagined or had been led to hope by the developers. First, the good.. The graphics are absolutely amazing, I dare say that this is the most beautiful game I have ever played on PC. I definitely loved the setting, and being able to explore a city set in the 40's and 50's, and the developers certainly did a good job of immersing you into that era. Now, the bad.. The story, while quite good, is absurdly short. I think I clocked in at about 9 hours when I finished the game, nevermind the fact that the ending is probably the worst I have ever seen in a game. The city around you seems enormous with a great deal to explore.. But it doesn't take long before you realize the only things to do in the city outside of following the very linear mission path is rob stores or crush cars for money.. Money that really serves no purpose in the game whatsoever aside from a single mission. Another thing I was looking forward to was a free-roaming aspect where I could explore the city at my leisure.. Unfortunately, no such system exists in the game, and you spend the entire time playing being on one mission or another, with no side-missions to speak of or really any choice in what you get to do. To me, this game still needs a lot of work, but I don't regret my purchase. I do have some confidence that 2k Games can release some quality DLC that might fix some of the aspects of the game that are sorely lacking, but unfortunately I know that's going to come with an additional price tag.… Expand

the game get's 2 for a petty display of drama and the not so fun part of being a mobster.. YES the part that is borring. Next to the fact that you're basicly only driving from place to place till you're lucky enough to engage in a shoot out, which is fully linear, you have only one choice thus being to take cover, shoot and push forward. Now this could be fun if the whole shooting wouldn't be soo boring. Yes you can shoot trough wood.. well some wood, you can't shoot trough wooden crates or anything so that's a let down. Not as much action or fun as Mafia was. Really the story is terrible in comparison. In the first one you were happy when you stopped being a cab driver because the driving annoyed you. Now you are the cabdriver all day long. The chases are not fun. the shooting is easy and borring. You have no choices in the whole game. The most fun thing in this game must be to drive cars from the 50s. The fistfighting is only happening a few times and it's only 1 vs 1 as the other 3 friends won't attack you. It's also really annoying and not really fun either. Realy this game sucks. I wish I wouldn't have payed or just bought the hitman saga again.. at least there you don't have to deal with costumization that shouldn't rbe there in the first place.. it's like a short GTA4 1950s mod with worse driving.… Expand

Demo review: Well, the interaction inside the house is cool. Answering the phone, getting your sandwich and drinks out of the fridge. But it seems to be missing some features. I know it's a demo but they could atleast give more in it. Runs good enough of my Nvidia 8600 Geforce GT, sadly it's at the minimum for this game. Now, you should be able to run away when you want to, instead of walking backwards while fighting to get out of that camera. Weapons are a bit difficult to control. There is a 10 minute time limit which I hate. Why not make it atleast 20/30 minutes, since it's a sandbox game. Just cause 2 had 30 minutes in the demo and that got me to buy it. There should had been more to do, but still a good demo. I might buy it some other time.… Expand

Mafia II is The Newest "Open World" GTA Type game out but many people are complaining about there not being any side missions. I think it keeps the game glued to the storyline without the need to pick up girlfriends etc.. does not ruin it at all. The graphics are equal to if not better than Gta 4 just check out the facial modeling. You can still steal cars, fight people, Blow up cars and adds elements such as choosing from a list of foods and animates your character eating that food. pretty cool. if your low on health you can eat/drink to replenish it. The physics also is very well done. many people may not enjoy the 1940's music but its in the 1940's so live with it. no gangsta rap here move on. Mafia II Story is very well done and although not perfect does deserve and 8/10 Score.… Expand

Mafia 2 is one of the most atmospheric games I have played. The cool cars, the city and great pick in music with good characters make this game extremely cool. But when you are looking at the big city and almost falling into that cool 50´s vibe my next thought was trough out the game was always "why didn´t they do that" It almost feels like someone pulled the plug on that one division that was supposed to give me the key to the city. It almost pisses me off knowing that so little has to be added to make this one of the all time greatest games made. I give this game a 8 but wished I was giving it a 10… Expand

Just for atmosphere alone, I rate this game 10. I cannot praise the immersiveness and evocativeness of the period recreation highly enough. Just driving around nighttime 1940s New-York style streets listening to old-time jazz, blues and other wartime music and seeing all the old-fashioned cars and the snow-covered streets is a wonderfully enjoyable treat, particularly on the PC version with its superlative, realistic graphics. It really gave me enormous joy and pleasure to just drive around listening to the radio whilst completing the early missions, I found the period setting superbly evocative, and the snowy nighttime setting of one of the missions and the music really evoked a lovely wistful feeling as I drove around, it really was very emotionally engaging indeed just from the visuals and music. The design of the city is very convincing, you see lots of realistic-looking streets and sights as you drive around, you almost feel you are watching a film, it's terrific. I loved it. Also the shooting is great in this game, the reaction of the enemies when you shoot them is very realistic, and the ragdoll physics are better and more realistic than in any other game I've seen. So I thoroughly enjoy the shooting also, I find it fun and immersive and satisfyingly convincing shooting the enemies. I rate this game very highly for these three reasons, the visuals, the music, and the shooting. Fantastic. As to the story, well, I'm still near the beginning, but it's pretty good too. Get this game on the PC if you can. If you can't but think you would enjoy being transported to an atmosphere-laden 40s and 50s New York anyway, get it on console. I liked it. Try the demo anyway, but bear in mind the demo doesn't include the whole city, and is daytime-only.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Grand Theft Mafia. The game world is smaller. The story is shorter but better. It is a lineare game. Gameplay is close to ok. Graphics are good sound is ok. The songs on the car radio's are nice but after an hour you already heard them all. It is fun to play but no classic.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Introduction I was hovering on this forum, and i must say. Did you guys play the same game as me? Most people here said that, Mafia 2 is a good game? There was really nothing good about this game, and here is why: Story The story was pretty bad, even if you can call it a story. You mostly drive from your apartment to Joe to do some random events. And in no particle order, like burring someone in the ground after the prison chapter. And then some chapters later you distribution some smokes to people. That has nothing to do with any story. Or like all of the sudden, we going to talk about why your father died. I mean common, the story is completely random. So I must say, there is no story in this game. Gameplay The Gameplay mostly consist of get a car, go to someone (mostly Joe), drive him around a bit, go home and sleep and do it all over again. And at some points, you need to fight multiple enemies, that spawn mostly right around the corner. And that is the Gameplay of Mafia 2, nothing more nothing less. At multiple points in the game, you are stripped down of your cash, guns and suits and after you finished that chapter you need to start earning everything back again. This I never saw in a game before, you work towards nothing. You lose it all every few chapters, so the multiple stores that are in the game are pointless. Because you just lose your guns, or you can find plenty in the missions. Also the game is mostly based on luck, multiple scenes will kill you right away. Like the getaway scene were they are firing Tommy Guns at you. You just need some luck to get past the first corner, this has absolutely nothing to do with experience or strategy just pure luck. Conclusion So my conclusion is that I never have seen a worst sequel to a game then Mafia 2. The game is boring, from the first minutes you played it, till the bitter end. Plenty of times you need to drive from one end of the town to the other end and then go back again. Were you did nothing at all, then picking someone up and driving them to a different point again. Also at the end Joe almost turned against you. If they did that, they would have been promoted to the worst game of the Century. But now, it is the worst game of the year. Because it does not make any senses for him to turn against you. I only finished this game on Hard, because I did not wanted to waste my 50 bucks on nothing. Pity that I got it from Steam, because I would have gone back to the shop and trade it for something else. Even a bloody WII game, is better than this piece of crap.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The story, the characters, the world, the graphics, the music were perfect for me, I really enjoyed all the time, I played Mafia II. It is true that maybe the car driving part was bigger than expected, but I also enjoyed these, because it was good to drive in an enviroment like this. Vito's character is good, but it cannot beat the first game's perfect Tommy Angelo. On the other hand Joe is one of the best side-kicks I ever seen in a game. The rest of the characters are very well made. In Mafia II, we have experienced the most special way to connect two game's stories, I really couldn't believe my eyes, when I arrived THAT house in Chapter 14. I really liked the idea of starting the game in the world war II. I think there is only one big problem with this game. I don't mind that it is short. I don't mind that most of the time I had to drive a car (what I really enjoyed, as I said before), but the ending of the game is terrible. I mean, the way the game ends, is not a real ending. Yeah, Joe has to die, and maybe Vito should die too, I am not saying this is a bad ending. The way the game ends is what I don't like. It isn't dramatic enough. Leo's last words meant to be dramatic, but they aren't. There isn't a "The End", or a Mafia II logo before the credits roll, and all this doesn't make a good ending. Normally I would give a 10 to this game, but with this ending I would say only 7 or 8. But... I think the story is intended to not to be closed down, and I think we will see DLCs in the future, which will continue the game's story. With this being said, I really trust in Mafia II's story being continued, and I am sure the developers can make such a good ending, that the first game has. This is why I give the game 9 points of 10...… Expand

At first I found this game even better then GTA 4. Better PC optimisation, very smooth graphic, nice characters animation. Comparison of GTA 4 and Mafia 2 as compared to those of your children better looking, terribly hard to say this.

to easy to win, to short (only about 9 or 10 hours), no free savegames, only about 30 different cars (and trucks), no additional missions, a very small city, a real bad gps/satnav, stupid enemies, no free-ride to expensive (5€ per hour is even more expensive than cinema) an most worst: it is so boring all over the time!

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I find it hard to believe that anybody offering positive reviews of this game has actually completed the game. The abrupt ending completely ruined the whole experience for me. Definitely one for the bargain bin.… Expand

Don't waste your money. Not worth more than $10 in the bargin bin. The only reason its worth that is for the pretty environment and acting. There is no interaction with the world, no choices to be made and little gameplay. What gameplay that is there is short and boring. It would have actually been better if they removed the gameplay entirely and just sold it as an animated movie to watch. So Kudos to the world creators and shame on the team in charge of making it a 'game'. Buy at your own risk.… Expand

The graphics are mind blowing and the physx effects are very well done and Empire Bay is flawlessly and beautifully rendered and the voice acting is superb, sounds like the perfect recipe for a classic right ? but no, 2k had every element going right for them and they ruined the opportunity drastically, most of the time you just drive linearly from one place to another over and over and over again, it gets silly after a while and this time around there is even a gps decided route that you have to follow, so it even takes away the decision of thinking while driving, Sure the first few missions are awesome when you get the feel of the game, but when you are asked to clean toilets, sell cigarettes and drive like a cabbie, you feel like you've had enough. The plot is okay and it could have been good if they didn't set the climax like they did, it was absolutely idiotic, I honestly felt there was atleast 5 more chapters when the credits started rolling, and what more once you finish the game, THATS IT, you cant even go back to explore, what a way to waste such a beautiful city !!! The soundtrack and the radio setting is good, and like you can see when the game is analysed every element is done not too badly, but the core of the game is taken away and there is just the story and even the character depth is not too good, Vito and Joe are two goons and nothing more, not as respectful as tommy angelo from the original game.. Wait for the game to get to the bargain bin to experience its pros.. It wont take long anyway..… Expand

It looks nice, but it is badly broken for several reasons. One is the save method: I had do shutdown my computer and then had to sit through 15 Min of cut-scene again and 15 minutes of lost game play. That is just not acceptable. This is supposed to be entertainment, and when it forces you to play on, it does something fundamentally wrong. Then there is the incredible arrogant and greed-driven DLC issue, i.e. you do not get a complete game, but one with major features removed. It is also far too short. If you enjoyed Mafia 1 (and I did, tremendously), don't buy this thing. It is not for you.… Expand

Short, un-original and frankly quite boring story, stale environment and paid for "DLC" which appears to be content that was removed during development. Mafia 2 doesn't have a patch on the original game, or it's closest rival GTA4. Avoid this one.

Short gameplay, linear storyline doesn't allow free roaming. The plot is weak, I felt hardly attached to the characters, half way through I gave up remembering who is who. Definitely not worth the price.

First of all I would like to say that I played the whole thing from start to finish (so this is not an uninformed review). Second of all I would like to mention that I never got a chance to play the first one, still haven't played it and probably will not play it (so my review is based only on Mafia II). Ok, so I will begin by commenting on the story, it is great. If it was a movie, it would have probably fared well, you know with all those gun fights and Mafia meetings and going to prison and such. It is not so much a sandbox game, it is more of a shooter game, I know because when I played, all of the difficulty of the game rests on the gunfights and covering system, and even some stealth. The "sandbox" aspect of the game is where you have to drive to every objective, they are long drives, and sometimes when you miss an exit, you have to circle all the way back again and drive for another 2-3minutes, you can buy clothes and guns, and that's about it, oh and take care not to speed or else the cops will be at your tail fast. Also there are plenty of fist fights, where you push the right buttons and you win. The graphics though are really novel and crisp. Even at low res, this game looks amazing and sharp and performs extremely well. This is in fact your standard third person shooter, and if your good at shooters, than this game is for you. As far as "freedom" and "sandbox" go, there is not very much to it, I might compare it to Just Cause 2 without all the optional side missions. Anyway story is good, gun and fist fights are good, just needed a little bit more development in the "sandbox" aspect of it.… Expand

This is a great game! Forget those Reviews who say its strictly linear. Yes, it is. There`s a lot of story in it, its like playing a Movie. You can`t compare it to GTA IV, it`s like compairing S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Modern Warfare. Modern Warfare is also Strictly linear...and not a Bad Game at all.... Mafia II is Superb, Great graphics, cool Missiondesign and the Developers put in all their heart. Maybe it`s not "A perfect Game", but which Game is? If you look for a fast paced 3rd person action Game i would recommend something else (Just cause 2...etc)… Expand

Do not listen to those who doesn't know what they want from life. I have played tons of games in my life and I can assure you Mafia II is one of the best games I have ever played. It is not the classic "Go shoot someone" without a reason (A.K.A GTA IV). Everything you do has that "1930 gangster" feeling. You aren't the baddest **** in Earth but you are definitely close to achieve that. The graphics are really good, not the best in the market nowadays but it's amazing anyway. The shooting system is pretty awesome. Bullets do hurt you pretty badly. If someone shoot you in the back, you are dead. Firing a Tommy Gun was never as fun as in this game. The best thing you can do to prove this is to rob a store (in a really real way), and destroy everything in the famous 1930's machine gun. The fighting system is... well, seriously awful. It's SO lame that even a 2 years old baby can beat the strongest enemy. You just have to cover and hit while the enemy is tired. The driving system is quite standard. Nothing new in this, but I still like it. It adds the "realism" driving mode, but it's pretty lame anyway. if you liked GTA IV driving system you'll surely like this one. The story is more than awesome. It was like a movie (a really good one). Good characters, in a really dark world where anyone is what they seem to be. Uncovered cops, dirty and sadistic bosses and even the chinese mafia. In the other hand, characters are a solid 10. You even feel what they feel and actually suffer with them. From Joe to Henry or Luca, everyone is unique and can't be better in anyway. Some bad points: No side missions. This is the biggest mistake imo. 2K screwed it up with this one. The cops are pretty stupid. Their AI is more than awful. There is no complete nudity. Come on, guys. We are mature enough to see some **** some of us even have family. This is becoming seriously lame! If you like intense shootings, to torn apart everything (from concrete walls to cars), to kick the **** out of the bad ones (Because they suffer when their time comes. A lot.) or even walk calmly in the huge city, this is the game for you.… Expand

excellent game, excellent story, nice graphic and sounds, good music, great characters, every mission is original and not boring like some GTA IV missions, you can download free ride mod, .... EXCELLENT !

I played the demo and was amazed at how detailed the city and environment was. It looked like it would be an amazing story, and the shootout was fairly well done, but wasn't anything out of the ordinary compared to any other TPS. It portrayed the game as being decent enough to warrant purchasing, so I did. I have just completed the game, so I'll just go straight into the review of the actual game. I played the game on medium and ended up putting about 11 hours into the game, so it was a good length (unlike the… Expand

It's a good game and enjoyable to play through. After that, there's no re-playability and an attempt at a second play-through will feel like a chore. It's nice to look at too but to be honest it falls short (very short) of what it could, and should, have been. The fact that 2k have the audacity to charge essentially 25-30% of the original price for what is already in the game, but removed to increase profit margins, is just beyond taking the mick. I was confident in them as a developer but now will be extremely cautious about anything coming from their direction. Can't give it any better than a 6/10 because the price of the game doesn't match the amount of content. To tack on another charge for a locked part of the game is just having a laugh.… Expand

Mafia II refuses to follow the crowd of open-world games by putting authenticity at the head of its agenda instead of sheer scale and off-the-hook action. Empire Bay is a fantastic embodiment of the 1940s/'50s; really sharp cinematography and mostly solid voice acting; well-built experience with a handful of notable moments. Most exciting moments in game are seen and not played; superficial narrative fails to explore briefly mentioned themes; streamlined campaign lacks side missions or exploration. A must for any godfather or other mafia games Game duration 8 -10 hours depending how slow/fast you play… Expand

Mafia had been in the development for what, 3-4 years, i think. and after 4 years you hope that the game will deliver. you hope that it will be a fantastic game. well, mafia 2 is and in the other hand it isnt. first the good things: story (one of the best stories) graphics are very good. the number of cars and how each car feels different. gunplay and hand to hand combat, characters are very well written. the soundtrack-oh my god. the bad: not much to do in a big open world. no side missions if there had been side missions and the world was filled with places of intereset where you could go after a tireing mission and play darts or smth, it would have been the best game that had come out this year. but... my point of view-- if you want a game with a very good story mafia 2 is a must buy. but you would be better of renting one. 8 out of 10.… Expand

Not Worth the money. Short, about 10 hrs played. No multiplayer. A sandbox game that you cannot explore because it is so strictly linear. Terrible character models and cutscenes (the lip sync is terrible, it looks pulled from the first Mafia title!). There is a lot more bad things I could add about this game The good points are the story is alright, the graphics (other than character models and cut scenes) are beautiful and the sound is alright. The music is realistic for the time period but repetitve because of a lack of selection. Either way, I played through, but was terribly disappointed within 5 minutes of gameplay.… Expand

I just love this game, the graphics are awesome. The theme is awesome. I just love the music that is played on the car radio. This 40's - 50's wiseguy thing is the best. I just wish people would still dress like they do on this game. There was no glitches for me, maybe because my game is a LEGAL VERSION. I love the way that they have made this game. The first time you play, you just run through the missions. Next time you look for the hidden bonus stuff. Good thing is that they have real music from the era of this game, too bad they didn't license the car names. This should not be compared to GTA. If you want GTA, don't play this game. If you love trench coats and american-italian accents, you'll love this game.… Expand

The best game i have ever played hands down, great story line, i absolutely loved the ending and it was a really good port for the PC which was surprising after ports like GTA 4 and Saints Row 2

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Very good game, different from other GTA clones games. The backbone is in its story, which makes from Mafia II almost movie experience. The atmosphere of historical city is unique.… Expand

Although this game isn't bad, personally, it is a major and a disappointment to what could have been. After 8 years after the original release, having time to learn of the successes of GTA and failing of God Father II, this feels like a hollow attempt of appeasing the loyal fans of this game for being different. If anything, the first version of this with improved graphics would have been more engaging. The cinematics are brilliant, though testing on high settings (PC version) even for high end graphics cards, and the action model in game is fluent and smooth. I particularly like the eloquent manner in which you can hide for cover and move around more freely whilst in cover, and the fighting actions are an improvement over the GTA formula. Also, the graphical detail of environmental objects are sublime. However, the actual in game use of in world objects are superficial and hollow, which is a common theme that emulates throughout the game. There are no side missions, hardly any other interaction other than linear responses, and no sense of achievement in doing anything other than playing the story: all of which is very short, and also just as unrewarding. Completing the game reveals nothing more than a collection of relics and images of cute girls of the 60s era. All in all, this is a very average game, with nothing more to offer than smoke and mirrors.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wirklich gutes gelungenes Action Game mit guter Grafik und Sound. Leider nicht vergleichbar mit GTA da es keine gründe zum erkunden der Stadt gibt oder beschäftigungs Möglichkeiten. Aber über die gesamte Spielzeit gut inszenierte Action mit Film reifer Geschichte. Grüße MiCrOsPeeD… Expand

the strength of this game comes from its storyline! well thought and very enjoyable. The build up to each scene and chapter really get the player itchin to get in there and scene what happens next. Easter eggs too!

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The concept is really nice, tough a few things missing, which ruins the game. You cant really do anything in the city, more than stealing cars, buying cloth and kill people. Buying houses, getting your hair cut etc. is not possible, and there's alot more you expect, but you'll get disappointed. 6 hours of playing and already completed the whole game, after that theres nothing left to do, it just ends. thankfully i didnt buy the game and played at a friends, otherwise i would feel robbed.… Expand

I loved this game. The feeling of being immersed in the 40s and 50s is just amazing due to the truly deep attention to detail. This is not Grand Theft Auto, nor was it intended to be. It is a tight story driven game with fun gameplay set in an open and detailed world. Weapons are fun and rewardingly destructive. The real treat though is the art, which really brings the era alive.

very short and linear game. you will play a lot of missions which are basically same; you wake up with a phone call, dress up, get your car, drive about 5 minutes -actual time!- pick up some guys and weapons, drive for another 5 minutes (only you know how to drive in that stupid town btw), kill a lot of guys then go home. no side stories, no little games, no fun at all. with this graphics engine and mafia-based story, it could be the game of the year. very disappointing.… Expand

the end of a trip, while playing mafia war2 , thanks to the trainers of cheatncode.com,before I became dizzy I found this trainer i will shared the link http://cheatncode.com/pc/mafia-ii-v1-0-0-11-trainer-11-pc-games

For me this is the biggest gaming let down of 2010. The game's story and missions are easy and largly forgettable, the characters are all unlikable which means you don't really care what happens to them. But what really grates is that when you do complete the game, which won't take long at all, thats it, nothing else to do. There is no unlocks, no free ride mode, nothing. The developers spent years creating a nice city then give you no reason or chance to explore it. This game has absolulty no replay value whatsoever. If you do want to expand the game you have to pay for the "privilige" by buying the DLC which I won't do out of principle (that goes for all games). The original Mafia is one of my all time favorite games and it was way better than GTA3 (which was its closest comparison at the time) in every department. I'm not a GTA fanboy at all, believing 3 to San Andreas to be overrated in the extreme, but GTA 4 which if you like it or not, is comparable, beats Mafia2 hands down. This game is only worth buying if you value nice graphics above all else, or your into '50's/'60's Playboy covers. And oh yeah, you get to kill Tommy Angelo.… Expand

This game gets a 0 because you cant even start it normally. Well i got the ATI 4870 X2 Sapphire and this game do not even work when you start the demo because the developers are retarded who cant understand there is people with ATI out there so they made a Nvidia drives to the game. so the game starts to use your CPU instead of your GPU...= laggggg laggg freeze screen crash. So i dont realy feel like paying for this game if i cant use the product. To all ATI players out there. try demo and if it **** up..well thats what you also get when you pay for the game. same problem. i am sooo happy i didt buy this game.… Expand

PříliÅ¡ velké zklamání, Ä�ekal jsem o hodnÄ› víc. A jeÅ¡tÄ› k tomu vyjdou další DLC které akorát doplní původní hru ale nerozšíří ji. Jinak zážitek ze hry dobrý ale příliÅ¡ krátký.… Expand

Mafia 2 is fantastic. The game has so much atmosphere, that it is difficult to not constantly stop whatever you are doing in the game to observe the surroundings. The city is living and especially its winter period is filled with atmosphere. It made me think it was cold outside my window in real life a few times.. The story is great, although not the most original. The voice acting is professional, filled with humour and Italian accents. This was definetly worth waiting many years for. If I could get a few wishes granted, it would be for the game to be longer, and for the cops to be meaner. Comparing to the first Mafia game, you actually felt you were in trouble if cops started chasing you. It seems much easier to run away from them in Mafia 2: all you do is drive as fast as you can. I wish this could be something that can be adjusted in the game's difficulty level. However, these are just minor issues. Mafia 2 in my opinion is a living, beautiful, atmospheric game with great music, awesome old school cars, and entertaining combat.… Expand

Good control of the cars, the shooting parts are good, maybe a little dull plot. The graphics are spectacular, and the audio is done very well. I was tuned into the game until the end. But the problem is that: the end comes too soon. It's not worth the price.

The remaining of this game is still actually great, if you just don't think about how much content have been cut, This game could have been great competitor to GTA series if they didn't chop it off this much, I blame 2k for every single point of the negative impact on the final product. if they care about us not money they would have retained option for alternate ending it would have added massive replay-ability. , Jimmy also ruined the game, he shouldn't have existed, ending is definitely not the "best one" like they said, but think about it....ending is perfectly sounded and doesn't deserves a whines it's getting. other than that city, graphic, characters, cut-scene, level design, driving, soundtracks is some thing "stunning"… Expand

Fun game, a bit on the short side, and a very very veryyy nice atmosphere which really helps to pull you into the game. Going on what Honkey said, this is a must have for anyone who enjoys The Godfather series as it is more or less what the concept of this game is. The odds are if you enjoy GTA you'll enjoy this.

The game itself is quite limited. Driving, shooting/ boxing, that's about it; hardly any replay value. The storyline is never far away from the clichees we all know. Still, the game experience, continuity, and museum-like atmosphere are among the best in the game industry. I loved the hours I spent with Mafia 2.

Du grand art. Le jeu est magnifique, les personnage on vraiment la classe,le gameplay est une merveille, les cinematique sont digne des plus grande réalisation hollywoodien. Le portage PC est réussi. ça faisais longtemps que je n'avais pas pris autant de plaisir sur un jeux, et j'ai un peux de mal a comprendre les mauvaise critique. A savouré tranquillement ne pas hésite à s'arrête de temps en temps pour admiré les décors, acheté des vêtements qui donne vraiment un classe extraordinaire a son perso. Bref la grande claque.… Expand

I wish I could give it a 7.5. This game was pretty awesome but had a few big things wrong with it. A, too short B, too guided C, no multiplayer The fact that you're forced into each mission instead of just given time to wander around aimlessly DRASTICALLY reduces the re-play factor for me. I don't want to have to sit through all the cut-scenes or pars of missions to get to wander the world freely in the few parts it would probably let me. That being said, the gameplay is awesome, I recommend this game, just wish it was cheaper...I'm glad I got it free from EVGA. I wanted to keep playing when it was over, so they did a great job...but I WANT MORE lol. that's it...great game, fun story, but i wanted more and not all in a good way.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Long story short: Its a B- game that is very disappointing to anyone who loved the original. The first Mafia was a love letter to really old cars. You had a huge garage (which somehow made sense) where you collected them, start to finish. Mafia II, cars, even though a good chunk of your time is spent behind the wheel, you could drive the first car you get through the whole game and not miss much. Most of the cars handle the same. The story in Mafia II is a MESS. It starts out really promising, establishing characters, motives, etc, then falls apart. It feels like the game was originally twice as long and they edited out major scenes to save length or something. By the climax, you have no real idea why your shooting it out with the guy your fighting. Speaking of combat, the same problems in the first one crop up in the sequel. Combat in Mafia II is really fun, I won't take that away from it. But in such a story driven game, its problematic. Accidentally killing a minor character in one part of the game spawns a whole mission where you have to sneakily dispose of the body and smooth things over with the powers that be. Fine, that's Mob Movie 101: The old guard doesn't approve what the reckless cowboy young gangsters are doing. The problem is that one mission earlier, you wasted 30 guys in broad daylight and never heard about it again. The biggest complaint: No free ride, WTF?… Expand

The graphics, physics, weather effects, etc. are pretty good, but nothing extraordinary for these days. The game-play is generally comparable to recent GTA titles, although there is a greater emphasis on taking cover, avoiding the cops rather than massacring them, much less incentive to explore, and a linear storyline. The plot isn't completely unpalatable, although most of the secondary characters are forgettable or one-dimensional. Overall, the content and playing time is a little thin for 50 bucks, but I got it for free with my video card so certainly I got my money's worth.… Expand

I bought Mafia 2 expecting an epic open world gangster game, this is clearly not the case. The story, voice acting and cinematics are outstanding, but the grand city of Empire Bay feels rather hollow and empty. There are a couple of clothing stores to customize Vito Scaletta's appearance, and some body shops to paint and upgrade your cars, but soon you realize that you can do just as well with a dusty old family car as an upgraded 50000 dollar sports-car, and that the clothing options are rather thin. And if you want to go out and explore the city you will have to do so in between two checkpoints in a mission. The whole city feels like a big tease. Now, the game itself is good, gunfights are entertaining (though certainly not challenging, even on the highest difficulty) and the overall game mechanic is good, but it doesn't reach higher than that. Mafia 2 is a game you will play for the story and the atmosphere. Simply put: Good but not great.… Expand

this is a great disaster for the all fans. Bad graphic, stupid main character, very short story. This is not what we are waiting for. Vito is the worst character ever. He is dum he is non profitable. He want only money, he doest **** girls, stupid and boring mafiosi. Remember first game. Tomy Angelo is alive, not this chipollino Vito, In this game only final is good, so if want cry play this game buy this Just gta clon… Expand

I think that the story is really good, The Mafia games have the best stories I've every played. Mafia 2 is an excellent game with fun missions, but it's really short and there's really nothing to do when you're done with the game. It's an incredibly good game with amazing graphics and fun missions, but the story is short and there isn't any end-play.

The level of detail is truly amazing and the dialogue is funny and engaging but in terms of gameplay there's not much going on here. Drive from A to B, punch another mobster in the face a few times, drive back to A, sleep, wake up, go and shoot a few people in a very linear and very short shooty bit etc. Some of the missions are tedious and boring. If they'd have put more effort into interacting with this world rather than making it look sexy - the game may have been a hit.… Expand

As solid as it is, it could have been so much more. The developers mustve held back for their DLCs, and the sequel even. Nevertheless it was very enjoyable. And more car chase sequences please.

This game is simply amazing. They put lots of effort into writing the story it seems and the gameplay is just as amazing... I took my time to beat it instead of rushing through it so I spent about 30 or so hours on it....So what if there is nothing to do after, thats how games were in the past...A game this amazing doesnt need a multiplayer. All multiplayer does is make all the work they put into the game pointless because of how many people dont like singleplayer..... And there is a multiplayer mod being made. This game is like playing a movie its almost entirely story based, but that doesnt take away from the thrill of the gunfights and just being able to drive the city. If you dont want to do the mission then just dont follow the marker, it will be just like a GTA free roam, with more strict cops. Which brings me to the cops. They will arrest you for almost anything....Wreckless driving, speeding, hit and run etc. and its not like on GTA where you can outrun them no problem....You have to outrun them which is usually done by tricking them to crash into a wall. They will remember you by either your car, license plate, or clothing, all of which can be changed. If they see you, you will have a few seconds to get out of there sight before they go after you. This is a must have if you like games with great stories and can overcome the fact that it has no multiplayer, which I did and that doesnt affect my opinion about it at all. My only complaint is i got a large amount of lag in small portions throughout the game so some lesser computers might not be able to run it. Mine is pretty good but i could use a better graphics card. Overall amazing game, I hope to see a Mafia 2!… Expand

Boring, repetitive, no free roaming, cheesy story line. How worse could it get? It doesn't have that feeling that made Mafia 1 a great success, It's just terrible, one play through is all you need to throw this game away and regret buying it.

Being a big fan of the original Mafia game meant I just had to get this game... The game mechanics really delivered in allot of areas as promised. A new more real feel of being within your character was achieved... While the story lines are very solid as you would expect from this type of game. Even taking a scene from the original Mafia game where you see an old familiar face was a great touch. However the praise stops here! Heavily suffering from any real lack of imagination making them very predictable in most of the storylines... As for GFX and general Game Play I would mark this slightly above average 7/10... However this game is let down by a lack of end game content... I was shocked how suddenly the game grinds to a halt leaving the player (you) disoriented and angry... No free play away from the "Story Line" means that once you have completed this it’s the end of the game! This really does kill this game, while badly letting it down... The guns and cars within this game are very much improved on the original. With the more enhanced fist fights of which could even tempt a fighting fan to the game. Having possible end combo’s, which are be performed by come carefully timed button sequences… Over though game can be completed in hard mode in less than 12 hours even for a notice gamer, let alone a die hard... If you want to be teased by a game that picks you up and drops you from a 1,000 feet then this is the game for you. Otherwise forget you ever seen it, as you’ll walk away from this game being very disappointed…… Expand

The graphics are good, the physics are ok (not as impressive as they advertise it) and the gameplay is not innovative. There is nothing impressive about this game, since the nice graphics are almost a given for new games. The story can be fun sometimes and boring other times, but nothing outstanding. In my opinion its too similar to GTA and Godfather games, its not worth the money because the replay value is almost 0.… Expand

Short and easy, the gameplay is not fasinated, no fun, less selections, the only good things werecan be free in a city like that, and has a giid storyline. But its still a good game either..

If you are going into this game expecting GTA, steer clear. This game offers astounding graphics, voice acting, and cutscenes, but lacks in story, and flexibility. There are literally very few sandbox options in this game, because you are constantly being told what to do; wake up, answer phone, do job, go to bed. There is no time to do what you want. The story itself had a good beginning, but then fell apart about half way through. Although the DLC attempted to try and revive interest in the game, with each successive release of DLC, it is obvious the developers didn't listen to user input and spit out the same boring elements present in Mafia II, and then some.… Expand

As someone who acknowledges that quality will forever triumph over quantity, I really appreciate it when a game developer employs the same attitude while designing video games. For that, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of Mafia 2 as soon as possible. Set in the fictional city of Empire Bay, you're Vito Scalett, an Italian war-veteran trying to make a name for himself along with his childhood friend, Joe. Together, you explore the ins and outs of the Mafia. I personally haven't seen any of the Godfather films. I know what you're thinking, blasphemous, right? Just never got around to see them but I know it's a good trilogy so cut me a break! The closest thing I've exposure to organized crime is Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Eh, wasn't that film about the Mob? I assume the Mafia and the Mob are totally different? Whatever the case may be, Mafia 2 has got me engaged into the story so far. Captivating even, if I may add. I just purchased a copy yesterday so I'm far from completion. Roughly about 25% into the game. Expressing how much I'm loving every bit of it will be an understatement. If you're familiar with the Grand Theft Auto franchise (who the hell isn't?), Mafia 2 will come to you relatively easy. The basic mechanics are present. The entire city is sandbox so you can free-roam as and where you like, food & beverage/clothing stores to add a hint of role-playing elements, customize the cars you stole at the various garages in the city. Just to name a few. If you would have me describe Empire City to you in one word, stunning comes to mind. The 1940's esque is astonishingly detailed to a point where it actually feels true-to-life. Even the fashion and the various vehicles have obviously been spared no expense. The game takes place over a span of years so you can basically see the city change. From the snowy, gloom that winter brings to a city to the lush, vibrant effects of spring. To simply put it, the atmosphere the game brings is no more than fantastic. I will always like to declare that Mafia 2 is very much optimized for the PC. It's not what some of us call a "console port" where graphical hiccups causes a hit in framerate or frustrating controls. The gun fights are pretty nifty too. There's a cover system in which you will use most extensively. There aren't many assortment of weapons in the game. Probably at most five? I can't remember. But trust me, that's the most a game like this will ever need. Of course when you're doing all the nasty criminal work, you've to be wary of the law. The police will come after you for grand theft auto, running around with a firearm and even hit-and-run. There's a wanted system where you'll need to change your clothes or vehicle to elude capture. If you do get caught, you can bribe them and they'll look the other way. Depends on what your wanted level is though. Too high and they'll shoot on sight. If it's low enough, you'll get away with a fine. Also, I'm having difficulty naming another game that allows you to collect vintage Playboy magazines. I've collected one at the moment so I'm no Hugh Hefner. I guess going around the city hunting for pictures of bare-naked women can be seen as an incentive for some people. Just not me.… Expand

'm a big fan of what Mafia 2 does. I really am. The game provides an excellent story with solid graphics and gameplay, but it doesn't provide a bang for your buck at all, in fact it feels unfinished, and for this I wouldn't recommend a full purchase. Let's start with the good points, of which there are many of. The main draw of the game is the plot, which, while being the standard 8-10 hours, is one of the better of 2010. You play as Vito Scaletta, who came to America with his family when he was a child, and soon fell into small time crime with school buddy Joe. Until, that is, when Mafia 2 takes an unexpected twist, before you've performed any actual gameplay. They show you being arrested and, as the year was 1943, put into the army, to fight with the army in Italy. It's here where you have the tutorial level, in what's a surreal experience, a third-person World War 2 level. After you finish, Vito explains that he got shot a couple of years later, and comes home to Empire Bay for a month's leave, where he meets with Joe and his mother and sister. Joe throws you a solid and orders a forged doctor's note explaining you can't fight anymore, through his connections with the mafia. It's here you begin doing a few errands for the family he's with. After a few levels doing this, Mafia 2 throws unexpected twist number two: you get thrown in the big house. A federal big house, to that. And you actually play some of this time, to which I laughed and made a joke about a mission involving you trying to not drop the soap, something which almost came terrifyingly true. Anyway, you get out 6 years later, meet up with Joe again, and work from there, not giving anything away. Safe to say, the ride you do take is a great one. As mentioned in the intro, both gameplay and graphics are stellar. The shooting controls are mainly Grand Theft Auto style, except with no auto aim, which isn't all too bad. However, sprinting is performed by L1/LT, which has no stamina limit. For actions such as opening a door or jacking a car, there are two options; a quiet option where you either open or pick the lock (a cool new feature) and don't gain attention easily, or a fast, loud option, where you smash everything, which will gain attention. Driving is also GTA-esque, with heavy mid-century cars handling pretty well (and reach impressive 125 mph+ speeds) , although there is no option to perform a drive-by, which is sorely missed. The graphics are very good, with faces looking realistic, but there isn't much chance to appreciate it in the open world. There is, however, one draw back, which drags it down severely: the lack of extra things to do and re- playability. The game is a linear game, i.e. not open world like GTA, which isn't bad by any means, but limits your wondering around. Also, there isn't a "free-roam" option at the end of the game. This makes it quite hard to gauge when to do things in Empire Bay. There are 2 collectibles during the game; wanted posters, which you don't know when to go finding, and there is no incentive to do so. There also isn't a gameplay incentive to collect the Playboy magazines, but you will. You can also buy various clothes, which add to the feel of the game, and some of the suits are pretty sweet. To gain money to do this you can crush or sell cars, apart from completing missions. And that's about it. No multiplayer, which is fine, in fact I prefer single player-orientated games. But there aren't any side missions either, which isn't fine. Why? Because this is an unfinished game. Two contacts appear early in the game; Mike and Derek, and they appear in Level 2. After this, their icons appear on the map, and you can go talk to them, to which they say something on the lines of "Sorry kid, there's nothing for you today." There never is. Ever. Why would they put this in if there aren't any? Because they planned on having some, but then took them out, probably because they ran out of time, for a game they spent a long time working on. And on the internet, I've watched an entire, working level, which didn't appear in the game. Why? Because of creative purposes, I hear you say Take 2? Of course not, because you ran out of time to integrate it , or you couldn't be bothered. And that's what's annoying. Overall, rating wise: Gameplay: 8.5 Graphics: 8.5 Story: 9 Lasting Appeal: 5… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First Mafia is a great game. The second part, however, far below their qualities. Downloadable content is an unmitigated disaster. The game is stripped to the bone. Score (3.5)… Expand

Graphics- This games graphics are wonderful the environments look as detailed as i have ever seen in a sandbox game. The character models and facial expressions really help set this one apart. Sound- The sound is nice as well all the characters have the proper accents and weapons sound powerful. although many of the weapons and cars are very similar in sound. Story- The game takes a hit at the storyline portion. The storyline is good but it feels generic,you never grow very attached to your character. Missions- The missions are terrible and monotonous......They are generic,sloppy,and boring,but what really makes me angry is the driving portions which engulf over 1/4 of the game just getting to and from objectives. Controls-for a PC sandbox title they are good and responsive. However i prefer my sandbox gtames with a game pad Overall-This title isn't worth the 60 dollar asking price, Its generic,monotonous and boring.......Wait until its on sale for 20 bucks and pick this up… Expand

The graphics are great and Empire Bay is beautiful. The storyline kept me interested for the most part, and the game mechanics are descent for this type of game. If you don't take cover, you are dead. If you run into a wall at full speed with your car, you are dead. This is more realistic then other games of its genre. The shootouts can be great, and the idea that the city changes as the story progresses, is really cool. Now lets get to the dislikes. Driving. Lots of driving. Each mission is pretty much the same in this regard: You get up, you drive, you get a mission, you drive, you complete the mission, and you drive home. Sometimes there is even more driving! And that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that there is absolutely nothing ... er, almost nothing to do in Empire Bay. Most of the shops are just for looks, and the people are far from interactive...unless you want to get into a fist fight. In that case, you have to walk up to them and push them and see if they will get into a fight with you. If they run you can either let them go or shoot them in the back. If you shoot them, the cops will no doubt show up, and the cops are all sharpshooters so you won't last long. There are some interesting things they did by making the city look more alive, but I would have liked to have been able to go into a shop, rob it, take a taxi, take a bus, and eat at some of the inaccessible restaurants. Though the game appears to be a sandbox style game, it really is not. You pretty much have almost nothing to do other than progress the story and do missions. You can steal cars and crush them in the junk yard, but that will only leave you desiring more, and when you find new locations forget about going back and messing around, because the game developers decided that after you enter an area (like the big hotel for instance, where lots of nice cars are sitting in the parking garage), you shouldn't be aloud to go back there ever again and explore-- so you'll go back to only find the doors all closed and locked. I have no idea why they did that...why couldn't the buildings I went into before during a mission be accessible later? Would it have killed them let me go back in there and mess around some? One time I got a nice car and got out of it to do something and the car vanished before my eyes. That was annoying. Even more annoying is no in-game save feature. I racked up $6,000 stealing cars only to lose it when I accidentally lost control of my car (which will happen quite often in this game) and hit a wall. Now, sometimes if you hit a wall you will die, other times you will not. This time the game decided I was dead and I had to start back from the save point with my $680-- tough luck. I sighed and just went on to the next mission. So is it worth buying? Well, yes, if you can get it on sale like I did then go for it. It's a great game to play through solely for the storyline and shootouts. But be warned. There are missions that are mostly boring. For instance, one mission has you load crates into the back of a truck. Another mission has you handing out cigarettes. Fortunately these missions are cut shorter so that you can get to the action quicker, but, nevertheless, you will be wondering at times what the developers were thinking when they were making this game. I haven't quite finished the game yet, but I have read that the game is short. Judging by where I am in the game after only a few hours of game play spanning 3 days, it sounds like I'm almost finished. It was really disappointing to discover that I didn't even get to earn money to buy a house; there was just flash scenes of time progressing (maybe a few days or weeks, I couldn't tell) and suddenly I owned a house. When I first started playing I thought I was going to have to earn that house somehow. One more thing: I think the developers were trying to set a record for the most times the F-Word was said in a game, and the nude pictures found lying around (collectibles- yippie) look like models that are wearing wigs, most of which won't get you all excited but you certainly don't want the kids in the room when you pick one up. But oh well, I give it a solid 7. I guess I got my money's worth.… Expand

This game is amazing, how many hours did they put into this? I guess the gameplay could be knocked a little, but on the whole it's fun and pretty tight. The graphics are where it's at, just mindblowing. Often found myself crashing into stuff, due to looking off at the scenery, good stuff.

Graphics : City beautifully rendered, high attention to detail with good variation. Effects well done. Sound : Good with excellent voice acting. Awesome music. Story : Average - This is where the game starts to show some cracks in the armor. Imo, 2K should abandoned the strictly linear, movie-style gameplay that worked so well for Mafia. The only way to really capture an audience is with some sort of engaging/interactive gameplay with repercussions to the story. Bottom line - for as much as 2K raved about how great the story was going to be, it really wasn't . The suspense/excitement was minimal. I really looked forward to this game coming out ever since they announced, but unfortunately I was left feeling a bit disappointed overall. Maybe the hypothetical Mafia 3 will make amends.… Expand

Mafia 2 isnt a stand out game, but its by no means a game people should pass down. It truly feels like you are playing as one of the 'made men' from movies like Goodfellas and The Godfather. The games strongest point is its ability to immerse and its story telling is top notch. Graphics wise, there are better looking games but it is a great looking game by anyones standards, especially the cars which stand out as one of the real gems of the game. Unfortunately the plot line is rather short and the ending is very frustrating, but it shows the extent the player feels or the characters and what happens to them. Going into this game expecting Grand Theft Auto style sandboxing and replayability will definitely disappoint but all in all, it is a decent game and worth a look for any "crim sim" enthusiast.… Expand

I literally just made an account so I could rag on this POS of a game. I have never in my life played a game yet that I felt that I have had to tell people just how pointless it is to buy!. First off, if u do not have gta4... get that over this $*^@(*#$^ game. u might as well just go buy a friggn mafia movie and watch it anyways. The main thing that I am getting on 2 tell u about it the )*&%@#*($&) cops in this game. There is literally 1 every friggn block WTF!!! that isnt even realistic in real life u (*$&@*(# d bag programmers )*&#$)*@&#()* u guys ruined the game right there. Pretty much u cant do anything bad... NOT EVEN SPEED without gettting tailed. Then of course u have to lose the fuzz before u can even start the mission, and u had better not die bc u r going to end up right back at the beggining of the ()*$&@*(#&(@* chapter bc 4 some reason this game will never let u save ur ()$&@()&#$()@ progress!!!!! The handling of the cars is i guess pretty accurate bc u they sure dont handle 4 crap.... which means u r def going to run in2 crap and of course get tailed whereever u need to go. Its funny how the game puts ssooooooo much emphasis on driving across the entire )*$&@*(#& city to do missions, so it takes forever just for the driving, and yet u have to do the driving correctly or u r 100% guaranteed to get a cop on u!!! Then of course u have to pass ur destination up 2 lose the (&$@()# cops, also chances r those cops will end up killing u or making u wreck ur piss poor handling car and die.... and dont 4get since the )($&@()#$ game wouldnt let u save anything... so u just wasted 10 min and have to start from the begging again and skip evvvvvvvery cut scene.... drive alllllll over the pos city just 2 get 2 destination.... and dont 4get u have to drive slow and hit nothing so the )*$&@*)$ cop at every corner doesnt start tailing u AND then u reapeat the same )*$&@*(#&@(_#&@()୊ CYCLE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! r u ssssssseeeeeinnngggg where I am coming from..... If i knew just 1 of the developers 4 this game i would drag him in2 the )(&$@()&$() street and run his )*($&@()&#$()@&$)( d bag self over with a 1950s chev pickup... then mayb just mayb.... i would feel that i got my moneys worth out of this worthless game!!!! sad thing is I got it on the steam sale at 12 bux and I still feel like i have been ripped off!!!!!!! $)&@*)$*@()$&@*()#&@(*#()@#*&@()*#&@*(#&@) dont buy this game!!!!!! worthless!!!!!!… Expand

This game, even though it it has only said to be "good not great," is far overrated. I found that the beginning was too easy, the middle was boring, repetitive and overly-linear with gunfights starting and ending from one piece of cover; and the end was die-a-thousand-deaths frustrating. The AI can almost always shoot you first. Throughout the game, you don't get to make a single decision. You just watch while your character ruins his life and the lives of those around him. Yes, this is mob life but I would feel a little better about it if I had some say. On top of that, the game basically requires no thought on behalf of the player. The game is always telling you exactly what to do and where to go. It even gives you an NPC buddy on all the missions to guide you through the level. Just follow him through the levels and you'll never get lost. Oh, and he can't be killed. Use him as a bullet sponge. Then there's the driving. Who wants to play a video game where you can get speeding tickets? Seriously? And hit and run fines? And whenever whassname is in the car and I run a red light he says "what do you have an aversion to red lights?" I don't play video games to wait in traffic!! I also came into this game hoping it would be a sandbox game. Just so you know, it is not. You do a mission, and you can either 1. drive around and, well, there's not really anything to do because there are no minigames, or 2. sleep and go to the next chapter. Which almost always starts with the phone ringing. And another thing. There are times in the game where you lose all your money. More than one. So you save up all this cash, maybe you're looking to buy that special something, and boom. Gone. Yeah. It's a good thing I only paid $7.50 for this game. Gotta love midweek madness on Steam.… Expand