Official Xbox 360 Magazine - Play new games every month with the UK's number one Xbox 360 magazine

	Far Cry 2 - Love It Or Hate It? FEATURE: What Far Cry 3 needs to address...
	Modern Warfare 3: What's Next? FEATURE: How will the next game surprise us?
	Games Predict The World's End FEATURE: There may be trouble aheeeead...
	Monday Supplement FEATURE: Round up of the week and MW2 nukes!

On the site today - Blogs: What Are Your 10 Favourite Games? http://bit.ly/7PtBOf

BROWSE OXM

OXM CONTENT

Contact us
Feeds

Login

Not a member yet? Click here to register!

Video

Launch Player

Lost Planet 2 ³⁶⁰

Darwinia+ ³⁶⁰

Preview

Mafia II

Format Xbox 360

Developer 2K Games

Publisher 2K Games

Genre Adventure, Action, Shoot 'em Up

29-Oct-2009 Most gangster games are more interested in action than personality, but Mafia II is an exception.

2 Comments

Vito Scaletta is one of the most fleshed-out and realistic characters we've ever seen. That's partly down to the cutting-edge motion capture, recreating every nuance of a convincing actor. A Hollywood-worthy script and a very detailed back story will make this Mafia upstart someone you really want to hang out with.

That's a good job too, because we're going to be seeing a lot of Vito. Mafia II covers ten years of his life, from his homecoming from the war in 1945 to the mid '50s. This was America's golden age.

The game's open world, Empire Bay, is full of optimism and growth. A lot can happen in a decade, and this alternative version of New York City evolves over time. One example is how the post-war propaganda posters plastered on the buildings soon give way to the commercial billboards of boom-time USA. Fashions and car models change gradually as the 1950s approach too, offering something more similar to the styles seen in the original Mafia.

Comparisons with GTAIV will be inevitable. Empire Bay and Liberty City carry many of the same landmarks, and Mafia II's police rating system obviously borrows from its modern-day counterpart. There are tweaks, though. If a cop sees you holding a gun, you can bribe him or show him a counterfeit licence instead of just running away.

And while Niko Bellic only had to choose who lived and died, Vito's decision-making will have more epic reverberations. In an early mission, you're on the way to a meeting when you see a hooker being attacked. You can choose to ignore this and get to the assembly on time. However, if you choose to take on this short protection mission, the hooker will become a fairly important character in Vito's story later on.

Mafia II's combat is as dramatic as its cutscenes. A shotgun blast will send an enemy flying off his feet, and convincingly so. You can use an MG42 to shoot holes in cover and take massive concrete chunks out of walls. Best of all, it's possible to baseball slide into cover, making Vito's movement feel really dynamic.

The only bad news is that Mafia II has slipped until 2010 - an already crowded year for Xbox 360. It should be more than good enough to hold its own, though. This exciting game has plenty of muscle.

Ben Talbot