Pumping Irony

I finished the story in Mafia II last night – in Hard Mode, no less! – and it was truly a wonderful ride. Initially when I made my little post about the demo I had planned to wait until the game had naturally lowered in price after 4-6 months. But launch day arrived and I failed my saving throw versus impulse purchases. I initially justified it by guessing it was probably similar to The Saboteur, another excellent single-player open world game that I fell in love with last year. For my personal comfort I chose the 360 version. The PC version looks incredible, especially with PhysX enabled, but I would be in excruciating RSI pain right now if I had played the PC version as much as I did the 360. So, no screenshots for this article, obviously.

What is Mafia II? Despite obvious comparisons, it is not a GTA clone, per se. To gamers and reviewers who were expecting (or more probably, assumed) it would be, they may be disappointed at the lack of pointless and clunky mini-games … annoying hoodlum friends who call at inopportune times … side-missions compared to Rockstar’s offerings. I compared it to The Saboteur above, and that is probably the most accurate comparison. While the game exists in the open world city of Empire Bay, it is a single-player game with a highly focused linear narrative. I wouldn’t have it any other way; Mafia II has kept me entertained solidly since it released a few days ago, which is more than I could say for GTA 4 which took me over 18 months of occasional play before I could be bothered to finish Niko’s storyline. Mafia II and GTA are two very different types of games, despite sharing the open world, driving and shooting.

Mafia II is comprised of 15 chapters, each focusing on specific parts of protagonist Vito Scaletta’s rise and fall (and rise?) within the mafia families in Empire Bay. Each chapter is set in its own timeline. Chapter 1 starts us off with Vito assigned to the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in 1943 Italy. Chapter 2 moves forward to February, 1945 when Vito comes home to Empire Bay after being wounded in battle. Vito meets up with his childhood friend Joe Barbaro who brings Vito into the gangster scene. The next few chapters take place at later points in February until Chapter 7 where the timeline moves forward to April, 1951. This is the final year of the story, though time progresses as Chapter 7 starts us in April and Chapter 15 concludes in September. Additionally, many chapters are broken into parts which occur at various times during whatever day that chapter is set. Because of this narrative design decision, there is no day/night cycle nor random weather but rather each time frame is set in its own time of day or has specific weather assigned to it. This especially works well when the game starts off in winter with the city and cars covered in snow and roads with patches of ice then shifting to spring and summer. It’s a nice touch that we don’t see often, probably because of the extra expense of re-texturing the entire world per season. Some parts of the game occur at night, sometimes it’s raining, sometimes it’s foggy but the weather always seems to be appropriate for that segment of Vito’s story. Rather than being random like you’d see in GTA (or even an MMO) the weather, the time and other factors all contribute to the big picture of setting the mood as we progress through the narrative.

Controls

In my article about the demo I complained about the default controls on the 360 because I’d spent so much time with GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption lately. There are two control settings, one of which is nearly identical to Rockstar’s control layout so I was very happy with that. Responsiveness is spot-on and generally I was happy with the controls for both shooting and driving. The vehicles in the demo seemed heavier or less controllable than their retail counterparts as well. Vito can store up to ten cars in his garage, and there we can see the stats of each car from brake horsepower to top speed and the car’s weight, which is important in terms of high-speed controllability. All the cars are rear-wheel drive (probably era-appropriate?) which combined with the overall weight of these older cars can result in excessive fishtailing if you don’t slow down. Unfortunately, I don’t slow down. Once it starts fishtailing, I try to correct to the other direction, probably end up over-controlling and the fishtailing gets progressively worse. I’m not the greatest driver in the world with analog thumbsticks (note: I can drive FPS vehicles perfectly fine with WASD but I am beyond useless with WASD in racing games and these open world action games. Go figure.) but I got the hang of many of the vehicles in Mafia II far better than I ever did in GTA 4, possibly better than I did in The Saboteur as well.

The shooting aspect is pretty standard fare for an open world action game. It has the same snap-to cover system we see in GTA 4, RDR and others and works great for the most part. Just like in Rockstar’s games, it knows if you’re running towards an object when you try to go into cover so Vito will run then duck and slide behind the object and so forth. The only problem is when there are multiple surfaces in a small area, Vito may take cover behind the wrong one or on the wrong side, but that is a common problem with every snap-to cover mechanic I’ve played, so I won’t single out Mafia II for it. There is no automated targeting option like GTA 4 has so you have to aim your shots. The 360 and PS3 versions do have the obligatory target assist option but it’s fairly tight — you have to aim within a few pixels of the target before it will attempt to assist. My only real gripe with the shooting is that the target reticule is located higher on the screen than I am accustomed to. I’ve had over a decade of the reticule being in the center of the screen. In Mafia II the reticule is level with Vito’s eyes. That makes perfect sense when I think about it but during hectic shootouts I would revert to aiming the center of the screen (the reticule is not displayed unless you have a weapon drawn and aimed) and firing a shot several feet over the head of the enemy. The moral of the story is when you’re hiding behind something bring your target even with Vito’s eyes (roughly halfway between the top and middle of the screen) and you should nail your target.

Mafia II also features brawling in addition to gunplay. In GTA 4, Niko could punch and block, but that was about it. Here, Vito can block, punch, counter-punch, jab and grab, with two combo’s and some finishing moves which shift to slow motion for the knockout blow (which may be a kick to the jaw rather than a punch). It’s fairly basic, no deep fighting game mechanics here, but it’s more than we’ve seen in other open world games. Just like the guns all have a good feel, so does the melee. When Vito takes a hard punch, from the animations to sounds to graphical effects, it all comes together and it’s like “damn, that hurt!” When you manage to defeat your opponent with a finishing move, it’s a satisfying thing indeed. Some reviewers are whining about the brawling, saying it’s tacked on and limited. Really? But GTA’s isn’t? Keep a straight face while you answer that. Take your tongue out of Rockstar’s sphincter first though so I can hear you…

AI

The AI in Mafia II is probably its weakest aspect, though not a game-breaker. I’ll break it down into categories for posterity.

• Actor AI: Quite often after a cutscene or conversation, the actors are supposed to walk out of the room but never open the door so they get stuck walking face-first into the door. If I walk over and open the door for them they will continue on their merry way. Possibly a minor and patchable glitch but it’s right there in your face so it’s noticeable. Otherwise the actor AI serves its purpose.
• Driver AI: On the surface the driver NPC’s seem to have the same basic AI we’d expect based on what we’ve seen with other open world games but the more I played the more it seemed like the AI drivers had a very limited focal point of awareness. Rather than having, say, a cone of vision, the drivers in Mafia II appear to only notice things directly in front of them, and even then only within a certain distance of the AI vehicle. If, say, I am driving alongside a vehicle in GTA 4, the AI might beep its horn at me and get over slightly so I don’t hit the car. If I am at a corner and begin making a turn in GTA 4, AI drivers appear to at least be aware of me. Not so in Mafia II; the AI doesn’t appear to have any awareness of me whatsoever until I am directly in front of it. If I beep my horn at AI drivers, they do not react at all whereas in GTA 4 they might get over to one side or another.
• Pedestrian AI: Very limited in scope. There aren’t as many pedestrians walking the streets as we’d see in GTA 4 or Crackdown and more importantly, they don’t react to our presence much. If I aim a weapon at a pedestrian in Mafia II they don’t notice whereas in GTA 4, Crackdown and others the AI will cower and run away. If I shoot a gun in public in Mafia II the AI will cower where they are but never run away and don’t say anything either, compared to the screaming panic that ensues in GTA 4, etc. Also there are very few AI conversations in Mafia II compared to the others, though the few that exist are pretty good, including the inmate reciting the Zero Wing introduction speech verbatim (pop culture Easter egg). The AI pedestrians are only aware of us driving if we happen to skid around a corner or otherwise end up not on a street surface, such as a sidewalk or parking lot. Then, and only then, will they react to the presence of our vehicles or to our horn. But if both the pedestrian and myself are on the street, the AI does not acknowledge my horn or vehicle at all.
• Police AI: Standard fare with the exception that the police also react to speeding. While driving, there is a “speed limiter” that, when enabled, will not allow you to exceed the posted speed limit (45 mph on city streets, 60 mph on the highway) to avoid police chases. Otherwise shooting in public, stealing a car or hitting a police car will get the cops’ attention and they turn into the same single-minded and obsessed homicidal maniacs we’ve come to expect. There was one time when a police car T-boned me in traffic but did not start chasing me. It could have been a fluke or perhaps the AI knew it hit me rather than me hitting it, but either way I approved. Escaping from the police is quite a bit easier in Mafia II than GTA 4 at least though once escaping, you are still “wanted” and if another patrol notices you long enough they will resume the chase. Usually they note your license plate so you’ll have to stop by a repair shop to have the plates changed. If they get a good look at Vito though, you’ll have to change his clothes to clear his “wanted” status.
• Shooting AI: Again, standard fare. The AI will usually take cover then pop out at predictable intervals to shoot at you. Sometimes the AI may switch positions, even running to different parts of the area, to make things interesting but that is the exception rather than the rule. Occasionally the AI may try basic flank maneuvers. Nothing we haven’t seen before and nothing we’re not already expecting. In my mind, one doesn’t buy an open world action game and expect advanced MilSim AI tactics, but apparently some reviewers do… I don’t understand that.

Graphics

As I mentioned above and in the demo article, the PC version has some incredible graphics, especially if you have the hardware to enable PhysX. Absolutely incredible. Even on the 360, though, Mafia II has great graphics for an open world game, which usually has to make sacrifices to pull off the seamless world. For sheer visual fidelity, I would list Mafia II, GTA 4, then The Saboteur. GTA 4 has the lowest performance of the bunch though it has the most detailed city and comprehensive AI so I’ll cut it slack for that, while The Saboteur muddied the background textures too much for my liking in order to get the foreground visuals and performance up. GTA 4 also blurs and muddies its background textures quite noticeably. The distant buildings and countryside in Mafia II look much sharper by comparison. 2K Czech broke out all the lighting, particle and post-processing effects as well. The headlights at night were very well done, starting as a single, brighter point of light then splitting into two headlights as the cars get closer. Lights at night and in mist or fog have both a glow and starburst effect applied. Weather is equally well done; the rain effects I thought were especially good-looking.

Sound

The sound in Mafia II is top-notch. From ambient sounds to vehicles to weapons, everything sounds excellent. The weapons in Mafia II all have their own unique “feel” and the high quality of the sound effects enhance that greatly. While driving, Empire Bay has three radio stations which play from the list of licensed songs from the 40’s and 50’s in addition to a few good DJ spots between songs. The game’s score was recorded by the Filmharmonic Orchestra Prague and is also of excellent quality and fits perfectly with the game’s narrative. Voice acting is more often than not a sore spot for video games but here. The voice acting in Mafia II is superb; it seemed like the actors really got into their characters and delivered quality performances every time. Finally, the audio engineers and producers for 2K Czech may have accomplished an industry first. Longtime readers may remember one of my pet peeves in games is that studios never lower the volume of background sounds and music when voiceovers are being played. So many games have voiced dialogue which is blocked out by full volume music, explosions, or whatever in the background. Meanwhile audio engineers have been doing it in radio, television and cinema for the past 50+ years. It takes a smallish European studio to finally show everyone else how it’s done. I doubt that it gets noticed, though so I won’t bother expecting any big-name American studios to suddenly begin mixing their audio in a professional manner.

Conclusion

If there has been one common theme in every paragraph I’ve written, it’s that of narrative. Mafia II is a highly focused, narrative-driven game and it is that which separates it from being the non-linear GTA clone that many assumed they were getting. There are no random strangers giving side-missions, no street races, or any of the other fluff detracting from the story. The only thing coming close would be robbing stores, selling high-end cars to Derek or crushing cars at Mike Bruski’s junkyard for extra money. [Note: Two DLC packs have been announced where you play as a different character “Jimmy” adding arcade gameplay featuring side-missions, street races, etc. and leaderboards. One of the DLC is currently a PS3 exclusive.] There are two aspects of collecting in Mafia II – Playboy magazines and Wanted posters. There are a total of 50 Playboy magazines, each featuring an actual, and uncensored, Playmate centerfold. Each Chapter has 3-5 magazines hidden, usually in one of that chapter’s featured locations. Then there are 150 Wanted posters hidden in rather hard-to-notice places all over Empire Bay for players who enjoy that sort of thing.

One thing I didn’t really mention was Empire Bay itself. It is a fictional city based on features of New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Some of the really high buildings immediately bring to mind the famous New York City skyline, with one tall pointed building reminiscent of the Empire State Building. One chapter of the game is set during heavy morning fog and you drive over one of the large arched bridges. In the city then driving up the bridge you can barely see in front of your face through the fog and looking out of the bridge is nothing but whiteness then you crest the top of the bridge and emerge from the top of the fog and can just make out the tops of some of the taller buildings as they pierce the misty veil, stretching for the overcast sky above then you drive back into the fog as the bridge descends. Simple, yet effective, and brings to mind those foggy mornings in San Francisco. Empire Bay is also smaller than Liberty City and less of a meandering jungle of streets. That may in fact, be appropriate for the era in which Mafia II is set but for a game play experience, I prefer driving five to eight minutes over GTA 4’s ten to fifteen minute drives during missions.

Mafia II takes it’s M rating to heart, more so than GTA 4. Just like every gangster movie ever made, Mafia II has a lot of strong language and violence in some cutscenes. The few instances of violence in GTA’s cutscenes don’t hold a candle to this.

Obviously I enjoyed my time with Mafia II and would heartily recommend it as long as you know you’re getting a game focused on story rather than the more non-linear meandering experiences of GTA 4. Oakstout and I were doing some multiplayer GTA 4 last week and he mentioned he always feels overwhelmed in the open world games because he never knows what to do or where to go. If you’re only playing Niko’s story then that isn’t the case (same with Red Dead Redemption) but GTA 4 has all the strangers, the friends, and other side-content that could be missed if you don’t know about it. Mafia II is all about Vito’s story, period, so I suspect Oakstout might have an easier time with Mafia II provided the game’s style and theme is suitable for him. The story itself was very enjoyable as Vito meets various characters and as time passes and he matures he begins to realize the toll of the lifestyle he has chosen. There are a few unexpected plot twists and the characters were all enjoyable to learn, even the bad guys who were usually so bad it felt good to go against or defeat them. Again, props to the voice actors for jumping feet-first into their characters.

Now excuse me, I have a few more Playmates to find…

Fun Fact: All those Playboy magazines? Mafia II is set between 1945 and 1951. Playboy was founded in 1953.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at 4:29 pm and is filed under Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.