Flashback: Mafia 2
In the history of the video game industry, there were plenty of games that completely changed this field. Half-Life, The Last of Us, God of War, Red Dead Redemption, GTA: San Andreas are only a slew of games that played a major role in restructuring the concept of a video game.
The Mafia franchise indeed is worthy to be called among these games. The plot, the environment where the game takes place is fantastic. So let’s go ahead with the review of the Mafia franchise and in this case, we will overview the second game.
Before we move to the review it should be said that the developers took quite a long time to make this game. Well if we compare how quickly law enforcement agencies caught notorious gangsters the making of Mafia 2 took even more. However, the game is really worth it.
It is amazing how many trailers we have been shown during this time, but at the same time, the authors have kept some intrigue. On posters and in teasers the characters always snout and arrange a perky muzzle under the rock and roll, but the game is different. Let’s call it life – because behind the easy money here are always fat bosses, and in ten virtual years, you will face all the troubles – from betrayals, poverty, and prison to the death of loved ones and even war.
Because our hapless immigrant, barely imagining, is immediately sent to the historical homeland – under the bullets of the Nazis. After all, he is not considered for a person, because his pocket is empty.
The plot is the heart of the Mafia franchise. For its sake, you close your eyes to any of its shortcomings. How many in the network there were disputes about voice acting, pictures, line shootings, and lack of additional missions. It is pointless to deny the shortcomings, but in our opinion, almost all of them are covered by the opportunity to plunge this era. And discover an interesting story.
One of the major drawbacks I want to point out is that the Mafia at this time was running a bunch of gambling operations like horse racing, sports betting dens, and underground casinos.
What Mafia 2 lacked was the involvement in these illegal activities. It would greatly benefit to help the player to run these places and teach them history on how gambling became a part of American daily life during these times.
For example, the Mafia would run these Keno horse racing operations, and they were very similar to a popular Keno strategy in a modern digitalized world. They would just pick a random number for the horses they’d watch racing and hope they won. It was not the average bet. No, it was an elaborate system created by the smartest of mafia members to guarantee cash flow to the family. I think involvement in these types of schemes would have been so interesting for players if there was an option for it.
Now let’s just continue with the story of the life of the main character Vito Scaletta. It is divided into chapters and is not blurred by many additional missions, as in GTA. Forget about the annoying cell phone, which in the fourth Grand Theft Auto constantly distracted you from the mission. Whether it’s good or bad, a character will decide by himself. But what really pleases is that the tasks are not replayed from the moment you sit in the car and five minutes dragged on the case.
Vito is a hard-working guy. However the work is an activity for weak people, and therefore his friend Joe, almost from the arrival throws new tasks. Moreover, at the beginning of the game, Vito offends only the bad guys and the police, who are probably also bad – we just are not told about it. The feeling of the game comes when under the shoulders there is a great life experience or in shootouts and fights – that’s where the uniform button begins – with shooting and shelters … that don’t always save from it.
On the other hand – the scenery is constantly changing – and the Empire Bay itself appears before us in the winter version, then in a bright green summer color. Only residents walked on ice, curled up from the frost – as after some ten years they drove around the city on Cadillacs and listened to rock and roll. The world has changed – and the player is surprised by this after the main character. Alas, then Vito notices that the people familiar with him have also changed. Although, no, people do not change – we just know little about them.
Conclusion
The plot is perfect, the characters – well, and their animation – satisfactory. But there is no desire to put Mafia 2 on the components because of its main advantage which is the era and history. Which, however, tells about a boy on errands. If you discard the plot, and fashion scenery we will have to admit that Mafia 2 does not fully meet the expectations of the best game of the year, and even more so – decades. But anyway, they waited for it for so long that the score hardly matters. We just have to enjoy it and hope that in the future we will get an even more complete game.