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Mafia II Preview

2K Games: Mafia II More Like Bioshock Than GTA

Posted on 2009/06/09 by Kyle Wynen

In development for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, with an early 2010 release in the cards, 2K Games' Mafia II had a great showing at E3 2009. Spanning 10 years of main character Vito's life, the game starts out half way through the post-war 40's and ends off a decade later with the rocking 50's.

Mafia II has a lot to live up to considering the success of its predecessor. However, kicking off the live demonstration it was evident this will only work in Mafia II's favour. As producer Denby Grace put it, "the thing that really resonated with critics and gamers alike was this strong cinematic experience, this compelling narrative, as well as the authentic period setting of the 20's and 30's. Mafia II is only going to take these strengths and build on them further." Seeing Grace demo the game before our eyes only assured us that he wasn't overselling the game at all.

The demo opened in a diner with Italian-American immigrant, Vito, leaving by car to meet up with his mafia cohorts. Taking place in the fictional city of Empire Bay, a city with carefully chosen 1940's American city aesthetics, the streets, houses and buildings had a suitable layer of snow and ice all over them. Following up on the environmental conditions, all the game's NPCs adorn winter wear and vehicle traction is greatly compromised. "There's World War II propaganda on the billboards, there's music on the radio you would have heard in the 1940's," Grace explained as they continued to drive through the city, "All these little details add up to this great feeling that Empire Bay really is a living, breathing city that's a great place for our story to take place in."

Playing the mission 'Buzz Saw', Vito acts as a hired gun, a "nobody" according to Grace, as this mission is quite early in the story. Sent out to eliminate the owner of a distillery that had been ignoring paying protection money to the mafia, Vito, alongside his partners, Joe and Henry, set up for an ambush. With orders to kill the "fat man", the crew is pre-emptively given away before the ambush, leading to a fire fight between the crew in their second floor vantage point and the distillery men. The fat man slips away into the distillery, with the mission continuing as Vito gives chase.

Gameplay in Mafia II is similar to the first, and quite like Grand Theft Auto and the likes. The graphics are much better over last year's GTA4, and quite nice to see given the caliber of AAA game graphics this year. Where Mafia II doesn't innovate on its gunplay, Grace laid out exactly what the true focus of the game is,

People ask, 'how does it compare to the game Rockstar makes, how does it compare to Saints Row?' It doesn't. It compares more to Bioshock than those games.

A surprising take considering the gameplay of Mafia II, but Grace continued, "Yes we have got a sandbox city, and you drive and you shoot. What's important is this strong, strong narrative. For that to be believable, and as believable as possible, we needed to create a sandbox city. We needed to create Rapture, you know? Otherwise this story doesn't work. Yes we need Vito to go into restaurants to meet other mafia bosses. Yes we need to go into shops to buy suits, because that's what mafioso guys do. So we put these things in the game. What we don't do is put you into more goofier [situations] just to pass the time. It's like, go play Wii Sports alright?"

The cinematics certainly are an attraction for Mafia II as use of camera angles, acting, cuts and other effects make for an engaging yet not over-baring experience. Smoke and explosions are impressive, but at the moment the game, still deep in development, did show a couple graphical glitches.

Continuing the mission, Vito and crew succeeded in taking down the fat man and making their way out of the distillery with a wounded comrade in tow as the facility burned down. The demonstration finished with Vito attempting to lose the police, but he is blockaded at a cliff hanger roadblock seconds before the demo came to a close. 2K Games' demonstration of Mafia II was first rate, hopefully the full game reflects this.

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TAGS: Mafia II, 2K Games, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360, Microsoft, PC, E3 2009, Video Game Previews

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