GAMES: A Story you can't refuse....sort of. Mafia 2 XBOX360

Just when I thought I was out with my Demo Review of Mafia 2 the world of 2K Czech has pulled me back in.

Yep, I'm a bit of a mafia nerd. Which sounds like an oxymoron, but it isn't. The topic is fascinating to me. In my Michigan history class in college I wrote a paper on the Purple Gang (Detroit's ruthless gang of Jewish gangsters during Prohibition). That was about the ONLY paper in my college career that I finished early; I also wrote over the required pages.

So games about the mafia are extra fun for me, because I can live in that realm without the possibility of going to jail or being shot and stuffed in the trunk of a car.

Mafia 2 is a nice piece of story telling. Games sometimes forget about a compelling story and you just have aimless fun until you are bored, at least that's what I seem to do. Others hold you to a rigid story line that leave little "free will" style play that open world games like Grand Theft Auto brought to the masses.

The first Mafia had no real free roam, there was a mode where you could just drive around, but there wasn't a ton to do.

Mafia 2 lets you wander around mostly whenever, but the world just isn't as interesting as the story.

Empire Bay, the fictional East-coast city, is beautifully crafted. The buildings are nice where they should be and kind of scummy in the bad places. I didn't see many beat up cars in the poor parts of town, which seems like an easy piece of realism.

As I said in my demo review, the realism is quite nice. Rob a place and hang around (hidden!) outside and you'll see the cops come and interview the shop owner. Murder the shop owner and come back you'll see the shop closed with police tape over the door. The cars get dirty after a lot of driving and they will apparently run out of gas.

There are destructible environments in the gun fights, which is very nice. "Oh no, he's hiding behind plywood." Rat-a-tat-tat-tat. Plywood gone, man dead.

The problem is the story seems to stranglehold what you do in this massive town. In my first couple hours of play I drove in between places, watched very nice cut scenes and then did some shooting or fighting, then drove some more.

Yeah, that is the basic formula for missions in sandbox games...and that is sort of the problem. There isn't anything else.

GTA4 actually had TOO much stuff to do, with the missions and all your friends you had to entertain by doing stupid things like bowling or watching a comedy performance, so that was annoying. But at least there was some other substance to the game.

Mafia 2 seems to have gone the other way. The game is the story. With these pieces that spend so much time on creating a living, breathing city the game should be the world. That world should have a good story in it, for sure, but it should also have places for me to go and do things not related to the story.

In one of the first couple Chapters of the story you meet a man at a junkyard and he asks you to steal a car for him. The mission was fun, people mad and shooting because of the stolen car, a good time was had by all; but after that mission I should be able to go back and make more money getting him other cars, but it won't let you until way later in the story.

You can do what I did for the majority of the time I played the demo; rob stores. That will put a little scratch in your pocket and cause some possible gun-play, depending on the neighborhood and police proximity. But that also is later an actual mission. So it isn't just something extra to do. It's something you'll have to do to get money quickly anyway.

But really, there isn't a lot to buy. Food and drink, clothes, car modifications, car washes and gasoline are all you can spend money on. The gas and car washes are the only two of those things you can't steal.

You most expensive thing you spend money on are bribes if you get into trouble, likely after trying to steal something. But I just shoot the cops in the face and then change my clothes.

I understand 2K's drive to make a compelling story that is engaging and beautiful looking. But as a gamer I want more random fun! As a mafia buff I want more criminal activities!

Collecting protection money, hijacking trucks or beating deadbeats could all easily be side quests that you pick up at any time. Obviously there are no cell phones for them to call you on to let you know the truck is coming through town, but I'm sure the 2K guys could come up with some clever way to do it.

HITS! I want to do crazy Valentine's Day Massacre hits on people! There is the one from the demo, but that wasn't all that special, and another one that did make me very happy to pull off. But in a big city with multiple families (kneecapping families, not go to the store for groceries families) you'd think there would be enough hatred to justify a hit list for a side quest.

With DLC already planned before the game even came out I wonder how much time they spent making this game complete. The DLC looks to be different stories, which is fine, but you have to pay for it.

So this game that I was super excited about is around $60 and there isn't much to do.

Stretching it you can prolong the gameplay to about 15 hours or so. But that's really stretching it.

I often calculate how much I'm willing to pay for fun. Mafia 2 breaks down to about $4 an hour for fun. Sure, I have payed more than that for an hour of fun before...that sounded bad.

But the problem is this isn't like paintball or going to the movies. When you buy a game you've essentially told the makers, "I trust your product and I'm not going to be buying any others for awhile...entertain me." But so often they let you down.

Which is why renting is my default. And also why, I suspect, there is a such a debate going on about purchasing used games.

Yes, I want to support 2K for making such a nice game, but I want the rest of it. GTA 4 cost the same amount and had me enthralled for months. I rented Mafia 2 a week ago and have been playing it sparingly and I'm already almost done. A large difference in the purchase is the amount of re-playability. I could pick up GTA 4 and easily be entertained in the single player for awhile, even just driving around. Mafia 2 is also fun just driving around, but not as much.

A linear story line is not enticing after you've beaten it. That's why side quests are important in games like this, they distract and entertain you, stretching the length of your fun per dollar.


Despite all that gibberish, I did like it. It's just not the game I thought it was going to be.


Mafia 2

Rented once, likely not again. Very glad I did not purchase.

4 out of 5 as a sequel. Much better than the original
3 out of 5 as a game. Just not enough there.