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Mafia II

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Mafia
Developer(s)2K Czech
Massive Bear Studios (PlayStation 3 port)[2]
Publisher(s)2K Games
1C Company
Designer(s)Lead Designer
Daniel Vávra
Pavel Brzák
Writer(s)Daniel Vávra
Composer(s)Matus Siroky
Adam Kuruc
EngineIllusion Engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Genre(s)Third-person shooter, action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Mafia II is a third-person action-adventure video game, the sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. It is developed by 2K Czech, previously known as Illusion Softworks, and is published by 2K Games.[3] Originally announced in August 2007 at the Leipzig Games Convention, it was released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows in August 2010.[1][4]

Gameplay

The game is set in the 1940-50s era Empire Bay a fictional city based on New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit.[5][6] The game features a map of 4 square miles.[7] There are 30-40 vehicles in the game (45 with DLC) as well as licensed music from the era.[8]

Many firearms from the previous return, such as the Thompson submachine gun, the Colt 1911 and a pump-action shotgun. New WWII-era weapons like the MP 40, the M3 submachine gun, the MG 42 and the Beretta Model 38 also appear in the game.

Interacting with objects in the environment involves two action buttons- a standard action and a "violent" action (for example, when stealing a car, the player may choose to either pick its lock or break the window glass), used in context-sensitive situations. A map is included as in the original Mafia game. The checkpoint system has been completely overhauled.[9] New controls include a cover system that allows the player to hide behind objects (such as generators, walls and large crates) to shoot enemies, rather than just using a crouch while behind an object.

It has been stated by 2K Czech that the game's cut scenes are created by the game engine, in real-time, rather than pre-rendered cutscenes. For example if the player is riding in a car and a cut scene starts, the player will be driving the same car and if the car is damaged, that will appear in the cut scene.[10]

The game has three different in game radio stations, Empire Central Radio, Empire Classic Radio and Delta Radio, with licensed music, news, and commercials. The radio stations includes music from different genres including rock and roll, big band, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, among others with licensed songs by Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Dean Martin, Little Richard, Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly & The Crickets, Bing Crosby, Bill Haley & His Comets, The Chordettes, Bo Diddley, Rick Nelson, Eddie Cochran, The Champs, The Drifters, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Andrews Sisters, among others.

Synopsis

The game begins with Vito Scaletta looking over a photo album, as he begins to tell his story in voice over. He is born in Sicily in 1925 to an extremely poor family. A few years later, his family immigrates to the fictional Empire Bay in America. They are no better off there than they were in Sicily. As he gets older, Vito gets involved with a local criminal named Joe Barbaro, who Vito becomes best friends with. Vito is arrested during a botched robbery and given a choice: Go to jail or join the army. He chooses the latter and ends up in the Invasion of Sicily in World War II, which he helps liberate before getting shot and sent home on leave.

Once home, he is discharged courtesy of Joe's Mafia connections, and learns that his dead father left his family in massive debt. Hoping to make money, Vito turns to Joe, who introduces him to Henry Tommasino, an employee of crime boss Alberto Clemente. Working under Henry, Vito does several illegal jobs. Though he makes the money to pay the debt, he is soon arrested and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Once inside, Vito falls in with the crowd of Leo Galante, consigliere for Frank Vinci, another crime boss. After doing some jobs for him, Galante manages to shorten Vito's sentence. He is released in 1951. Once out, he meets up with Joe, who now works for the last of Empire's three crime bosses, Carlo Falcone. He starts doing odd jobs for Falcone, eventually becoming a made man of the Falcone family, and buying a waterfront home. His biggest job comes when he is sent to kill Clemente, who has participated in the drug trade, against the commission's wishes. Though the job is botched (resulting in the death of Joe's 15 year old neighbor Marty), he and Joe eventually succeed.

Soon after, Vito is approached by Henry, who wants to defect to Falcone's crew. In order to do this, he is ordered to kill Galante, though Vito saves his old friend by convincing Henry to let Galante simply disappear. Soon after, a gang of Irish criminals, formerly led by a man whom Vito killed in prison on Galante's orders, burn his house to the ground. Broke, he turns to Joe who helps him get revenge. To help him get out of debt, Henry gets Vito and Joe involved in the drug trade, revealing that Falcone is also involved. Although Vito is successful, the Chinese who supplied the drugs, discover that Henry is a possible federal informant and acting on this new found information, they brutally kill him in the middle of the park with meat cleavers in broad daylight. Angered, Vito and Joe seek revenge and shoot up a Chinatown restaurant killing the Boss who won't give them any further information, they are now indebted to the loan shark they got money for the drugs from. Now very poor and in large debt, Vito is tasked to earn most of the money through his own means, which involves petty theft through out Empire Bay.

At first Vito turns to Derek Pappalardo (an employee of Frank Vinci) for work, but during a job breaking up a strike by dock workers Vito learns that Derek ordered the killing of his father and kills Derek and his assistant Steve Coyne. Eventually Joe and Vito manage to get the money back; in the process, they kill Thomas "Tommy" Angelo. Sadly, the incident with the Chinese has caused too much tension between Falcone and Vinci, as both believe the other did it, Vito is told by Falcone to meet him at an observatory, on the way there Vito is pulled up by Galante. He is told that he will walk into an ambush, and the only reason he isn't already dead is because of Galante. Vito is then forced by Vinci's men, led by Galante, to assassinate his boss. With Joe's help, Vito succeeds and they go with Galante to celebrate. The car Joe is in goes the wrong way, and Galante tells Vito "Sorry kid. Joe wasn't part of our deal" (indicating that Leo was either unable or unwilling to save both Joe and Vito from the the vengeful Chinese). The game then ends with a panoramic view of Empire Bay.

Marketing and release

System requirements
Minimum Recommended
Windows[11][12]
Operating system Windows XP SP2/Vista/7Windows XP SP2/Vista/7
CPU Intel Pentium D 3 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Dual Core) or higherIntel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz
Memory 1.5 GB2.0 GB
Free space 8 GB of free space10 GB of free space
Graphics hardware Nvidia 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX / ATI 3870
Sound hardware DirectX 9.0cDirectX 9.0c
Network Internet connection required (STEAM) for online activation and installation

A promotional trailer was released for the game in August 2007.

A second trailer was released on the Spike VGA show on the 14 December 2008.[13] An extended version of the trailer was released on 15 January with an extra 30 seconds of cut scene footage.[14]

The first gameplay footage debuted on GameSpot on 17 April 2009 as part of an interview with Mafia II's producer, Denby Grace.[15] The video shows driving and gunplay aspects to gameplay as well as portraying the physics engine. The interview was later removed.

A third trailer was uploaded to the website on 28 May 2009.

From 1 June 2009, four short videos are to be added to the Mafia II website. The first of these is called "The Art Of Persuasion" and features the song "Mercy, Mr Percy" by the female singer Varetta Dillard.

Another video was released featuring footage from the mission "The Buzzsaw". The video reveals the fate of "The Fat Man" who appeared in the earlier trailers.[16]

On 27 March 2010, a new trailer was released showcasing the PhysX-based cloth and physics system used in the game.[17]

On 3 August 2010, Sheridyn Fisher, the face of Playboy Swim 2010, became the official ambassador for Mafia II. Sheridyn’s involvement with Mafia II highlights the agreement between 2K Games and Playboy magazine to use 50 of their vintage covers and Centerfolds in Mafia II as part of the in-game collectibles integration.[18]

A demo for the game was released on 10 August 2010 on Steam, Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.[19]

Japan version censored

In the Japan release, the in-game images of the Playboy centerfolds were heavily censored. All of the centerfolds which featured either their breasts or buttocks exposed were covered with black bars even though the game was rated "Z" meaning suitable for 18 years and up.[20][21]

Pre-order bonuses

On 26 May 2010 four content packs were offered as pre-order bonus's in America and European countries, each one available through different retailers. The Vegas Pack containing two additional cars and suits for Vito and the War Hero Pack containing two military-style vehicles and suits was available from GameStop and EBGames. The Renegade Pack containing two sports cars and two jackets was available from Amazon and the Greaser Pack featuring two hot-rods and two suits was available to Best Buy customers.[22] These pre-order packs are now available for purchase as game add-ons on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam. On 26 May 2010 a collector's edition was announced for Mafia II.[23]

PlayStation 3 version

The PlayStation 3 version became subject to controversy on 2K's Mafia II forums when 2K's interactive marketing manager Elizabeth Tobey stated that the PlayStation 3 version would be missing certain graphical details that were present in the Windows and Xbox 360 versions including three dimensional grass, pools of blood forming under dead bodies and realistic cloth physics.[24] These details were said to be present in earlier builds of the game, but had to be removed to increase the game's frame rate.

Upon release the PlayStation 3 version received the same or higher review scores than the Xbox 360 version from Destructoid and Nowgamer (sites that review the game on multiple platforms rather than the normal practice of reviewing a single platform) due to additional content.[25][26] and also the Metacritic rating places both version on the same score of 74/100.[27][28] although the GameRankings review aggregator has the Xbox 360 version 4 points ahead of the PS3 version based on more reviews.[29][30]

Downloadable content

Three downloadable content packs have been announced for the game. The first, titled "The Betrayal of Jimmy" is a PlayStation 3 exclusive episode that was a free download upon release to users who purchase the game new. This was announced by Sony on June 15, 2010 at E3 2010.[31]

The second installment of downloadable content, "Jimmy's Vendetta", was released on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Steam on September 7, 2010.[32]

"Joe's Adventures", the third and final DLC was released on November 23, 2010. "Joe's Adventures" focuses on the events that occur in Empire Bay during the years that Vito is imprisoned in the main Mafia II storyline. The DLC combines standard missions with score-based, open world missions. It is estimated to provide eight hours of gameplay.[33]

The Russian company 1C officially announced "Mafia 2: Extended Edition" for Russian market. It will include the game, 4 DLC (Vegas Pack, Renegade Pack, Greaser Pack, and War Hero Pack), and "The Betrayal of Jimmy", which was previously available as a PlayStation 3 exclusive addon, as well as the 2 other addons (Jimmy's Vendetta and Joe's Adventures). It was released on December 3, 2010 for Windows. It will be released for Xbox 360 later.[citation needed]

Reception

Mafia II received mixed to positive reviews from critics. IGN gave the game 7/10, saying "Mafia II is a solid little game that’ll give you a fun ride – just don’t expect the world." IGN AU gave it a 8.0/10 and said that Mafia II is "A deeply flawed game, where the story is the highlight - and far more engaging than most. I certainly enjoyed my 11-12 hours with Mafia II, and those looking for an authentic-feeling mob tale should definitely check it out. This one is more than the sum of its parts." Gamespot gave it 8.5 and stated "Mafia II's exciting action and uncompromising mob story make for an impressive and violent adventure." Game Informer gave it a 9.0/10 and said "In an era when video games are moving away from relying on cinematics for storytelling, Mafia II draws on the rich mobster film history to weave a gripping drama about family, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and pragmatism."

The most negative review came from Eurogamer who gave the game a 4/10 and said that "Mafia II gets the last word by destroying the myth that the mafia is interesting at all. It contends that the mob world is a hell of boredom populated by aggressively stupid automatons. These drones wake up each morning, carry out a series of repetitious tasks, and return home." The A.V. Club gave the game a D+, praising the game's attention to detail but criticising that "aging gameplay mechanics and weak plot turns make the game’s magic peel away faster than a bank-job getaway car." Zero Punctuation's Ben Croshaw called the game "generic", and noted the main characters similarities with the main characters of Grand Theft Auto IV, but criticised the lack of features prevalent in other sandbox games. He also criticised the mundane parts of the game, such as driving, making the game feel "unnecessarily padded."[52]

It has the most profanity in a video game, beating previous record holder, The House of the Dead: Overkill.[53]

References

  1. ^ a b "Announcing Mafia II's Release Date". 2K Games.
  2. ^ "Massive Bear Studios". Massivebear.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  3. ^ Robinson, Martin (January 8, 2008). "Take -Two Takes Mafia Dev". IGN. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
  4. ^ "2K Games Announces Mafia 2". 2K Games. August 21, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-27.
  5. ^ Ivan, Tom (October 19, 2008). "First Mafia 2 details roll in". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
  6. ^ "GC09: Mafia II interview". Gamereactor Deutschland. August 25, 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  7. ^ "Empire Bay Map". Retrieved 2010-12-29.
  8. ^ "Mafia II GamesCom 2009 Preview". Gaming Union. August 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  9. ^ "Mafia II Preview". PSXExtreme. 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
  10. ^ Hrebicek, Tomas (January 15, 2009). "Mafia II Holiday Confessions interview". IGN. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  11. ^ "Mafia 2: System Requirements, Check Requirements for Mafia 2". Strategyinformer.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  12. ^ "Mafia 2: GPU & CPU Performance". TechSpot.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  13. ^ "Spike Shows Off Mafia 2 Trailer". 1UP. 2008-12-14. Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  14. ^ "Extended trailer". Uk.pc.ign.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  15. ^ Park, Andrew (April 16, 2009). "Mafia II Impressions - Exclusive First Preview". GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-04-27.
  16. ^ "Mafia II Walk-Through Video 1". Gamespot.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  17. ^ "Mafia II: first PhysX Trailer". March 27, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
  18. ^ Ferry (2010-08-24). "Mafia 2 Playboy Magazines Locations". VideoGamesBlogger. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  19. ^ "Mafia II Demo". Mafia2game.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference kotaku.com was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ http://blog.esuteru.com/archives/1616716.html
  22. ^ "Mafia II Pre-order". Mafia2game.com. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  23. ^ "Mafia II - Official Community". 2kgames.com. 2010-05-26. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  24. ^ Robert Purchese (2010-08-17). "2K: Mafia II loses some detail on PS3 PlayStation 3 News - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  25. ^ "Review: Mafia II". Destructoid. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  26. ^ "Mafia II (PS3) review | NowGamer". Ps3.nowgamer.com. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  27. ^ a b "Mafia II for Xbox 360". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  28. ^ a b "Mafia II for PlayStation 3". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  29. ^ a b "Mafia II for Xbox 360 - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  30. ^ a b "Mafia II for PlayStation 3 - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  31. ^ Tom Bramwell (2010-06-15). "Sony ties up DLC/pack-in exclusives PlayStation 3 News - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  32. ^ "Mafia II Upcoming DLC Packs A Vendetta". Kotaku. Retrieved 31 August 2010.
  33. ^ Adam Pavlacka (2010-11-12). "PS3/X360/PC Preview - 'Mafia II: Joe's Adventures'". WorthPlaying. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
  34. ^ "Mafia II for PC". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  35. ^ "Mafia II for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
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  37. ^ "Mafia II Review | Edge Magazine". Next-gen.biz. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  38. ^ John Teti. "Mafia II Review - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  39. ^ Matt Bertz. http://gameinformer.com/games/mafia_ii/b/xbox360/archive/2010/08/20/mafia-ii-review-jump-into-this-thing-of-ours.aspx. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  40. ^ Greg Miller (2010-07-07). "Mafia II Review - PlayStation 3 Review at IGN". Uk.ps3.ign.com. Retrieved 2010-08-24.
  41. ^ Cam Shea. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Text "http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/111/1115036p1.html" ignored (help)
  42. ^ Drew Regensburger (2011-01-11). "Mafia II Review - Xbox360". christcenteredgamer.com. Retrieved 2011-01-11.
  43. ^ "Mafia 2 review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  44. ^ Helgeson, Matt (2010-08-20). "Mafia II Review: Jump Into This Thing Of Ours - Mafia II - Xbox 360". GameInformer.com. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  45. ^ Hayward, Andrew (2010-08-23). "Mafia 2 Review from". GamePro. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  46. ^ Waters, Matthew (2010-08-27). "Mafia 2 Review from". Xbox Exclusive. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  47. ^ "Mafia II Review | Videogames Magazine - gamesTM - Official Website". gamesTM. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  48. ^ "Mafia II Review for PC - GameSpot". Uk.gamespot.com. 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  49. ^ "Xbox Review: Mafia 2 - Official Xbox 360 Magazine". Oxm.co.uk. 2010-08-23. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  50. ^ Posted: Aug 25, 2010. "Mafia II Video Game, Review HD | Video Clip | Game Trailers & Videos". GameTrailers.com. Retrieved 2010-08-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  51. ^ Sessler, Adam (2010-8-23). "X-Play Mafia II review". G4. Retrieved 2011-2-23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  52. ^ http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1988-Mafia-II
  53. ^ http://kotaku.com/5640174/guinness-gives-mafia-ii-the-f+bomb-record
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