The Mafia 2 Thread **Contains Spoilers**

WabeWalker

Supreme [H]ardness
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Thoughts and opinions here:

My first thought is that I doubt I've ever spent as much time playing a demo in my life. I spent 12 hours playing the Mafia 2 demo, which is kind of surprising since the first person to file his review wrote that the game is only ten hours long... weird.

Anyhow, I'll probably be buying this off Steam, so if the unlock goes early then make sure you post about it back here. Mafia 2 should be available on Tuesday morning at 10a.m. Pacific Time via Steam - who knows when the stores will get it.
 
On the european store it says "28 August 2010" On Amazon it has "Aug. 24, 2010". Godamned europe.
 
The official release date for Europe, I believe, is the 27'th. (Also, I thought that this game should get a clean thread - that other thread was a pre-release discussion mostly.)
 
I'll be picking up my copy (Collector's Edition) Tuesday before class. Doubt I'll get to play it until Thursday (day I don't have class) or Saturday (day I don't have work) though. Might try to toss in an hour or so Wednesday before work.
 
The Game Informer's review:

http://gameinformer.com/games/mafia...a-ii-review-jump-into-this-thing-of-ours.aspx

Mention was made about an abundance of cutscenes. There are more than two hours' worth of cutscenes in this title. If it helps to tell a story, then I guess there's nothing wrong with that, although I kind of thought (and hoped) we were moving away from cutscenes. In other words, the game itself should be the cutscene.
 
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I don't think I'll be able to pick up Mafia 2 until friday. :/ I had to buy a new mouse and that took away from PC budget.

Mention was made about an abundance of cutscenes. There are more than two hours' worth of cutscenes in this title.

After playing MGS4, 2 hours of cut scenes for the whole game isn't anything to be upset about... :D
 
I just put in my order on steam. Hopefully it's at least comparable to the first one.
 
Surely the game has been finished for at least a couple of weeks now - didn't the developer delay this game to give themselves lots of breathing room?

I think there's a remote possibility that this might unlock tonight sometime.
 
so according to steam this will not be preloading.

going to cancel my order...
 
It's the IGN video review...

http://uk.pc.ign.com/dor/objects/95..._082010.html;jsessionid=26duw2lp98vpv?show=hi

It looks like the guy played this title on the 360 though (or was it the PS3). It makes a difference because Mafia 2, on the 360, is just plain ugly. I spent literally five minutes playing the 360 demo - and wanted out - whereas I spent over 12 hours on the PC version, just driving around with my jaw on the floor.

His comments are all worthy - but I get the feeling he doesn't like driving around. I actually loved that part a lot. Driving around is all I did in the demo.
 
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The Game Informer's review:

http://gameinformer.com/games/mafia...a-ii-review-jump-into-this-thing-of-ours.aspx

Mention was made about an abundance of cutscenes. There are more than two hours' worth of cutscenes in this title. If it helps to tell a story, then I guess there's nothing wrong with that, although I kind of thought (and hoped) we were moving away from cutscenes. In other words, the game itself should be the cutscene.

"The NPC intelligence during missions is also troublesome. In one mission I had to tail a car to find out where it was headed, but the driver got into an accident and the mission failed."

wat
 
"The NPC intelligence during missions is also troublesome. In one mission I had to tail a car to find out where it was headed, but the driver got into an accident and the mission failed."

wat

Holy crap, it's tomorrow already?

jk, idk :D


Edit: IGN gave this a 7.0 ?

This coming from the same people that gave GTA4 a 10
 
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Holy crap, it's tomorrow already?

jk, idk :D


Edit: IGN gave this a 7.0 ?

This coming from the same people that gave GTA4 a 10

The game is only about 10 hours long and there are no side-missions (besides stealing some cars), so that could be a factor.
 
The game is only about 10 hours long and there are no side-missions (besides stealing some cars), so that could be a factor.

Too many people are expecting a GTA clone. Just like they accused the original of being. Its going to suffer because people (and reviewers) can be idiots and expect a game to be something its not.
 
Holy cow that IGN review is just not flying with me at all.

No way this game is less than 8/10 on average.

I've noticed with IGN lately after being far too long the place where nothing could get a bad review if you practically paid for it to happen to suddenly the nitpicky forced hateorade like their review for this game.

I really wonder about some of these outlets sometimes. Do they get people that even like certain genres to review the right kind of games? Do they blow through it in a super hurry?

They just don't have much credibility with me just like Gamespot lost all of theirs when the Kane and Lynch thing happened. I just find that I look to a lot of these review outlets less and less, in general, and this is a perfect case in point why.


It's not GTA straight up with 50's Italian mob dressings on it. Neither was the first one. Get over it.


http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/942953-mafia-ii/index.html

Console versions are averaging even lower. IGN is just wrecking the average. I think they're full of it.
 
A game is sometimes just the sum of its parts: the graphics, the plot, the gameplay, the state of the game itself (are there many bugs, is the engine well optimized), these elements must all come together for a game to be great. If any one of those things is lacking then the game will suffer for it.

If I were rating the 360 version of Mafia 2 I'd give it a 5.

Why - because the game is just insanely ugly. It looks like something from ten years ago. It's a pixelated mess. All the enjoyment of driving around the city is drained from the 360 version - it's just not a fun experience. The PC version, on the other hand, is fascinating, and I'd give the demo a 10.

Ah, scores are just plain silly anyhow. They're just abstract representations of how one person feels about a game.
 
From the Kotaku review:

"... Mafia II is eminently beatable in a single sitting..."

I have the Brady Games gameguide for this, and there's no way I would ever be able to get through all of this in... a single sitting.

That's just plain absurd. There are 15 missions in the game. I could get through one of these missions in a single sitting. I do have a life, you know, and I suspect that a lot of other people here do as well.

These people who are reviewing the games must be of a generation brought up on video games? Did these people come home after school and just play games until midnight? That must be the case. There's no way that an ordinary person would sit there and play a game in its entirety like that.
 
From the Kotaku review:

"... Mafia II is eminently beatable in a single sitting..."

I have the Brady Games gameguide for this, and there's no way I would ever be able to get through all of this in... a single sitting.

That's just plain absurd. There are 15 missions in the game. I could get through one of these missions in a single sitting. I do have a life, you know, and I suspect that a lot of other people here do as well.

I'd like to know what they consider a single sitting....I mean, the shortest game I played was Half-Life: Blue Shift, and it's probably the only game I've considered as a "single sitting" game. I installed, finished, and deleted the game in something like 6 hours total? I literally could not believe the game was over when it was. Are they saying they finished it in 4-6 hours? Or is a single sitting the time between you wake up and go to sleep, reasonably 16 hours or more? lol
 
The IGN reviewer is definitely a fuck-stick, but the other review is basically echoing what he's said, except in far more detail and far more intelligently which, unfortunately, is stating that the game has generally flopped over all.

How disappointing... they could not at least taken some of the other elements out of the first Mafia? No side missions? No, I don't expect it to be like GTA, but there should be other things to experience in a game like this, within and around it's world. The first Mafia had it, but this does not, and while the main story seems good for the most part, it also sounds as if it's lacking in many ways, and worse at the end.

As much as I love Mafia, I think I'll be passing on this now. I liked the demo a lot, played it a few times, but with nothing more to experience than just robbing the random stores around and buying guns or randomly blowing shit up, it's seems to have just fallen flat. Damn, that is seriously disappointing.
 
One reviewer said he couldn't help but feel like the developers had a much larger game planned and had to wrap it up before they finished because of a publisher cracking the whip. If that's the case I'll truly be sad.
 
Fair amount of red text in the Kotaku review.

I don't fully disagree with those red text items based on the time I spent in the demo with clock killing hack.

Now here's one review talking about bad AI and then another review...was it IGN's or Game Informer's?...talking about the cops being "ruthlessly efficient."

LOL, c'mon. So which is it?


I thought the cops were a bit closer to the latter than the former in the demo when I messed around. Lord knows I've seen FAR worse enemy AI in a game then what I saw in the demo out of the cops.


Is the game perfect? No. Was the demo perfect? No. But maybe folks ought to look up the old reviews of the first Mafia game and see if there any parallels.



One reviewer said he couldn't help but feel like the developers had a much larger game planned and had to wrap it up before they finished because of a publisher cracking the whip. If that's the case I'll truly be sad.

Agreed. Or it shows up in Mafia 3. ;)
 
I pre-ordered on the strength of the demo and really the only thing in the reviews that makes me go "hmm" is the apparent lack of content in the full game, especially when you know they will try and pad it out with loads of (paid for) DLC in the future, and more so if 2 hours are spent on cut-scenes, which are essentially the developers pissing around pretending to be Francis Ford Coppola.
I don't care if it doesn't play like GTA4 or JC2, but at least those games gave you plenty to do one way or another.
 
I won't be comparing Mafia 2 with Mafia 1 - I'll be comparing it with Mass Effect 2, Bioshock2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Just Cause 2, because those are the best titles I've played this year, and I'm simply looking for a great game, regardless of the genre.

I suspect that Mafia 2 is going to fit right in with all the other 2's up there.
 
I won't be comparing Mafia 2 with Mafia 1 - I'll be comparing it with Mass Effect 2, Bioshock2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Just Cause 2, because those are the best titles I've played this year, and I'm simply looking for a great game, regardless of the genre.

I suspect that Mafia 2 is going to fit right in with all the other 2's up there.

I'm pretty much right there with you. The time I spent in the demo...and you spent a lot more than I did...lumps and all there's no way I saw anything less than a 8/10 game myself. And that was just the demo.
 
Holy cow that IGN review is just not flying with me at all.

No way this game is less than 8/10 on average.

I've noticed with IGN lately after being far too long the place where nothing could get a bad review if you practically paid for it to happen to suddenly the nitpicky forced hateorade like their review for this game.

I really wonder about some of these outlets sometimes. Do they get people that even like certain genres to review the right kind of games? Do they blow through it in a super hurry?

They just don't have much credibility with me just like Gamespot lost all of theirs when the Kane and Lynch thing happened. I just find that I look to a lot of these review outlets less and less, in general, and this is a perfect case in point why.


It's not GTA straight up with 50's Italian mob dressings on it. Neither was the first one. Get over it.


http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/942953-mafia-ii/index.html

Console versions are averaging even lower. IGN is just wrecking the average. I think they're full of it.

it's because they're a bunch of fake posers, only capable of glowing or being overly critical, aka 'making the cash' or 'making the rep'.

the reviews are all over the place right now, so what you have to do is read between the lines. I just stop reading any time I see 'gta' mentioned.
 
it's because they're a bunch of fake posers, only capable of glowing or being overly critical, aka 'making the cash' or 'making the rep'.

the reviews are all over the place right now, so what you have to do is read between the lines. I just stop reading any time I see 'gta' mentioned.

Exactly right.

I replayed the first Mafia about 9 months ago so the rosey colored glasses of nostalgia were thrown out the window. I took that thing in lumps and all by most accounts and from what I saw in the demo Mafia 2 is bringing me more of the same, brought to the next level, and with better driving to boot.

The first game had a lot of cut scenes, too, to tell a great story. I would prefer "in game/as you go" storytelling instead but it just isn't the end of the world.

Heck, I think I got maybe 10 hours of legit gameplay out of that, too, if I exclude cutscenes.


I'm sorry there won't be a free roam in this new one but at least you can take your time before you go to the next quest. I'm also sorry that aren't any side missions or sidequests.

I know this won't be a perfect game, but I think it's going to be a damned good one for fans of the first game. :)
 
Or you could just play the demo and make up your own mind.. Just a thought.
 
The IGN reviewer is definitely a fuck-stick, but the other review is basically echoing what he's said, except in far more detail and far more intelligently which, unfortunately, is stating that the game has generally flopped over all.

How disappointing... they could not at least taken some of the other elements out of the first Mafia? No side missions? No, I don't expect it to be like GTA, but there should be other things to experience in a game like this, within and around it's world. The first Mafia had it, but this does not, and while the main story seems good for the most part, it also sounds as if it's lacking in many ways, and worse at the end.

As much as I love Mafia, I think I'll be passing on this now. I liked the demo a lot, played it a few times, but with nothing more to experience than just robbing the random stores around and buying guns or randomly blowing shit up, it's seems to have just fallen flat. Damn, that is seriously disappointing.

The first Mafia had maybe 5 side missions in total. All from one person and all revolved around doing the exact same thing. Getting a specific car and bringing it back to his garage. You can steal and collect cars in Mafia 2 as well, so its the same bloody thing. No its not GTA level side missions, but it was never supposed to be anything like that.
 
Get the feelign this game may have alot of dlc coming... looks like a big shell world is made and all it needs is some story line missions like the free dlc ps3 version is getting.. May wait a few months let a couple dlc come out then get this one. I hate when dlc comes out that is pointless for those who have already beat the game. mass effect 2 stuff etc
 
I thought that there were plans to release a fairly major DLC package on day one? - a sandbox type of thing.

In other words, the sandbox element will be arriving via DLC.

I have nothing against that if I end up spending an outrageous amount of time playing the game. If the guys who made Just Cause 2 were to phone me up and say, hey, we think we might've under-charged you ten dollars for our game... I think that I would probably send them another ten dollars.

Let me see if I can find the link to that Mafia 2 DLC thing I saw....
 
I thought that there were plans to release a fairly major DLC package on day one? - a sandbox type of thing.

In other words, the sandbox element will be arriving via DLC.

I have nothing against that if I end up spending an outrageous amount of time playing the game. If the guys who made Just Cause 2 were to phone me up and say, hey, we think we might've under-charged you ten dollars for our game... I think that I would probably send them another ten dollars.

Let me see if I can find the link to that Mafia 2 DLC thing I saw....

The PS3 version is getting a free exclusive DLC on launch and at a later date there will be a DLC pack released for all three platforms.
 
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