Mafia II demo impressions
The original Mafia game was for a short time a PC only title, before later porting onto the consoles. But its gameplay took a sandbox, with real world laws and consequences, providing a sincere and gritty plotline on par with The Godfather.
You play as Vito Scoletta, a solider sent back home from duty due to injury. While the intro is fresh and light, walking the streets home to Ma and sister to the tune of “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”, it’s the start of a decade long story that won’t quite take ten years to complete.
You soon learn that your family is in debt to a nasty loan shark, finding him harassing your sister in a back alley and this leads to the games fighting tutorial. The next natural step is for Vito to turn to a friend, who in turn leads him into the world of the Mafia, where you rise from a lowly shmuck to a made man.
You start the demo in a town house. With the phone ringing off the hook, you’re presented with the task to ‘Whack a big mouth’. But before you even head outside, you can toy with a manner of different objects, and even come across the games ‘collectibles’ in the form of Playboy magazines. Picking them up you see that particular issue’s centrefold, with a handful more scattered and hidden throughout the demo.
In the closet there are a select few outfits you can change into, and when you eventually venture outside, you’re greeted by a picturesque America that you only see in the movies or postcards. In the garage are a handful of cars to choose from, you can select one and drive on your way. Or you can acquire any car you fancy on the street. Though beware of a regular police presence, or a noisy citizen.
The law in Mafia has always been a highlight, as unlike other games you can’t just evade them by increasing the radial distance between you and your pursuers. Until you change in to a legit vehicle unseen or change your clothes, depending on the manner you achieved your wanted status you will continue to be hunted down.
Even running into a police officer can result in an ID check. Let it happen and go on your way. Run and you’ll most likely be chased down. Traffic lights in sandbox games are traditionally used more as a decoration. But run a red light, go faster than the speed limit or crash into another car and drive off in a hit-and-run incident, then the law will chase you and either give you a fine, arrest you or shoot you dead depending on the crime.
The cars in Mafia feel heavy and bulky, and can cause you injury even while driving them. So many times players have been on the verge of dying, only for them to jump into a car and have it act like a bulletproof regen capsule for their health bars.
So if you evade the law, drive carefully yet with haste to beat the demo timer and get to your destination. You will trigger the mission and Mafia’s high quality cutscene where you man a MG42, taking out a motorcade of classic cars. Typically though you will find your target has slipped away into the factory on the opposite side of the street.
As you chase him down you will see the most improved segment of Mafia’s gameplay; the shooting. While the targeting reticule is loose to show the area where the bullet will likely hit, you can expose yourself to aim better. But note if your body takes too many shots, maybe 3 or 4 bullets, or just the one to the head then you’re gone. So the danger of a firefight does come into play, until you get your hands on the game’s shotgun that is.
This is the game’s more amazing weapon. As in most games, you need some sort of military spec version to do any sort of damage with a shotgun. But using the shotgun in Mafia II can send an AI enemy flying out of windows to the road below, or slam them into a wall leaving nothing but a smear and smoke. Finally a proper shotgun.
As you make your getaway after achieving your objective and rescuing your friend, the cops are buzzing around you like aggravated bees and eventually get you cornered, ending the demo on a cliff-hanger.
The demo is awesome, and the urge to replay it again is easily there. The graphics are sharp and crisp and possibly the new benchmark for sandbox games in a city setting. If you were previously on the fence about this title, make sure you try out the demo for a ride that will push you off that fence one way or another. Because the simple fact is all of the signs are Mafia II will be a very good game, and it simply won’t let you fuhgeddaboudit!
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Peterdpol
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Griff Almighty
