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[EekTheKat]

About the ending

Spoiler

Wish they would've done a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid type of ending. Vito + Joe charge out the door vs. a huge squad of G-men (Everything was going to shit anyway, might as well throw in the Feds in there later in the story trying to clean everything up as the heads of the families start to fall.

Though the devs probably would've been hammered for not letting the player play the final shootout. :lol

.

I liked the chemistry between the lead characters

Spoiler

The montage with Vito, Joe and Henry later in the game was awesome and hilarious

. :lol

 

[Stoney Mason]

The chemistry between most of the characters was absolutely terrific. Really well realized cast. One of the best I've come across in a videogame. And just generally top notch voice acting through out for the major characters.

 

[burgerdog]

Whew, didn't lose my cars. Still sucks I ha to do the entire chapter over again. It's the longest one so far, too.

 

[Zeliard]

The chemistry between most of the characters was absolutely terrific. Really well realized cast. One of the best I've come across in a videogame. And just generally top notch voice acting through out for the major characters.

Tremendous voice acting and casting, especially the guy who played Leo Galante (the guy you meet when

Spoiler

you're in prison

). It was like Burt Young himself doing a voiceover.

Edit: Er, wrote Clemente instead of Galante, my bad.

 

[cjtiger300]

Hit a game ending bug after the building escape with Joe in chapter 14. God dammit that is lame. Had to restart the entire chapter, not sure if I lost all my cars yet.

Are you talking about the one where it looks like he is stuck in midair? If so, just go over and swing at him and he will become unstuck! I was about to rage quit and start the chapter over when I took my temper out on him with punches and it worked, lol!

 

[cjtiger300]

Unless the retail version is completely different to the demo then there's nothing "acceptable" about its framerate. Hovering around the 20fps mark in action scenes while tearing like a motherfucker is far beyond the realms of "average" or "decent." Console players deserve more than that.

I can tell you that the PS3 versions framerate is much smoother in the retail copy. I wouldn't be surprised it its the same with the 360.

 

[Rhindle]

The chemistry between most of the characters was absolutely terrific. Really well realized cast. One of the best I've come across in a videogame. And just generally top notch voice acting through out for the major characters.

This is very true. The quality and consistency of the voice acting is fabulous.

Too bad the crappy lip synching kind of ruins it.

 

[burgerdog]

Are you talking about the one where it looks like he is stuck in midair? If so, just go over and swing at him and he will become unstuck! I was about to rage quit and start the chapter over when I took my temper out on him with punches and it worked, lol!

Swing at who? I was stuck in midair and would fall to oblivion no matter what I did. I'm in chapter 15 now, sped through 14 in a rage.

 

[LyR]

You will get another $25000 from your buddy as the story progresses. All I had to do was rob few stores and crush few cars. Robbing stores is not even worth the time, just stick with crushing the cars for any extra cash that you need.

rob the gun store they usually have the most money, 400 -700$

I only had to rob 3 gun stores ... lucky me

 

[cjtiger300]

Swing at who? I was stuck in midair and would fall to oblivion no matter what I did. I'm in chapter 15 now, sped through 14 in a rage.

Different glitch. The one I am talking about happens in Stairway to Heaven.

 

[burgerdog]

Beat it, loved every second of it except for two. Had to restart chapter 14 at the end because of a bug and the ending. Better get additional content after the ending.

 

[Zeliard]

This is very true. The quality and consistency of the voice acting is fabulous.

Too bad the crappy lip synching kind of ruins it.

It's funny, because while the lip-syncing is indeed pretty terrible, the way the actors deliver their lines and the way the animators convey the body language makes the dialogue scenes still very effective.

 

[Jenga]

Either go open-world or keep it nice and focussed and lean, developers!

If they had gone with either one, it wouldn't have been Mafia. Sorry.

 

[Zeliard]

You keep it "nice, focused and lean", and suddenly you find yourself with far more corridors than you'd probably like.

Mafia 2 is open-world, but it is not a sandbox. It is an open world so as not to limit the player's freedom of movement, and to give the illusion of a large city with things going on independently of you. Removing the open world would have robbed it of aspects such as this.

 

[rollingstart]

yeah, the Mafia games, and the Getaway games (haven't played the second one), use an open world as a set for the story. I really like the idea and I hope they don't let the nice set go to waste. I liked how Liberty City was used for three different stories/games and I'd like it if they do the same here.

I wouldn't mind seeing DLC episodes involving Henry or Leo. If they use Leo, they can revisit the older decades from Mafia 1. Though, that might be a lot of work to sell 1920s/1930s without introducing a whole new set of cars, music, etc.

 

[Jenga]

Though, that might be a lot of work to sell 1920s/1930s without introducing a whole new set of cars, music, etc.

for the music they're set

just loop BELLEVILLE OVER AND FUCKING OVER

bam mafia 1 remake almost

 

[EvilDick34]

Ok, so my intial thoughts after just a limited amount of time playing the game, like really initial as in just finished stealing the car from the bombers. Whoever, Whatever entity does not think this is the most beautiful game to come along in a long time(at least on pc, hellz yeah) is smoking crack. I found myself just flicking my finger along my touchpad as i was driving to check out the scenery, it is breath taking. I really love the simulation driving in the winter setting haha! I was like 20 feet from the junkyard and all the sudden the car just kept doing donuts because it was so slippery, it was fantastic! It was really tough to get rid of the cops earlier when i had to get the other car to the mechanic because of the traction issues so i gunned it across the huge bridge and at some point did a sliding 360 and i just kept sliding down the bridge as the cop went sliding past me, it was fantastic.

 

[markot]

Spoiler

Um, in the mission where you have to steal the fuel stamps from the federal building, can you do it without killing anyone >.<? I had to take one guard out, cause if I didnt he would shoot me too much as I ran for the window....

 

[Jenga]

Spoiler

Um, in the mission where you have to steal the fuel stamps from the federal building, can you do it without killing anyone >.<? I had to take one guard out, cause if I didnt he would shoot me too much as I ran for the window....

you could just punch the dude out really quick


that's how I did it

 

[Rated-Rsuperstar]

Don't anyone waste there time or money on the Jimmy's Betrayal DLC. There's no story, just a mission screen that tells you what to do. And 3 side missions. Steal a car and drive it to point A. Go kill X amount of gang members or cars. And finally, shoot up X amount of storefronts. The last of which is especially annoying since you get instant police heat. And finally the trophies are mind numbing grindfests. Kill 1000 enemies, drive a 1000 miles. It would take 10 hours of nonstop driving to unlock a bronze trophy. Pass...

 

[Salsa]

Man, seriously, this game is just fuckin beautiful. Its actually the first game ever that made me sacrifice a little performance over visuals. I just had to crank everything up to the highest settings, i dont wanna miss anything with the visuals. The game still runs smoothly at 40-50fps when walking, its when the driving comes in that the framerate takes a blow (20-30fps), but since you dont even have to shoot guns while driving i figured what the hell, doesnt really matter to stutter a bit when i get this in return:

so pretty

 

[Vlodril]

Finished it yesterday, great game. Its full of atmosphere which i love. Great soundtrack. Also great characters. I expected to dislike joe based on appearance but they didnt fall to traps that other game fall for and make him obnoxious or a joker character.

Spoiler

Loved that he cared about people like marty or henry and that he was extremely loyal

.

Also loved that Vito was completely unapologetic about the things he does. No tortured heroes here.

Spoiler

When he killed the irish in the prison i thought , guy just doesnt care. Great stuff

Only black mark of the game is that the demo lied its ass out about the damn checkpoints. It wasnt as bad as GTAIV (you had to drive to the mission there again) but it was damn close..

Overall a good game. Really hope for Mafia 3 and

Spoiler

that it continues the story of Vito and Joey.

 

[wormstrangler]

I'm enjoying the game but so far it's got a fair way to go before I'd rate it above the first.

Sometimes it seems like I'm playing an MGS games, which I don't like.

 

[heringer]

Finished it yesterday, great game. Its full of atmosphere which i love. Great soundtrack. Also great characters. I expected to dislike joe based on appearance but they didnt fall to traps that other game fall for and make him obnoxious or a joker character.

Spoiler

Loved that he cared about people like marty or henry and that he was extremely loyal

.

Also loved that Vito was completely unapologetic about the things he does. No tortured heroes here.

Spoiler

When he killed the irish in the prison i thought , guy just doesnt care. Great stuff

Totally agree. While I think the story could be better, they did well to avoid some cliches.

 

[dark10x]

Man, seriously, this game is just fuckin beautiful. Its actually the first game ever that made me sacrifice a little performance over visuals. I just had to crank everything up to the highest settings, i dont wanna miss anything with the visuals. The game still runs smoothly at 40-50fps when walking, its when the driving comes in that the framerate takes a blow (20-30fps), but since you dont even have to shoot guns while driving i figured what the hell, doesnt really matter to stutter a bit when i get this in return:

What are your specs?

I'm impressed by how it looks AND how it runs. On my setup, I get a constant 60 fps 99% of the time on the highest detail settings. The only hitches that occur do so when driving through loading tunnels (and it's a very briefly hiccup). I'm amazed at how smoothly this runs!

 

[heringer]

Oh, this is weird, but during the game I never felt Vito could pull of all the outfits typical of a gangster. I dunno why, but using fancy suits with hats never felt quite right, since I always felt Vito was a small time gangster, even though he became a full member of the Mafia.

For some reason Tom was much more distinct in that aspect. Maybe that's because Tom eventually became a key member of the Salieri family (think Luca Brasi or Al Neri from The Godfather novel/movies) while Vito never surpassed the regular grunt status.

 

[dark10x]

Oh, this is weird, but during the game I never felt Vito could pull of all the outfits typical of a gangster. I dunno why, but using fancy suits with hats never felt quite right, since I always felt Vito was a small time gangster, even though he became a full member of the Mafia.

For some reason Tom was much more distinct in that aspect. Maybe that's because Tom eventually became a key member of the Salieri family (think Luca Brasi or Al Neri from The Godfather novel/movies) while Vito never surpassed the regular grunt status.

I definitely feel that the story moves a bit too quickly in this game compared to the original. The things that happen to Vito don't always seem to make sense at the point in which they occur.

I'm enjoying the game, and perhaps nostalgia is coloring my opinion here, but I prefer the way the original game progressed. I'm already on chapter 7 and I don't feel like there have been anywhere near as many interesting missions. The original Mafia delivered so many wonderful environments throughout and I don't feel like Mafia II can match the volume of quality mission environments. I'm waiting for something on par with the farm during the thunderstorm or the mansion heist. The gas bonds mission certainly gave me a similar feeling, but it was ultimately too short.

 

[heringer]

I definitely feel that the story moves a bit too quickly in this game compared to the original. The things that happen to Vito don't always seem to make sense at the point in which they occur.

I'm enjoying the game, and perhaps nostalgia is coloring my opinion here, but I prefer the way the original game progressed. I'm already on chapter 7 and I don't feel like there have been anywhere near as many interesting missions. The original Mafia delivered so many wonderful environments throughout and I don't feel like Mafia II can match the volume of quality mission environments. I'm waiting for something on par with the farm during the thunderstorm or the mansion heist. The gas bonds mission certainly gave me a similar feeling, but it was ultimately too short.

Totally agree. And it's not nostalgia. The story and missions of the original are way more interesting.

Thankfully the game still have that charm of the original, so it's cool.

 

[BobsRevenge]

Oh, this is weird, but during the game I never felt Vito could pull of all the outfits typical of a gangster. I dunno why, but using fancy suits with hats never felt quite right, since I always felt Vito was a small time gangster, even though he became a full member of the Mafia.

For some reason Tom was much more distinct in that aspect. Maybe that's because Tom eventually became a key member of the Salieri family (think Luca Brasi or Al Neri from The Godfather novel/movies) while Vito never surpassed the regular grunt status.

My Vito has been rocking a nice shirt and slacks set-up for a while now. I think its the best fit for my dude.

One thing I prefer in Mafia 2 over the first one is that the characters aren't all obvious. In the first one you could almost point to which mob character dudes were referencing, while in this one the characters feel more unique.

edit: and while the missions don't hit the high points that the first game did, the gameplay is better and it still feels better as an experience. I was playing some Mafia before Mafia 2 released and it feels a bit antiquated, although in expected ways. I still love the shit out of it though.

Mafia 2 really needed the free-ride thing. I think a lot of the issues people are having with the game being too short would be aleviated by that kind of thing. I think they didn't include it because it is hard to polish something like that. Like, free-ride extreme in Mafia had no polish, but it was part of what made it so awesome. You can't get away with that anymore. If the game came with something like free-ride extreme people would be tearing it apart.

 

[Darkman M]

Black dress shirt, Black slacks, and Black convertible for me.

 

[Dilly]

Didn't read about an easter egg here before.

In Chapter 6

Spoiler

the prison level

there is a guy saying the lines of All your base are belong to us

 

[TheExecutive]

This game really isnt gripping me, although I am not surprised. I just finished the gas stamp mission, does the story get much better after this?

 

[markot]

>__<

Why the hell doesnt my game have the grass?... I just realised, its weird... and im playing on ultra super settings.....

Even xboxes get some grass! ive been PS3'd here on mah pc!

 

[BobsRevenge]

This game really isnt gripping me, although I am not surprised. I just finished the gas stamp mission, does the story get much better after this?

Yeah, it gets a lot better. After the gas stamps the game kicks it up a notch.

 

[sweetvar26]

Spoiler

Um, in the mission where you have to steal the fuel stamps from the federal building, can you do it without killing anyone >.<? I had to take one guard out, cause if I didnt he would shoot me too much as I ran for the window....

Here is how you do Chapter 3 -

Spoiler

You will have to kill the three guards but you could do that without raising any alarm. I killed the guy on the stairs side near the directors room. Then walked around on the second floor and killed the other guy when he was overlooking through a window standing still. Then I came down the main set of stairs down to the first floor which comes right behind the front desk and killed the guy at the desk.

Then you go down to the basement and disable the power so that the alarm doesn't go off when the safe is broken.

After everything, you walk out of the building with no problems.

 

[DietRob]

It seems like I stole this game from Amazon. $27.91 (with the $20 promo from buying my son Madden 11 for his BDAY).

Should have it Tuesday

 

[luca_29_bg]

Man, seriously, this game is just fuckin beautiful. Its actually the first game ever that made me sacrifice a little performance over visuals. I just had to crank everything up to the highest settings, i dont wanna miss anything with the visuals. The game still runs smoothly at 40-50fps when walking, its when the driving comes in that the framerate takes a blow (20-30fps), but since you dont even have to shoot guns while driving i figured what the hell, doesnt really matter to stutter a bit when i get this in return:

so pretty

Where you get this smoking ? O_O

 

[Dilly]

It came with the Collectors Edition.

 

[trudderham]

I think the smoking jacket is from a clothes store in the city centre in the 50s.
Amazing game, enjoying it just as much as Red Dead. Here's some screengrabs I captured (PC version):

 

[dk_]

Yeah, beautiful game is beautiful. I'd make some screenshots, too, but I play on my television and my PC is in another room. 10m HDMI cable ftw!

 

[luca_29_bg]

I think the smoking jacket is from a clothes store in the city centre in the 50s.

i'm searching in every shop in the chapter 9 but i can't find it! Maybe it came only with collector's edition.. O_O

 

[fallengorn]

Here is how you do Chapter 3 -

Spoiler

You will have to kill the three guards but you could do that without raising any alarm. I killed the guy on the stairs side near the directors room. Then walked around on the second floor and killed the other guy when he was overlooking through a window standing still. Then I came down the main set of stairs down to the first floor which comes right behind the front desk and killed the guy at the desk.

Then you go down to the basement and disable the power so that the alarm doesn't go off when the safe is broken.

After everything, you walk out of the building with no problems.

Spoiler

If you kill the alarm you don't have to kill the guards.

 

[sweetvar26]

Spoiler

If you kill the alarm you don't have to kill the guards.

Oh really, I never knew that. May be my second playthrough, I should try different things.

 

[heringer]

Isn't pictures of Vito in

Spoiler

prison

considered spoiler? Maybe they already showed that on the trailers or something, so I dunno.

 

[heringer]

Speaking of trying different things, the scene where Vito and Leo

Spoiler

try to hide from Henry in the closet

is absolutely hilarious. :lol

 

[Haunted]

I do prefer Mafia's story, pacing and mission design. So many memorable missions in the first one, Mafia II is not able to hit those highs.


The actual shooting gameplay is more polished and enjoyable in Mafia II, but aside from a highlight chapter

Spoiler

in the middle of the game - 6 -

its story only comes together in the last third, imo. Starting with chapter

Spoiler

10, it really kicks it up a notch and doesn't let up until the end.

Late game and ending spoilers:

Spoiler

I'm probably a bit miffed that Vito makes some extremely shitty and stupid decisions starting in chapter 11, where I felt that the mission objective in the upper left kinda springs things on you. I was like, "wait what? you want me to do what?" several times, where I'm left shaking my head and didn't really want to go through with it. Prime examples being warning Leo and going through with Henry's deal.

The ending is very good, though.

The Mafia 1 tie-in felt a bit forced, now I kinda want 2K Czech to retroactively patch in Joe and Vito's model into the ending cutscene.

:lol


Agreed with Bob that I'm really missing the Free Ride mode from the first one.

 

[heringer]

I do prefer Mafia's story, pacing and mission design. So many memorable missions in the first one, Mafia II is not able to hit those highs.


The actual shooting gameplay is more polished and enjoyable in Mafia II, but aside from a highlight chapter

Spoiler

in the middle of the game - 6 -

its story only comes together in the last third, imo. Starting with chapter

Spoiler

10, it really kicks it up a notch and doesn't let up until the end.

Late game and ending spoilers:

Spoiler

I'm probably a bit miffed that Vito makes some extremely shitty and stupid decisions starting in chapter 11, where I felt that the mission objective in the upper left kinda springs things on you. I was like, "wait what? you want me to do what?" several times, where I'm left shaking my head and didn't really want to go through with it. Prime examples being warning Leo and going through with Henry's deal.

The ending is very good, though.

The Mafia 1 tie-in felt a bit forced, now I kinda want 2K Czech to retroactively patch in Joe and Vito's model into the ending cutscene.

:lol


Agreed with Bob that I'm really missing the Free Ride mode from the first one.

Spoiler

I actually watched Mafia's ending again and Vito is middle aged man in the scene.

:lol

Spoiler

Joe is not that far off though, except for the clothing.

 

[Haunted]

Spoiler

I actually watched Mafia's ending again and Vito is middle aged man in the scene.

:lol

Spoiler

Joe is not that far off though, except for the clothing.

:lol

Spoiler

I just watched it on Youtube again. Yeah, I vaguely remembered them being low poly regular enemy models. >_<

 

[rollingstart]

I do prefer Mafia's story, pacing and mission design. So many memorable missions in the first one, Mafia II is not able to hit those highs.


The actual shooting gameplay is more polished and enjoyable in Mafia II, but aside from a highlight chapter

Spoiler

in the middle of the game - 6 -

its story only comes together in the last third, imo. Starting with chapter

Spoiler

10, it really kicks it up a notch and doesn't let up until the end.

Late game and ending spoilers:

Spoiler

I'm probably a bit miffed that Vito makes some extremely shitty and stupid decisions starting in chapter 11, where I felt that the mission objective in the upper left kinda springs things on you. I was like, "wait what? you want me to do what?" several times, where I'm left shaking my head and didn't really want to go through with it. Prime examples being warning Leo and going through with Henry's deal.

The ending is very good, though.

The Mafia 1 tie-in felt a bit forced, now I kinda want 2K Czech to retroactively patch in Joe and Vito's model into the ending cutscene.

:lol


Agreed with Bob that I'm really missing the Free Ride mode from the first one.

Spoiler

I thought the Mafia 1 tie-in was one of those things you saw coming since the early Mafia 2 footage. I was at the point where I was expecting it going into the game. It made too much sense. The problem was that there wasn't really any weight to it even if you played the first game.

As lame as it might sound, if they had Vito involved with Tommy's daughter or something, it would make it more than just you taking out the guy from the first game.

and while I enjoyed the shooting Mafia 2, it isn't as unique as Mafia 1. Things like limiting the weapons you could carry, reloading causing you to waste the rest of your clip, the slower pace, and enemies that could run out of ammo themselves really made the shoot outs feel tense.

 

[Nemo]

Great game, finished it and loved every bit. Couldn't stop playing and did it in 4 runs.

Anyway, narration was very good, even if it was all a bit been there and done that thanks to the movies. I still think it's awesome how they blended the seriousness of movies like The Godfather and the more relaxed Goodfellas. Joe's my favorite character, I loved it when Henry Joe and Vito where together. Good times.

Hope for some story DLC if it's not too expensive, otherwise I guess Mafia III will hit next year or so :lol

AI was a bit bad tho, I only kept playing for the story. They really needed to have better technology in place, you can see how games like GTA IV are more vivid this way. All in all I'd give the game a solid 8 about on par with Assassin's Creed II and 1 point lower than Red Dead Redemption.