Genre expectations. Most reviewers have a certain expectation on what a open world game should be, in their opinion. Brad highlighted this big time in the GB Quicklook when he said it was fine back then when Mafia I came out to have an open world with nothing to do, but in 2010, he thinks it's bad.
Thats pretty narrow point of view to say that every open world game has to have a lot of different things to do in them. Different games have a different focus even if they are in the same genre. I personally didn't enjoy GTA4 much so this narrative driven gameplay is right up my alley.
EDIT - It's in the valve/steam/mafia ii/commonapps/folder
Wondering this myself? Amazing soundtrack too from what I've heard so far, like maybe one of the best collection of oldies I've ever heard good. I've played a couple hours on the PC and like it a lot so far. A lot. The voice acting is amazing.
Genre expectations. Most reviewers have a certain expectation on what a open world game should be, in their opinion. Brad highlighted this big time in the GB Quicklook when he said it was fine back then when Mafia I came out to have an open world with nothing to do, but in 2010, he thinks it's bad.
I think it's reasonable to believe that he really did get bored with the game, and I can totally understand that. For me, the detailed world makes the admittedly generic game play and shooting fun to me, but I can understand that for other people who don't get into atmosphere as much, it wouldn't do the same thing for them.
I also think it's important to point out that in my opinion generic stories are not necessarily bad. There are very few stories told anymore that aren't generic these days.
The hotel mission was flat out amazing, in fact that entire chapter was amazing. This is a game other developers need to look to in terms of quality voice acting. I have not heard a bad voice in the game, and all of them seem to fit perfectly with the characters.
Thats pretty narrow point of view to say that every open world game has to have a lot of different things to do in them. Different games have a different focus even if they are in the same genre. I personally didn't enjoy GTA4 much so this narrative driven gameplay is right up my alley.
I agree that it is a narrow point of view. The same thing plagues FPS, where the genre expectation is that every FPS must have a great online component.
Haha, yeah, although I do like the mechanic the frequent cops introduces into the game, where I'm speeding and driving pretty recklessly but also keeping an eye on my minimap to look for any cops, so that I can screech on the breaks. I get to be the super fast driver I never am in real life, but with enough risk attached that it is still a little exhilarating to get away with it. In GTA or something, there are no consequences to speeding, or at least almost none, and consequently it's not very exciting to do it.
Anyone else switch to simulation driving? Really enjoying it. The driving is really impressive. In the snow when you dont have any traction you can see the wheels spin super fast, and then as your car regrips the road the wheel catches and goes back to normal. Lots of awesome driving touches.
I love the fact that in the demo tonight, I shot this black guy with no cops around, and his gang came shooting at me while I was hiding behind a corner. Cops show up, try to arrest him, dude sits down and then runs away :lol .
Then he got shot by the cops and I just walked out and they never even did anything to me :lol
Not that I like seeing black people getting shot, I mean they are just the gang in the demo .
I love the fact that in the demo tonight, I shot this black guy with no cops around, and his gang came shooting at me while I was hiding behind a corner. Cops show up, try to arrest him, dude sits down and then runs away :lol .
Then he got shot by the cops and I just walked out and they never even did anything to me :lol
Not that I like seeing black people getting shot, I mean they are just the gang in the demo .
Just finished the game. 33/47 Achievements. Might go back to grab a few more. Clearly this game is all about story. It may be a sandbox style world, but overall it could have been mission based. Great cut scenes and voice acting.
The ending was
abrupt and unexpected. I had a feeling all along that Joe was going to get killed, but I figured you would get revenge for that during the final mission. Maybe they are leaving it open for DLC, but I liked the story, but am somewhat disappointed with that ending.
Just beat it, loved it just like I loved the first Mafia, but at the same time I think there was a lot of wasted potential. The city has such a great feel and atmosphere that I want more things to do in it and they tease you with it too, like whats the point of being able to talk to Derek or Mike at any time about jobs if they never have any. I mean you would think after the opening mission you had for Mike you would have been able to do more jobs for him getting cars and stuff but you dont.
Im not looking for full blown GTA style branching side stories and mission paths and stuff cause thats not what Mafia is, but after playing RDR I have really high expectations now for open world games with strong narratives. Just like Mafia II RDR had a really tight story but it also had activities outside the missions that made the world feel alive and real, especially the strangers missions. Mafia II could have had this too and it wouldnt have impacted the main plot much if at all rather I think if done right it would have really helped the main plot and made the player feel even more like he was in the mob.
I know the whole reason they purposefully left extra stuff out was to create a tighter story experience and it worked for the most part, but I also felt rushed a lot like they couldnt wait to get to the next big plot event, especially in the later parts of the game. Things kind of progressed too quickly for me plot wise and there were more than a few minor events that seemed interesting and like they would expand but they never did. I think there was a lot more to Vito Scaletta's story that would have been worthwhile to see in this game and lot more characters worth meeting in the city of Empire Bay. I hope the game sells like crack and we see a Mafia III very soon.
All in all I loved the game but know it could have done a lot more the only thing that I really hated was the Wanted posters cause whats the point of collecting them when the city gives you no reason at all to stray from the plot GPS and wander around which you would have to do for nearly every single poster. Its a pointless collectible and cruel reminder that theres nothing else for you to do in this awesome city outside the main story.
After having gone through a decent chunk of the game, literally the only thing I would give GTAIV over Mafia 2 is Euphoria.
It does unquestionably add a lot, however. The gunplay in Mafia 2 is a bit loose - though I like it and some of the death animations - but Euphoria-driven gunplay is pretty much leagues above it and almost anything else out there. I also liked in GTAIV how you could be walking along and if you bump into an NPC, both of you stumble quasi-realistically. Small things like that add to the immersion factor. I really wish that piece of tech would become more ubiquitous.
I think it's great that you can get pulled over for speeding or hitting a car, but I'd like to have seen them also pull you over for running stop lights and signs. Your passenger will give you grief for running them.I know that too much realism would annoy some people but, as an option, I would have welcomed it.
I think it's great that you can get pulled over for speeding or hitting a car, but I'd like to have seen them also pull you over for running stop lights and signs. Your passenger will give you grief for running them.I know that too much realism would annoy some people but, as an option, I would have welcomed it.
That clearly would have gotten too much shit when you've already got reviewers complaining about the speed limit.
This is just one of the issues with people going into it expecting GTA. You're not meant to be handbraking around corners at 100 miles an hour like you're in a GTA or Saints Row game. These are vintage cars and the city is meant to feel grounded, not like a sandbox playground. This is also why the wanted system acts as it does, in various levels and in various ways depending on how you're seen committing the act.
That clearly would have gotten too much shit when you've already got reviewers complaining about the speed limit.
This is just one of the issues with people going into it expecting GTA. You're not meant to be handbraking around corners at 100 miles an hour like you're in a GTA or Saints Row game. These are vintage cars and the city is meant to feel grounded, not like a sandbox playground. This is also why the wanted system acts as it does, in various levels and in various ways depending on how you're seen committing the act.
The thing is, the original Mafia got better reviews with similar gameplay. Perhaps this game needed a free-ride (extreme) mode (and, well, it does), but I don't think that makes all the awkward criticism okay. Maybe it is more of just built up expectations over time that Mafia didn't have to deal with.
The first Mafia was pretty much just like this one, from what I've played of it so far. A lot of driving, some awesome story, and some good action. It mixes into this whole experience where everything carries more weight than it usually does as either a linear action game or a sandbox game. The Mafia games own the open-world, linear adventure drama genre and they rock the shit out of it.
I completely agree - as something optional, it would have been great to see. I wonder if it would actually be possible to mod that in the PC version. You've already got police who notice if you're going too fast, and your passenger tends to call you out if you run red lights, so the game is programmed to recognize those as well. Seems like it should be possible to have cops recognize running red lights and pull you over accordingly, but I guess that depends on how far a modder can delve in without some sort of toolset or SDK.
And I have to say that this game is really nice looking. It's not just the tech or whatever, there is a certain class to how things look. Even headlights of oncoming cars look really nice. Then you see a really ugly NPC or bad texture and it momentarily gets ruined, but overall it is kind of a gorgeous game.
Shurs said:
I think it's great that you can get pulled over for speeding or hitting a car, but I'd like to have seen them also pull you over for running stop lights and signs. Your passenger will give you grief for running them.I know that too much realism would annoy some people but, as an option, I would have welcomed it.
would have been nice if that stuff was there if you turned on simulation driving
there are some things missing about the driving from Mafia 1 just in terms of features. A big one is that you can't drive manual with clutch and all; that includes being able to turn off your engine and stay parked. Another is that you can't signal before you turn.
At the same time, they made the speed limit feature a lot better because the speed changes depending on where you're driving. Sometime sit is 40 and I've seen it go up to 70.
I don't know if they expect you to store things in the truck or look under the hood, but being able to mess around with that stuff is very nice. All those small touches really do a lot for the atmosphere.
oh, and as for parts that take you out of the game, I really hated how early on
they had you stacking boxes and it was clear they wanted the player to give up and trigger the next scene. I know that some people are stupid and would continue to stack them and not take the hint. But I was trying to stack them on purpose to see what would happen. Eventually the game stopped letting me stack boxes and I had to go to the next scene.
I felt that was kinda cheap and otherwise ruined a nice scene.
I really enjoy it as well. I've been spending a lot of time just walking around the city. I particularly love the naturalistic NPC interactions when you bump into someone Vito once knew and have a fun little spontaneous chat, which you can also skip if you simply walk past the person (occasionally they'll call out your name).
There's one part early on you can completely miss out on if you don't stop and watch what's happening. A couple are arguing over a messed up car engine, with the male trying desperately to fix it while his wife yells at him. If you stop and watch the amusing commotion, eventually the husband just leaves pissed off telling his wife to fix it herself, and Vito then has the option of fixing the car. Once (and if) you do, the woman thanks you and simply drives off. There's technically no tangible "reward" for it that I know of - it's just something completely natural that happens in that world, and you can easily miss out on it. You actually get some sense of satisfaction by helping the person out, since the world the game portrays is so grounded.
This is also the only game I've ever played where I've felt compelled to purposefully frame certain scenes as if I'm the director.
I think it's great that you can get pulled over for speeding or hitting a car, but I'd like to have seen them also pull you over for running stop lights and signs. Your passenger will give you grief for running them.I know that too much realism would annoy some people but, as an option, I would have welcomed it.
Mafia 1 did that and I found it a little annoying. It's been a while since I've played it, but I remember there being less cops and a larger compass so it wasn't too big an issue though. I think an option would have been cool for the second game.
I was playing tonight and heard some music from Mafia 1 in the bar you go to in Chapter 2. Brought back some good memories. I am glad the cars have a little bit more power this time around. I remember a couple hills in the first game where I thought my car was going to start rolling backwards.
I think it's great that you can get pulled over for speeding or hitting a car, but I'd like to have seen them also pull you over for running stop lights and signs. Your passenger will give you grief for running them.I know that too much realism would annoy some people but, as an option, I would have welcomed it.
oh, and as for parts that take you out of the game, I really hated how early on
they had you stacking boxes and it was clear they wanted the player to give up and trigger the next scene. I know that some people are stupid and would continue to stack them and not take the hint. But I was trying to stack them on purpose to see what would happen. Eventually the game stopped letting me stack boxes and I had to go to the next scene.
I felt that was kinda cheap and otherwise ruined a nice scene.
Yeah, I read some review that complained about this sort of thing, understandably. I had actually read that review before I got to that part, so I knew what to expect.
Actually, I think you shouldn't spoil that, just so other people know. It isn't really a spoiler anyway, but I'll leave it up to you.
One interesting thing about the PS3 version, is the stage that made up the demo ran about a thousands times smoother in the retail release. Seriously, it ran so much better!!!
For anyone else with the PS3 version, did you have a 17 MB patch 1.01 when you first started up the game? Its weird, that stage that came from the demo has been the smoothest part of the game! None of it has preformed as bad as the demo, from a FPS stance, which has made me really happy. I was super nervous about that after playing the demo.
Played this game for 6 hours today and only made it to chapter 4. Holy Shit it is amazing. I am a huge fan of the original Mafia, and so far Mafia 2 is exceeding my expectations.
I started my playthrough on Hard and it does seems like a challenge, I only got to Chapter 2 so far. Does the game get a lot harder later on? I was thinking about restarting on Medium for now and then do my second playthrough on hard.
I started my playthrough on Hard and it does seems like a challenge, I only got to Chapter 2 so far. Does the game get a lot harder later on? I was thinking about restarting on Medium for now and then do my second playthrough on hard.
I guess most of it is driving around? I had to steal this one car in Chapter 2 and those guys were up my ass. I don't think I killed them all so they started chasing me and better than I though.
I will just play it for now, if it is too hard I will switch it later.
The story got me hooked up though, I need the money to clear the family debts
Protip. Before finishing chapter 5, spend all your money on whatever you want. You won't be keeping it.
I imagine some ADD people might find the opening chapters a little slow moving, but I love a game that takes its time introducing characters before just throwing you straight into the middle of things.
Picked up this up tonight after work. I only got up to chapter 3 before calling it a night, but I'm loving it so far. It's much more cinematic than I expected, which is great. I imagine some ADD people might find the opening chapters a little slow moving, but I love a game that takes its time introducing characters before just throwing you straight into the middle of things. I don't know if this is premature or the right way to explain it, but it feels more like Shenmue than GTA just from the opening chapters. Also, you can lock the speed of your car btw so you don't have to worry about breaking the speed limit. The only nitpicks I have so far is that the NPC cars are freaking agressive drivers. They and the pedestrians kind of act oblivious to you some times. Also, I love the time spent with Playboy “articles” in the stats section. I first thought, wait, there aren't articles in the Playboys, but then I was like oh those “articles”.
I'm really enjoying the game. I just played for 72 minutes according to Steam and stopped when I made it to Chapter 3. I really liked the introduction, and the atmosphere in this game is just awesome. The attention to detail is really pretty crazy. I'm gonna have to try simulation driving tomorrow. My only complaint is that I can't seem to move my character's head around while driving in the 1st person view.
People take reviews so srsly, its kinda sad given how terrible they are 99.9% of the time...
Honestly... the last time I think a read or watched a full review was MGS3, the game they praised that was unplayable rubbish.
At that moment I realised, its all a load of crap, and 'journalists' in this industry are just hacks and morons waiting for konami to ring and offer em a job.
WTF is this shit? MGS3 was criminally under rated by critics. I'm still way, way early in the game so I'm still reserving final judgement, but that snippet from the Eurogamer review about Vito ringing hollow as a character for blindly doing stuff for mission givers is kind of BS. They just described every main character from the GTAIV universe. You know what I like about Mafia II so far? I've only been in two shoot outs after a few hours of play and the first was a tutorial. I actually like Vito at this point.
Anyone else switch to simulation driving? Really enjoying it. The driving is really impressive. In the snow when you dont have any traction you can see the wheels spin super fast, and then as your car regrips the road the wheel catches and goes back to normal. Lots of awesome driving touches.
Yes. The simulation driving is very nice. It definitely feels good.
As someone pointed out earlier, you can get this 'driving pretty fast, barely keeping the car on the road" feeling during a chase that really is exciting.
True, but at least that review is giving me an idea of what I can expect and not this game sucks because it's not exactly like GTA. It's clear the game is story driven at this point, and I can see it falling into the trap of trying to emulate being a Hollywood movie first and a game second. But until I have to sit through a 30 minute pre-mission briefing or 45 minute cutscene ala MGS4 I have no complaints about the cutscenes so far even if it turns out to be more of an interactive movie.
Personally I think the reviews are fine. The eurogamer review seems a bit harsh but the only bad point I can make out of it is that "it's not like GTA". Which is fine - I don't like open world games and I don't need random meaningless stuff to do in the world, so I'll most likely pick this one up
Besides, it seems like such a story-driven game that having the main character go on a rampage to kill dozens of cops and civilians, or do stunt jumps to earn extra cash because of some arbitrary challenge would actually lessen the premise here.
Goddamnit they put a fucking embargo on the sale date of this game here in the netherlands... I cannot believe this shit. Gotta wait for friday while the stores already have the games.. CHRIST.
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