#Mafia 2 game license#

The gunplay isn't bad, but it's just not that interesting.Ĭan Vito be a made man?When you're not using a Tommy Gun or pistol, you get the job done with your fists. It feels stiff – the animations drive that home and the aiming is never natural – and waiting to regenerate health is never a great time. Most of the time, you're just slowly moving forward and gunning down everyone in your path. There are some awesome breaks from this formula, like going undercover as a window washer to whack a main player and having to sneak into a guarded compound unprotected, but these are the exceptions to the rule.

The cover system doesn't get sticky, which is nice, but there were plenty of times that I thought I was totally protected but continued taking damage – especially when I ran into a fire-tossing boss. Mafia II pretty much demands that you crouch behind boxes, pop out to shoot, and then go back to hiding so you can regain health.

You can try to deviate from this strategy and get creative, but you'll be blow away in a few seconds. You have a bunch of guns, you take cover, and you kill all the bad guys so that you can move on. The mechanics of Mafia II are pretty much those of a basic third-person shooter. I felt like everything between the cutscenes, which usually is shooting or punching people, was just something to get through to reach the next story bit. Trouble is, the story is the most entertaining part of the game. There are over-the-shoulder angles you don't normally see and little touches that make the movies visually entertaining. On top of that, Mafia II uses some cinematic tricks to really up the production value on the cutscenes. I love gangster movies such as Goodfellas and Public Enemies, so watching the exploits of Vito and his best friend, Joe, as they go from job to job, party with the ladies, and put the screws to people is an enjoyable experience. That's a shame, because what I dig about Mafia II is its story and the way it's told. Empire Bay is like an empty playset, and that hurts the believability of being Vito's world. There isn't that 'a-ha' moment seen in other games where you realize there's stuff going on in these massive metropolises. You cruise the streets and see other people and cars, but it feels like The Truman Show. Problem is, because there's only the task at hand in Empire Bay, the place feels awkwardly empty – it doesn't feel alive. Is this a bad thing? Of course not – it's just something worth pointing out, seeing as it'd be easy to look at this game and think there are hours of freedom in it. You're not going to wander around the streets of Mafia II picking up odd jobs and meeting strangers this is a world built around the missions you're doing.

#Mafia 2 game license#

Cops on your tail? Go pay to have the license plate changed on your ride. Outgunned and dying a lot? Buy better weapons after restarting. All the icons on the map – clothing stores, gun stores, and so on – are just ways to enhance that mission. You'll have one mission at any time and it's always one that drives the story forward. Now, at first glance, Empire Bay looks like an open world – one teeming with missions and quests for you to take Vito on. All of this is going on in Empire Bay, a New York-esque town packed with people, cops, cars and collectable Playboy magazines.