I finally finished Mafia II a few hours ago and I am left with mixed feelings about it. Mafia II is somehow, surprisingly disappointing, and several steps below from what I expected in terms of quality, despite it's surface polish and sometimes amazing; and cinematic graphics. The main problem I have with the game is that it feels so tightly controlled and I literally felt like I was driving from one piece of the story to the next despite having a whole city to explore. It's strange because Empire Bay is a superbly crafted city and when it's at it's best you really feel the setting of vintage America - the magic allure of a more stylish time in American history. I mean let's be honest here; this is the closest I'll get to playing a game in an era so close to the style of Mad Men.
Still, I was hoping to get more interaction with the city of Empire Bay itself, to socialize with its inhabitants, to be able to enter more houses/apartments in the city and buy them, to do some side jobs outside of the story, to pick up a girl in a bar, buy her a gift, marry her, stuff that gives you the illusion of freedom outside of the otherwise strict story. Instead you get the main story, which is usually top-notch, and all you can do in between the main story missions is change clothes, drink/eat, crush cars for money and rob stores. Empire Bay is great visually and drips with a lot of atmosphere like I mentioned, but it lacks the most important details to make a fully believable picture, and quite frankly often times feels dead and empty despite looking so busy on the surface.
The other big gripe I have with the game is the story. Don't get me wrong, it's a great story in many ways and you really get attached to many of the characters. My problem comes from the fact that the story quality is so uneven and I literally felt many times throughout the game that stuff had been cut and important scenes edited out. I mean there is literally no relation or interaction with Vito's family despite him falling into crime for the sake of settling a family debt. Another example is when Vito early on in the game ends up in prison and when he finally gets out the first thing our protagonist does is to visit his friend Joe and start a new crime adventure. My question at that point was why his sister wasn't mentioned at all. The game simply feels like an initially epic story spanning decades that didn't quite make it due to troubles during a long development and things simply needed to be cut out.
And that doesn't just apply to the story because there are quite a few moments where I'm feeling like I'm playing an unfinished game, like my contacts that are suppose to have jobs for me but throughout the game keep telling me to come back later, like a phone I can pick up but there are no numbers to call, like the cabs and the public transportation that I can't use; all leave me with a sense of playing an unfinished game. It's really sad to see so much wasted potential in what I feel could have been one of the greatest games this gen. However despite all of these issues, I have to say that I had a blast finishing the game, the basic shooting and cover gameplay was satisfying as hell, the setting was amazing with a solid story, and very few things beat wearing a tailored suit with a Tommy Gun in your hands feeling like a totally badass mafioso.
