Video Game Review: Gorgeous World of ‘Mafia II’ Still Feels Empty

CHICAGO – It is not uncommon for major awards season contenders in the world of film to come off more like very expensive paintings with all the right visual flourishes and technical elements but lacking the soul or the heart to make them truly effective. It happens every year. 2K Games’ “Mafia II” is the equivalent in the world of gaming. The developers have created a truly stunning experience in terms of graphics that nonetheless feels hollow where it counts.

Video Game Rating: 3.5/5.0

“Mafia II” looks like a sandbox game, but it’s not really. Sure, there’s a gorgeously-rendered city clearly inspired by the world of “Grand Theft Auto” but it is a much more linear title than you might first believe. The game is divided into just over a dozen chapters and while most of them include at least one variation on driving from one part of town to another and you do have the freedom to visit body shops, weapons stores, and more, there are no side missions and very little freedom within he story structure. “Mafia II” is essentially a straightforward third-person shooter with some of the more annoying elements of the sandbox world grafted on top of it.

Mafia II
Photo credit: 2K Games

Despite disappointment at the lack of control over almost any element of the story (other than what you’re driving and wearing), the plot of “Mafia II” is actually pretty entertaining (and enhanced by excellent voice work, screenwriting, and sound design). The player takes on the role of Vito, who we meet in World War II, fighting for the Americans but in his home country of Italy. After the War, Vito returns to Empire City, one of the most remarkably-conceived gaming worlds in the history of the modern console. With elaborate architecture and an incredible amount of space, Empire City is a game designer’s dream come true — a fake urban landscape that often feels strikingly real. The most impressive accomplishment is in the depth of field. When you’re standing on a rooftop (or a window-washer platform as you must do in one chapter), don’t forget to merely look around at the skyline. The effect is breathtaking.

Mafia II Photo credit: 2K Games

The game primarily takes place in two time periods, the one right after the war in which Vito gets drawn into petty tasks for the mob and then in the ’50s after your guy has done some time in jail and is now rising up the ranks. The first half features some mind-numbing missions like selling ration stamps to gas stations or loading crates on to a truck. It’s not hard to see players getting incredibly frustrated at the lack of action in the first two hours of “Mafia II.” Who knew life in the mob could be so dull?

After Vito earns his stripes, the action of “Mafia II” gets a bit more intense with some notable shoot-outs, but it’s here where the game falls a bit too deeply into cliche. And the title never loses its sense that unnecessary action was added to give the impression of user control when there’s really none there. For example, you can turn on the faucet in your bathroom. Why? Why not? You will walk up and down the stairs to Joe’s apartment so many un-entertaining times that you’ll have counted them by game’s end.

And it’s not just the small things but the big ones as well. Empire City is beautiful, but you can’t access 90% of its buildings and the few you can are merely repetitive, mission-based, or designed for customization. Body shops allow for car repair or customization. Weapons and clothing stores are pretty straightforward. There are people everywhere but you can’t talk to any of them or even start a random fire fight. The most interaction you have with Empire City is when you drive too fast during one of your “point A to point B” missions and the laughable EC police force chases you for about 2.5 seconds before giving up.

But what about the actual missions? Way too many of them are made up primarily of cut-scenes or drive-and-talk scenes in which it feels more like you’re watching the inevitable then helping craft a story. The incredible look of the game and variety of environments from snow-covered streets to prison laundry rooms to skyscrapers to a slaughterhouse help the title from getting too stale. “Mafia II” is too good-looking to ever be an extremely-frustrating experience, merely a regularly disappointing one. I loved looking at the game, but very rarely loved playing it. And the complete lack of multiplayer combined with the very direct-and-unchanging storyline makes for a title with very little replay value.

In an attempt to combat that last problem, the PS3 version of “Mafia II” includes an arcade-esque experience called “The Betrayal of Jimmy.” It takes place in the same world as Empire City and features the same controls and weapons, but it’s based around missions in which the player racks up points to compare against others on a leaderboard. For example, the first mission involves shooting up a couple of shops in Chinatown and getting back before your enemies or the cops kill you. Why not just add these as side missions in the real game? Why make them a separate experience that Xbox players can’t even access? The DLC is entertaining and helps with replay value (and makes the Sony version the obvious choice if you’re trying to decide between the two) but it reminds one of the variety that’s missing from the actual story.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]