[QUOTE="RageQuitter69"]
Yes, Mafia II was a misunderstood mastepeice, critics bashed it for not being similar to GTA (and if it was, critics still would have bashed it for being similar to GTA), poor 2k made a mastepeice and it didn't stand a chance of getting the critial reception it deserved. Maifa II should have been a lesson to Bioware and Hideo Kojima on how to actually make cinemetic GAMES and not overpriced movies with PS3 and Xbox 360 written on the cover. I hope Mafia III is another masterpeice and I hope this time it not only gets the critical reception it deserves, I also hope that it raises the painfully low bar for cinematic games.
GunSmith1_basic
cinematic, fine, but then it should at least just admit it and run with that distinction. So many call it a GTA clone or compare it to GTA, but its not even in the same genre. Mafia games should be compared to its true peers: games like Uncharted. The open world in Mafia 2 was a lot of wasted effort. Take2 put an open world in the Mafia series because it wants to pretend to be more like GTA, like they are above games like Uncharted or something. It is a bold-faced lie to consumers, telling them that they will enter a living 1940s city and take part in an adventure of that time period. An open world should be more than just buildings, traffic, and pedestrians. It requires content, both in quality and quantity for it to work. I would say that even GTA4 was lacking but at least there was something decent to remember there. At least they tried.
The people that say that Mafia 2 was better than any GTA probably just prefer games in the Uncharted genre. They need good stories and cinematics. That's just not the appeal of GTA. The reason why so many people are upset about Mafia 2 is because it is based on that lie. They should just drop the open world just like No More Heroes did.
I think the problem is that either way, it has issues.
Compared to kinear, setpiece focused games like Uncharted and Gears of War, the combat mechanics are rather stale. The cover system is sticky, you can't blindfire or vault, and there is very little freedom throughout the levels. The story itself is also nothing really noteworthy, the production values and cinematics are top notch, but the writing is stale and cliche and I think only the set pieces stand out.
The open world aspect on the other hand, is just highly unnecessary. If they excised the world entirely and made it the linear game it is trying to be, I bet the actual combat and story would get more of the love the deserve. The driving mechanics are stiff and you have less in the way of cars and abilities at your disposal then in GTA (where you can shoot out of your car), and the game even teases by letting you rob stores and cars and store them, hinting at what should be a more elaborate world.
Mafia II isn't bad, but it is like the unfortunate mix of GTA and Uncharted that ends up having no strengths, just feeling watered down compared to both in it's mechanics. I don't hate it, but I feel like being apologetic about it will just make the series keep the flaws going forward, instead of improving on both aspects or making a choice on what it wants to be.
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