Ready for a +10-hour linear bug-fest? Even if you forgive the flimsy story and derivative gameplay, you'll have a hard t
Subjectively: Some fun moments amongst the frustration.
I love to compare games and their review scores. It is a great way to decide just where a new game falls in on the review scale. God Father is a great Mafia-game with lots of features, side quests, collectibles and a story we all love. True Crime New York City was buggy and had a flimsy story -yet it had side quests, humor, good graphics a world that felt alive at the time. Mafia 2 has bugs, a mediocre story and not nearly as much to do than in most same genre games of the last console generation. So it deserves a 4.0 maximum!
Don't fall for the Donkey Kong Country -effect! Sure, the visuals in Mafia are flawless - if you look past the fact that it lacks animations. Did you know that in the 50's they had water taps that were self activating? No sh*T!
Game play -wise, Mafia 2 is a blast from the past - the era when we had games like Driver on PS1. In this game all you do is wake up, drive, watch a cliche infested story cut scene, drive, walk and shoot, drive, sleep repeatedly. There are no side quests, no real collectibles, no character development (skills to gain etc). And you feel frustrated after a mission where you had not shot anyone just as you were told, and yet the game thinks you did because it's a linear piece of bit-dung that does not let the player decide anything.
Then the killing blow - the bugs! The game sometimes fails to render some objects, say, the car you are supposed to drive in the beginning of a Chapter - making it impossible to continue the game! That's not so bad if you don't mind re-playing the previous mission again hoping that next time the car will be there. I also got to watch my clothing disappear from my wardrope one by one. Because I was in my underwear, I could not leave the house! Mafia 2 remided me of what being grounded used to feel like. Restart the [insert profanity here] mission.
But on top of that there are cars that fly roof top high when they crash. And npc's might not do what they're supposed to, like open the door for you - making progress yet again impossible. If you change your clothes after a particular mission before watching a cut scene where npc's make remarks about your worn out clothing - OOPS! Crash and time for a replay and better do it right this time, the way the game expects you to! Also picking a shop's lock equals grand theft auto - at least in Empire State police force's books.
At least the game makes things easy for you. There's a map navigator, difficulty settings, a garage that can fit several cars that you got for free and you always know exactly what to do and where to go. The best parts are the radio stations, songs and the dialogue of npc's minding their business during missions.
Occasionally the stupidly scripted AI spews out some unintentional jokes. Imagine having just killed 5 police officers in a getaway while your partner in crime says "You just ran past a red light!"
The game has it's moments. It's like watching a TV-series - you know you've seen it all before and done it all before but you want to see the ending just because. And yes, it's fun to kill your enemies in a car crash (at least the game gives you that choice), send your car flying over the roof tops and while you are plummeting into certain death your buddy goes "Well that takes care of that!"