Nice try 2K but not quite there. It is hard to say what type of Mafia II wants to be. Is it an open world type of game or is it a third person linear type game. Well I have to say that it is both open world, sandbox type and a linear type game but none are done well. The thing that stood out the most in Mafia II is the story and it is done very well.
Mafia II has some of the best story, storytelling and story pacing I've seen for a long time. The dialogue, character relationships and scope play out like a mobster movie. 2K has done a very good job there and it shows. I won't spoil it for you but it goes something along the lines of Vito Scaletta put in jail for robbing a julerry store and was given 2 options, serve in the military or rot in jail. You can guess what he chose and so he gets shot and returns home only to find that Joe is still doing his mafia thing and his family is somewhat is a disarray. The rest of the story depicts Vito's rise to power and the sacrifices he has to make to get there.
The resolution for Mafia II is set at 720. I have to tell you that I was very disappointed to learn this. For a 2010 game it should have been a fully blown 1080p much like all the new games that come out. Don't get me wrong the game still look good but it would have looked even better at a higher resolution. There were some spots where there were allot of pixalated textures which again it should not happen in a 2010 video game. The female NPCs were also a disappointment. There was no bounciness; no solid mapping and they share the same animations as a man.
The game also aims to be realistic with a few rules that could be broken if you choose to do so. For example the cops won't bother you if you run a red light, make U turns and so on. They will however get very angry if you ram their cars, hit and run and I've also experienced a glitch where I rear ended someone and was chased by the cops as if I just killed someone. The world also did not feel real to me. Sure it was well modeled but does it make sense? Does it give the illusion of a real working world? I see people walking around but why are they there. That is what its wrong with sandbox games these days. Developers spend so much time on the story, mechanics and so on but forget that the worlds they build must make sense. And you are going to argue that we do not have the technical knowhow to make this happen you are wrong. It's all in the algorithm. You place an NPC in a world, like Mafia II or even GTA, well you better make sure that the NPC has a function. A dinner own could have a house, and in that house he could do some house work and when it's all said and done he would do the same thing the next day. It's all about functions.
The combat in the game is great and unlike others out there that did not like it, I thought it was right on the mark. The controls felt great and easy. I love the vehicles and the driving in the game. There is nothing like driving around in a Walter Coupe with Christmas music and the news on the radio. Both day time and night time driving looks and feels great. I almost always drove the speed limit because there is no point in going fast. If you drive like a maniac then you will miss all the great architectures, pedestrians and the beauty that is Empire Bay.
A game mechanic that I found pointless is money. Sure you can buy suits, food from a dinner, gas for your cars and weapons but it's all pointless. First you don't need to fill up on gas. As a matter of fact I had no idea there was a gas gauge. I found out after I pulled into a gas station to see what would happen. All vehicles can go a very long distance before needing to be filled and when they do run out of gas, just steal another car and you are on your way. Food is another issue I would. Why buy food from a dinner when you could just go home and eat and drink there. And as for the clothing, seriously who would ware that. The only set of clothing I likes was the original clothing he wore from the start of the game.
The music for the game is great. That is one of the reasons I was interested in the game and what drew me to Mafia II. It is mixed with news from the war and some cool commercials in between of songs. My favourite are the Christmas songs. It sets such a good mood with the snow falling in the background. Very well done 2k. I read some reports that some of the music is not historically accurate but that did not bother me.
In conclusion Mafia II tried to be too many things but ended up doing only one thing well and that is the Story. I was excited when I bought the game from HMV and set aside an entire day to play through but ended up playing till Chapter 6 and then gave it up. Like other games I've reviewed it could have been better.
Are you Brand Loyal? What is your favorite publishing company?
I for one love EA.
My favorite games for the Playstaion 3 are:
Dead Space 1 - For the great game mechanics, graphics and quality.
The Godfather 2 - For the open world, good graphics, gameplay and loyalty of your men.
Killzone 2 - This was a though one. I had to choose between Battlefield: Bad Company and Killsone 2. I love killzone because of how well some of the levels a put together, story, characters in the game and graphics. Visually this game Kicks Lama's a$$.
So what are your 3 FAVORITE GAMES and WHY?
I for one love open world, sandbox type worlds and when I heard all the hype about GTA4 I thought it was going be a good gaming experience. Again it was driven by hype and I fell for it again. Now, I am not saying that this is a bad game. It's just that I expected allot more from such an established company. Rockstar Games did do a good job in the quality of gameplay but like every other company out there it lacks NPC to user experience.
The graphics are just terrible. Seriously Rockstar Games, invest more in a proper game engine. I have to give them props for the technical side of things. There are no framerate drops or any other errors that I could find. The structures as well as the vehicles are all done well textured and modeled but the NPCs lack the same detail. Even the main character is badly modeled and textured. The game does have a good night and day system in place. There is allot less traffic at night and allot less people on the streets. It also has good environmental system such rain, sun, fog and thunder. There are places in the GTA4 that would take your breath away but you have to be there at the right place at the right time.
The story is what stands out in this game. It is one of a kind and for that I have to give props to Rockstar. Even the execution of the game from the menu-less intro to the gameplay impressed me. Loading of the game and even checking for downloaded content occurs behind the scenes which is where everything should happen. They got that right.
Rockstar got allot of things right in this game and allot of things could have been better and some things that are just annoying. Now I did not finish the game. I found abit boring. The only thing that I found exciting was driving the well modeled cars. You can drive just about anything in the game which is sweeeeet. I was driving around causing trouble when I saw a bus parked in a bus station. I did not think that I could drive it but there I was driving around town in a bus. It is too bad that you can't save the cars you steal. In any case the driving is great. The only problem I have with the cars is that they all sound the same.
The women in the game look horrid. Whoever modeled and whoever approved them should be kicked in the nuts...twice...Another beef I have with the game is that it is not an open world. You can't go to half the game at the beginning of the game. Most sections are blocked by police barriers and if you try to ram them they will arrest you or worst, they'll shoot you. You can't even enter most of buildings and there is no way to know which buildings you can go into. My advice to Rockstar is please don't be like Apple (control freaks). Give the users freedom and don't corner them in a corner because that is a major turn off.
Access to the map is terrible. One would have to pause the game and then navigate to the map section and then bring out a black and white map which I find unless. Another thing that bugged me is how weak the dude is at the start of the game. This was what turned me off. The game sticks to close to reality. Most of us play games to escape realty. We want to break all the rules. Games should be an escape.
Overall my first impressions were, ok now what. I was very excited at first but my excitement was quickly killed by boredroom. I will however try to finish the game. I won't promise when but it should be soon.
The game could be summed up in one word. Disappointment. I expected more from an established series. Instead all there was was a giant puzzle and and faulty camera. Even the hotness wasn't there if you know what I mean. The boat scenes were the best in the game in my view. The rest was a pointless search and collect. I did however like the cargo ship fight. Thats was good.
The story...what story...there was no evidence of one. Each level had a giant puzzle where the player would have to repeat several steps in order to solve the puzzle. There were also no enemies or very few in between to call this game an action game. Most of the time I shot anything and everything out of boredom. Several levels in and I gave up. I saw no point in continuing the game...perhaps I'll pick it again later on.
There is one last thing I want to mention about the game and that is, the graphics are top of the line. The shadows are crisp, textures are nice but not 1080p quality and the animations are also very well done. The sound was ok. I never pay too much attention to the sound unless you are playing Dead Space where sound means the difference between life and death.
Developer: Insomniac Games | Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment | World: 1st Person Linear | Released: 2008 | PS3only
My first impression was mixed. The introduction scene was very well done right down to the start of the game but then that is where the disappointment started. I believe I died a bunch of times in the first opening sequence.
The game is technically sound, with a solid graphics engine, ok gunplay and reasonable enemy AI. But everything else just falls off the rails. The storyline is good but not great. Characters are constantly shouting and pulling you from location to location with no clear explanation of what you're supposed to do or why you should care. You fight alongside squad mates whom you never get to know, a clear misuse of NPCs to player experience. I frequently wasn't even sure if I was still playing as protagonist Nathan Hale, as the game would show Hale in cut scenes or in-engine sequences that suggested he could be an NPC. The game feels hurried and rushed, pulling you through levels at breakneck speed with no time to get your bearings straight or understand what the point of any given level is. Again user experience is left out the window as the player is pushed and pushed to no clear end.
Level design doesn't help matters much, as laughably linear pathways funnel you ever forward. Resistance 2 plays as a rail shooter without the rails, teasing you with fantastic environments ... somewhere over there ... and blocking you off with invisible walls or tactlessly placed obstructions that remove any semblance of immersion. As you explore the wreckage of post-invasion, 1950s United States, you never feel like you're exploring genuine environments. You always know you're in a video game level, endlessly blasting away at critters in your monotonous drive forward. Even boss fights are reduced to pre-programmed sequences that feel completely inorganic. Sure, the sometimes colossal foes make a great first impression, but you better get quick with the sequence or it's game over for you. There is no sense of discovery, merely more obvious patterning pushing you forward.
The entire experience became so aggravating I had to quit halfway through the campaign and just like that, dissapointed, it was over. I expected so much more from such a massive title but I was shocked to discover that all it offered was a tease.
When compared to the ample supply of excellent AAA shooters on the market, there's really no excuse for playing through something as remedial as Resistance 2.
One thing I found very interesting was the dude on the radio show, Henry Stillman. There is so much passion in his voice, wow very well done. Props to Insomniac…I found myself looking forward to the next radio broadcast but the frustration won and I could only find the first 3 before giving up.
Insomniac is capable of much better than what Resistance 2 put on display, so this experience won't make me look forward to the inevitable Resistance 3 any less. A smart developer will recognize and learn from its mistakes, so I hope the next installment in Nathan Hale's world will finally live up to the franchise's elite potential.
I for one liked the game. Gamespot.com gave it a very low rating which in a way it deserved it, but it has some very good gameplay mechanics. Another great game mechanic is the coop option and this game makes good use of the split screen. For the lone wolfs out there is there is also a single player. In single player you take control of Kain or Lynch and a third person perspective. This is a straight up action game with no customization of any kind. To put it blindly, you shoot anything that isn't a bad guy which I have a problem with. Shooting cops or the innocent should have been an issue for the developer as well. Not only that but why would someone want to play as a psychopath anyway and this is where the game falls apart for me. The story is terrible...retarded in a way...sick in a disgusting way...no one person would ever get attached to. Seriously what were they thinking when they came up with such crap. And if you think that this story is bad wait till you see the new Kain and Lynch 2. In number 2 not only the gameplay is horrid but the story is even worst. Seriously what were they thinking...
So the Story goes something like this. Lynch reveals to Kane that he made a deal with The7 to ensure his survival as well as a position within The7, but he is betrayed. So then this becomes a revenge game and a sick one at that.
Like Godfather 2, Kain and Lynch: Dead Men feels unfinished. There are allot of spots where fame-rate dropped to an unplayable rate. There were several spots where this happened. One such spot was when Kain was in the bank vault and Lynch was in the lobby of the bank.
Graphics are ok. Nothing to be wowed about or nothing to stare at but it works. It also looks like it has some sort of a physics engine which is geat because I loved shooting at nearby pillars then see it break apart. Ahh yes. Great times...I can recall my friend Carlos screaming at me "what the Fu@! are you shooting at. The enemy is over there". Lol
Kain and Lynch: Dead Men has an impressive arsenal of weapons and hand to hand combat. My favorite weapon is the P90 personal weapon. It is too bad that you can't keep it for long. And this is another problem with this game. Ammunition is very had to come by and so it forces you to drop weapons and use whatever is available. The game designers should be kicked in the head for not planning the game better. Some areas of the game feel like they were just slapped together. Near the end it felt that it was rushed and in some spots like the bank escape looked sharp and well planned. Another good example is the construction level near the end where you have to take out the driver from the massive construction truck. That level made me dislike the game to the point where I almost turned the game off.
Overall the game was good with great action, coop gameplay, and if you look past all the errors I am sure that you will enjoy it as well.
This is another game driven by hype and dam good commercials. I bought right into it and I am sure that most of you have as well. Don't get me wrong the game is not bad but it could have been much better.
Let's take it apart and let's start with the story and I have to agree that it's quite good but it is very hard to understand right off the bat. This makes the game hard to follow. It feels like they had one story in mind at the start of the game and the changed it near he end. What they did right is the way they told the story. They hit the mark when they decided to tell the story in motion comic book style. That is a fresh way to tell a story and I connected well to the VoiceOver.
The graphics in the game are Ok, not great but Ok. The main character however is well designed. The city is all ok but I was never a fan of cartoony looking buildings. The is also some errors when climbing some structures. One thing that I enjoyed was finding the tallest structure and the jumping off it and see how much damage I could do.
The world is not a free roaming world which makes getting off track impossible. At times I do not feel like following orders like a good dog. Sometimes I feel like exploring the world and discover what it is like to love there. But you cannot. Free roaming is an illusion. What you get is a linear world, go here and do that. Not much is left for the player to wonder.
The super powers are not very impressive and neither are the sub missions. Some of the powers are good but it looked like the game creators had no imagination. The only power I found cool was the drop attack.
The sub-missions are all repetitive, but I did like the search and find the package sub-mission. As a matter of fact it was so repetitive that I gave up at around day 14. I turned to YouTube to tell me the rest of the story.
There is one point that I would like to make before I conclude the review. The NPCs exist in the world for cosmetic reasons and do not matter which is sad because they could have made good addition to the story.
Overall it was an ok game. Perhaps I expected too much. I hope that number 2 is better.
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