Mafia II Review

Image by bigdigo via Flickr

I had been eagerly anticipating the release of the game Mafia II, and the day it finally came out was almost like Christmas had come early. I sat out on the porch, just waiting for the friendly neighborhood UPS man to come pulling up in his giant brown truck. Then, when he pulled up, I ran out to meet him, and grabbed the package out of his hand and practically started ripping into it right there.

No, I am not a fan of the Mafia game franchise. In fact, the original Mafia game I completely despised. The sequel though? It called out to me, and despite my dislike for the original, I had to get it.

So, enough about waiting on the game right? I am going to skip past the bit where I run in, stick the game into my console and all that. I am going to get right to the meat of this post. The Review of the game.

When I began playing Mafia II, I found the controls fairly confusing, however by the time I finished the tutorial level I was quite intimate with the controls. In fact, it felt to me like I had mastered it. In this regard, the games tutorial did exactly what it’s intended to do. In fact, it excels at tutoring you on the games basics. Most games give you a quick rundown, and then throw you into some crazy situation and expect you to be an expert and the control system. Not so with Mafia II! In fact, you have plenty of time even after the tutorial to get into the swing of things, and by the time you find yourself in the thick of things, you will be more than capable of handling the situation.

The thing I found most impressive, even more impressive than the tutorial was the graphics! The graphics were astounding! Combine those graphics with the level of detail in the game? What do you have? If you answered a masterpiece, I will accept that! However, what I was going for was a Lifelike experience. The city you play in is like a living, breathing city! The songs match the time period, and realistic physics add to the realism!

On top of all that, the game has plenty of boobage! You can collect vintage girlie magazines hidden throughout the game, and when you find one, you can take a look at the centerfold. Remember, this game is Mature! Obviously it shouldn’t be played by the young uns. It obviously wasn’t intended to be played by them, so you shouldn’t be getting it for your kid.

I won’t lie to you, while I found this game thrilling, gorgeous and an exceptional game, it wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was heavily flawed! You have heard the Pro’s, Now hear the Cons.

One of the things I like about games, especially Xbox 360 games, is the online playability. Games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Red Dead Redemption both provide fun online gaming distractions. So, I assumed that Mafia II would provide a similar online gaming experience. I however was disappointed. Was the online experience equal to the other previously mentioned games? No! Not only was it not equal, it was in fact non-existent! This bothered me, since in this day and age of gaming, online playability is pretty much a given! All game releases pretty much have some for of online playability, even if it’s poorly done.

So, there was that! The Con’s do continue as well.

The game is short. I mean really short! Insanely short. I finished the game in 2 days, and I wasn’t even playing it non-stop. I firmly believe that If I put my usual gaming time into this game, I would have finished it in one day. I am sorry, but that is just not acceptable! Maybe back in the day of the PS2 and the original Xbox, but now a days? That isn’t going to fly! As gamers we expect longer, enjoyable games. We realise games were shorter in the past. However, games have grown longer this generation, and it’s become expected! So, when a game like Mafia II provides a game this short, it’s a disappointment!

Lastly, the game has been advertising upcoming DLC even before the game was released. Hell, on the PS3, the game had DLC out and available on the day of release. This pisses me off! Why? Because, the game was insanely short, I feel that in terms of game content, I was ripped off! The lack of content wasn’t due to the fact that they simply had run out of ideas and story to take the game. It seems to me, that they were making the DLC while they were making the game. If that’s the case, then they clearly had a direction they could have taken the game. Instead, they decide to make the game tiny, and sell fans of the game more content. Milk their fans out of as much money as possible to fill their pockets.

So what’s the bottom line on Mafia II? Rent it. Sure, the games great! It’s a blast to play, but with their being no online play, the replayability pretty much doesn’t exist. To top it off, it’s so short you will probably finish it in your rental period. So, rent it, and if you did like it as much as I did, wait a few months and buy it used, or wait for it to hit the bargain bin.

Red Dead Redemption Review

Rockstar San Diego recently brought to us another free-roam sandbox style game titled “Red Dead Redemption”. It’s a wild romp through the final days of the western frontier.

The game follows John Marston, a retired outlaw, Reluctant bounty hunter and wannabe rancher as he travels through New Austin and Mexico hunting down his former gang members. His travels take him to some diverse locations and in contact with some colorful characters.

While in the game you will NEED money, for ammo as well as items that could prove useful, such as a bandanna to hide your identity or a bandolier to increase your ammo carry size. Luckily for you there are numberous ways to earn money in this game. You can hunt bounties, do ranch work, skin animals and sell the skins at the general store or of course rob people.

The controls take a few minutes to get used to, especially on horseback, but once you are used to it, and comfortable with it you will love it!

Some reviewers will say “This game is basically grand theft auto IV, but set in the wild west.”  Those people would also be wrong. Yes, there are similarities, This is true. That’s to be expected considering it uses the same game engine. However the differences are multiple! For one thing, it uses a health system similar to the newer call of duty games. It also has a moral system to determine if you are a bad guy or a good guy. There’s obviously no radio stations. It has the Dead Eye feature which basically is slow-mo while you take aim and  target multiple enemies. Lastly they employ an improved duck and cover combat feature, so you can shield yourself behind objects in the environment and poke out to fire off a few shots before returning to cover.

Those are just a few MINOR differences. If anything, I would say the game is a cross between Fallout 3, GTAIV and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The game takes all the best features and aspects of those 3 titles and blends them together really well to come out with this masterpiece.

Another thing you might be interested in knowing is that the game is a sequel to another game titled “Red Dead Revolver”. However, if you haven’t played it, don’t fret! Redemption is not a DIRECT sequel, more like a spiritual one. The stories don’t really connect, so you don’t have to worry about being lost in a plotline, or scratching your head in confusion, because an event being referred to is from a different game.

Apart from being an incredible single player experience, it also has an Online multi-player feature. Most games either shine in their single player campaign or the multi-player aspect. Very few game titles manage to provide an enjoyable experience in both fields. However, Red Dead Redemption has managed just that.

Bottom line: The game is visually stunning, with a fun story that will leave you begging for more! If you love sandbox games, shooters or Role-playing games you will no doubt love this game.

Here’s a tip for you though. If you think you have beaten this game, there’s a chance you might not have REALLY beaten it. There’s a point in the game, that really seems like the end but isn’t really. To avoid any spoilers, just remember this: Most games have credits when they end. Red Dead Redemption is no different! If you haven’t gotten the credits, then you haven’t finished the game.

So, if you are one of those people who didn’t actually finish the game like you might have thought, and now just discovered that there’s more of an ending than you actually experienced, and are now wondering how you access that bad-boy? The answer is quite simple really. Just do the stranger missions! Need help finding em all? Check this page out. Now, go finish the game for reals this time!