Who doesn’t love the Mafia? Their whacky adventures have been entertaining people for generations and no organised criminal organisation has been as well represented in popular culture as the serious men from Sicily. Mafia II casts you as veteran Vito Scaletta and you walk several miles in his shoes through the vice, corruption and blood of organised crime in a post war America. Fans of the original should have no trouble getting into the swing of things in Mafia II.

The original Mafia game was set in the prohibition era, Mafia II moves ahead a decade to post war America and the mafia are weighing up moving from their traditional revenue streams into dope peddling (that’s drug dealing to you modern types). Empire Bay plays the role of a miniaturized New York city and all the things that made the original Mafia a critic favorite return such as a more realistic police response to speeding and running around with a gun. There’s even a nice, some might say shocking, nod to the original Mafia towards then end of the game that fans will get a big kick out of.

A screen like this you'd be thinking Mafia II has strayed into Saw territory. But no, mafiosos just really like to hang out at slaughter houses

The game is all about the character arc of Vito Scaletta. The first level is a shoot out in Mussolini controlled Italy with Vito, conscripted into the army to get out of a jail term for petty theft, fighting as a US soldier. Soon enough an injury has Vito return to the states on leave. There he finds his mother and sister struggling to cope with debts left by his alcoholic father, since passed away. Things look pretty bleak, until childhood friend Joey promises to get Vito some well paying work through his connections, and get him out the army into the bargain. From there the games excellent plot runs through the highs and lows of life as a professional criminal. It’s not a straight line to vice and riches, Vito barely catches a break until he has the rug pulled out from under him time and time again. The game is broken up into fifteen level like ‘chapters’ each highlighting a turning point in Vito’s life.

Vito joins the army to get out of going to jail, then quits the army to join the mafia? Not the best logic at work there buddy

Mafia II presents like a sandbox GTA type game but, in true mafioso style, this is just a front for a straight forward cinematic game. Sure you can drive around and go where you like most of the time, but you only ever have a single destination to reach to kick off the next part of the mission or to end the current chapter and move onto the next. A few missions give you the option of going to a weapon shop to tool up before a shooting mission, but this is rare, in fact I can only remember it happening once in my play through. There are two side missions you can do, one stealing cars to crush them, the other stealing cars to export them. Both net you a lot of cash very quickly and both only need five cars before you earn the achievement/trophy for those activities and will probably never do them again. Cash is only useful for buying clothes to throw of the police if you have a wanted status, which if you’re crime is bad enough is a permanent status until you change appearance and ditch the car you’re driving or change its license plate at a garage. You can also use cash to bribe police on the spot or call in from a pay phone. Cost equals effort with the on the spot bribe being more expensive than dropping a few bucks for a new suit and a hat.

Gas stations explode at the drop of a hat, remember this is the fifties, everything was much more explodey back then, and your grandfather walked uphill through the snow to get to school EVERY day

That might give you a bad vibe for the world of Mafia II. Don’t get the impression the world is a stark and empty place because there’s little or nothing to actually do around town. Most of the magic of Mafia II, what sets it apart from other crime games, is the perfectly realized period world. Dean Martin, Buddy Holly and Muddy Waters, to name a few, croon from car stereos and radios, characters in the street discuss current events and about saving up for ‘one of them televisions’. And the cars, the cars are gorgeous! A classic car enthusiasts wet dream, even if they’ve all got made up names for licensing reasons. The world absolutely looks and feels the part, the characters are well realized and the dialogue is pitch perfect. The measure of good characters in games boils down to whether or not you can remember their name. I was never got lost or confused when other characters mentioned Henry Tomasino or Leo or any other members of the extended cast in Mafia II.

Visually the game is pretty appealing with the high texture rate and detail to the characters appearance looking a lot better than similar games and allowing for close ups in cut scenes of characters who look and act sharp. The exception being the few female characters in the game, a working girl that appears a few times has a slightly creepy frozen look etched on her face and Vito’s sister has that alien look of someone who’s gone over board on the Botox whenever she’s granted a close up. The voice acting is also top notch and doesn’t come across as a cheesy stereotype, although the Irish characters are a bit over done. However that might be my personal opinion coming through a little strongly there!

It doesn't take too many shots to put you down, even on normal difficulty

Another standout feature is the controls and physics of Mafia II. The cover shooting mechanics are leaning far closer to Gears of War’s smooth controls rather than the sticky and rigid shooting and movement of GTA IV. Grabbing cover with one button allows you to pop out and blast away at Greasers and Irishmen with pistols, Tommy guns and a few World War II weapons like a Thompson machine gun. Some cover, such as chairs and doors, can he shot to pieces quite quickly so you need to be choosy. You can buy a lot of weapons at the gun shops dotted around town but you’re provided with everything you need in almost every mission you go into.

On the bad side Mafia II is also the victim of some of the more hilarious glitches and bugs that seem to target open world games such as invisible vehicles or buildings and broken AI. One constant glitch I noticed had the second of two police officers who chase you onto a roof top run into the open and stand on the spot firing his gun into the ground. It kept happening every time I loaded the checkpoint and seems like a pretty big bug to miss. Another was during a cut scene, I couldn’t work out why the camera was panning randomly round the apartment during an important monologue by your pal Joe. Turns out Joe’s sprite had disappeared, leaving a strange disembodied voice to give what should have been a tragic and impassioned speech. As I said, pretty big bugs to miss.

Lots of seedy characters are more than keen to switch out number plates and sell you used fire arms, for a few bucks

As a complete package Mafia II is a slick, atmospheric but ultimately short game. Shooting, driving and brawling are all well executed and enjoyable and the constantly shifting fortunes of Vito Scalleti makes for one of the best story experiences you’re going to get out of a game this year. If nothing else Mafia II sells the period setting of a post war Manhattan to a tee. It would be pretty cool for the following Mafia games to keep to the same timeline and evolve its universe into an eventual Soprano’s style modern Mafia game. The serious treatment of the subject matter is a smart departure from the tongue in cheek crime tales of GTA or the over blown silliness of Saints Row. Just don’t expect the option of a ‘playground of destruction’ that those games provide. Mafia II keeps things on the level, capice?

Bonus Review: Jimmy’s Vendetta

As part of our goal to provide the best value for money content possible at That Aussie Game Site (and because we got the review code for the expansion back a few days after the game), please enjoy this free bonus review of the DLC for Mafia II, Jimmy’s Vendetta.

Jimmy’s Vendetta is the first of a few planned DLC packs for Mafia II, but rather than expanding on the existing story it focuses on providing a different experience for fans of Empire Bay. Our protagonist Jimmy, a vicious enforcer who takes style tips from Hunter Thompson, finds himself in prison after getting screwed over by both the Mafia and the Irish mob. After instigating a prison riot Jimmy punches the crap out of a few guards and makes his escape through the sewers.

With a voice like Oscar the Grouch, pastel slacks and aviator sunnies you know Jimmy's a murderous tough guy, or a history teacher

For the rest Jimmy’s Vendetta you’ll be driving around Empire Bay and choosing from one of three different mission types, Mafia missions, Irish mob missions and car theft missions. These missions roughly appear in sets with new ones appearing once you’ve completed all three of the last round. The real difference from the original Mafia II game mode is that each mission earns you a grade and a score which is posted to an online leaderboard to compete with your friends. Each kill, property damage, or car stunt adds points with a multiplier earned for kills earned within quick succession. All the missions now have a timer and can be repeated at any time for a greater score.

All the plot details of the original game have been stripped out, cut scenes are gone except for the beginning and end of the story and while the missions make up a loose plot it’s really just carnage and destruction for the sake of it. You have access to all of Vito’s safe houses from the games opening but you’ll never actually have to use them unless you want to change outfits or access a stored vehicle. Jimmy's Vendetta basically turns the world of Mafia II into the open world arcade action game that Mafia II wasn't.

There’s a smattering of new weapons to ventilate bad guys with and, although there are no new cars, it’s now possible to tune cars a third level so they have a cool looking super charger sticking out of the bonnet. Cars can also now receive custom paint jobs that feature flames, racing stripes and decals depending on the model of the car.

Jimmy’s Vendetta doesn’t offer anything really new, the missions have a little variety but all play out similarly to the more frantic late game missions of the Vito story line. If you loved Mafia II for its plot you won’t be too impressed by the gameplay focus of Jimmy’s Vendetta. But if you just wanted to spend some more time as a mobster in Empire Bay, or you just really like shooting Irishmen, Jimmy’s Vendetta is the perfect expansion pack for you.