Mafia II - Hands On Preview

When it comes to sandbox games, Rockstar is clearly the undisputed heavyweight champion of the gaming (open) world. The sheer level of attention to detail in the settings of both GTA IV and now Red Dead Redemption, as well as the innovative gameplay variation within these games' missions, is beyond comparison. But it seems that the gaming label of Rockstar's parent company, 2K Games is now primed to show its exceedingly talented sibling a thing or two when Mafia II comes to town this summer. In a recent hands on with the game we were stunned by the sheer scope and historical accuracy of Mafia II's fictional open world setting, Empire Bay. As a post-World War II pastiche of various hives of organised crime (most notably New York City), the world certainly felt like a more fitting homage to The Godfather fiction than EA's licensed games ever managed to attain.

Gamers play as Vito Scaletta, a World War II soldier returning to Empire Bay on leave after he's injured on operations. Of course, it's not long before Vito is up to his neck in the mafia network of Empire Bay. Firstly, Vito's friend Joe manages to get him released from army service for good, such are his connections (it seems a phone call is all it takes) and then it becomes apparent that Vito's father died while he was away, leaving a sizeable debt over his family's head that Vito is now responsible for clearing. It seems only logical, then, that Vito joins forces with Joe to make the money back and pay-off the debt owed to the mob by his deceased father, lest the remaining members of his family be 'sleeping with da fishes' or whatever.

We joined the game as Vito was being shown the ropes by Joe. After a short drive down to some warehouses, the two of them started selling boxes of bootlegged cigarettes at cut-down prices. Our job as Vito was to retrieve the correct brand of cigarettes from the back of a truck as Joe called out each customer's preference. It was a fairly straightforward job with a steady stream of customers - if this was all it would take to pay-off the debt, then 2K Games would have a fairly short and uneventful game on its hands. Of course, it wasn't long before the violence broke out from a rival gang of the hotrods and rock 'n roll variety (i.e. Happy Days gone badass), who told Joe and Vito to get off their turf before setting the truck alight.

Joe rang the boss, who was not too happy about the destroyed merchandise. Vito and Joe had to get his money back but, lucky for them, the boss had something against those Rebel Without a Cause fellas anyway, and so was willing to help Joe and Vito get revenge. The mission progressed through these novel scene setters, firstly with an attack on the gang's favourite hang-out which, predictably, turned out to be a diner. Vito and the crew had to pepper the empty diner with Tommy Gun fire before setting it alight with Molotov cocktails, which may well have been a well dished-out weapons tutorial of sorts, but was also a good opportunity to see Mafia II's impressive visual effects in full flow as well.

Our hands on was with the PC build and came accompanied by an Nvidia representative, who was only too happy to point out how the graphics card manufacturer's APEX tools were allowing developers, like 2K Czech, to maximise PC games for a multi-platform release. Pulling Nvidia's PhysX tech into games is apparently a doddle now with the APEX toolset, which allows for all sorts of impressive sounding effects like ricocheting bullets, splintering debris, and realistically simulated explosive force fields, all of which were on show as we mowed the diner to bits. On this PC build, the visuals certainly offered more detail in the level of destruction on show than we've experienced in many recent open-world titles, so we're inclined to think that 2K Czech has managed to get its ducks in a row where development for hardcore PC gaming is concerned.

Moving on from the diner, Vito and the mob drove to an industrial district of Empire Bay to track down the Unhappy Days gang (as we've decided to call them). A well designed shootout followed, which aptly demonstrated how carefully you have to approach these set-pieces in Mafia II to have any chance of success. Having played a bout of GTA IV the night previously, where my main aim was to build the highest wanted level in as short a period as possible, I was left dead quickly and often in Mafia II using the same approach to combat. The sure-fire way to play through these sections in Mafia II is to move methodically from one cover position to the next, only popping out from behind the cover when you've got a clear shot. A punishing bleed-out health system ensures that Vito simply can't absorb a hail of bullets a la Niko Belic, which is just one of the ways 2K Czech is making Mafia II feel more authentic than the vast majority of sandbox titles.

Another way in which it's more authentic became painfully apparent as we drove one of the gang member's hotrods to the dock with the express aim of recouping our losses from the attack on our cigarette truck. If we got any reasonable speed up and so much as snagged a lamppost, this invariably resulted in death, as well it should. Firstly, the game is trying to be at least mildly realistic, and secondly, cars from the 40s and 50s were hardly known for their safety records (just ask the original Rebel Without a Cause). Luckily, when we eventually got to the docks some traders were willing to pay handsomely for the hotrod, which meant we could get the boss off our back for allowing his cigarettes to get burnt to a cinder - the perfect circle of gang related violence, some might suggest (although probably not the Unhappy Days gang).

Some downtime after the mission gave us the opportunity to sample how Mafia II is dishing out the staple sandbox game features, which included Vito's hideout - a one bedroom apartment complete with drinks (alcoholic and soft) and an issue of Playboy that contained a bare-all centrefold shot (these are collectible in the game). There was also time to have a look at the wanted system, which operates across two basic principles: the police may track you down by knowing what car you were driving and/or what clothes you were wearing when you committed a crime (both of which can be changed at an auto-repair shop or clothing store to lose the cops). If you do get busted, however, there are always the options to surrender, resist, or bribe the bent copper for $150.

Mafia II's open-world is rich in its depth and demonstrates a scrupulous eye for detail. From the soundtrack to the period design, and the characters to the storyline, we found it very hard to fault this particular hands on session with the game. If the first game was perhaps a little too realistic then Mafia II appears to maintain this penchant for authenticity without going so far as to bog down the experience, making for a much more engrossingly playable game all-round. Roll-on August 27th...