Quote:
Originally Posted by terhardp
The variety of gameplay is also one of its highlights.
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Say what?
Maybe I should have played Mafia (1) to really enjoy this title. The atmosphere is great, the cars, the music, the clothes, the scenery, the skin mags.
The story never clicked with me though and I certainly missed the part with varied gameplay. Drive, shoot from cover. Drive, drive some more, more driving, shooting from cover again. Where was the variety bit I missed? Are your referring to sneaking, which was necessary once in the game, really early? Oh wait there was that chapter about boxing to save your man cherry.
I enjoy mafia stories, and mostly for the tropes/cliches most critics harp on new mafia stories for using. I kept waiting for the part where Vito moves up in the family, marries a beautiful Italian girl (possibly a relative of a Capo or higher) and
then it crashes down.
Instead Vito never makes it above the rank of pawn. Being criticised in the game's climax for not realising I was a pawn all along? They might as well have said "The sky is blue" for all the impact those scenes had as a result of the gameplay.
If any setting would benefit from a free play type element, its a mafia story. The entire premise of being made and moving up in the family is you bring new income to the family. Just being a pawn gets you nowhere.
The one time the game does encourage any freedom of decision regarding the making of money. The options are a pitiful A) rob stores at gunpoint or B) crush cars. That whole finding 20k+ on the desk of the Capo who I was stupidly forced into killing to progress the story felt like a cop-out (and when does that @#$% run out of molotovs, worst fight in the entire game).
Mafia II takes as long as an entire trilogy of movies to tell the first part of a mafia story. It doesn't just hold your hand but has
it's lodged firmly in your posterior and is directing your movements.
I was feeling very meh at the meh ending, and not inclined to pick up any sequel till I read a detailed synopsis and hear the story (and gameplay) actually goes places.
I was hoping for optional missions that led to doing better/worse in the eyes of the family, enjoying the high life a little before the crash (Vito gets his suburban castle for what? 10-20 minutes before losing it?). Instead the game feels entirely on rails and I felt nothing for 'my' character Vito at the end.
