"Papa Loves Mambo" played as I slid around a corner in an old, beat up jalopy. I'd stolen it from a woman that I shot in the head because I had the ability to shoot her in the head, and she happened to be the nearest person to me when I discovered that I had a gun. Behind me, the sounds of sirens screamed. Someone had seen me shoot said woman in the head, so the police were after me. Even after the sound of their sirens faded into the distance (leaving nothing but the sounds of Perry Como's 1954 hit), I knew full well that the authorities were still after me. At the bottom right of the screen, floating above a radar, were three icons: a gun, a license plate, and a wanted poster. The gun symbolized my crime, which was shooting a woman in the head, as mentioned earlier. The license plate meant the police had tagged my vehicle, and for as long as I stayed in it they'd be on the look out for the beat up car I'd taken from the woman who I just shot in the head. The wanted poster meant that, since someone witnessed the crime, the police had an idea what I looked like.

After some time, all that was left was the license, meaning the visual concept of "me" (being the game's main character, Vito) was gone from the Empire Bay Police Department's radar. In my mind, it meant that all that I needed to do was ditch the vehicle to call off the chase entirely. To test the game, I pulled over and stepped out. The license plate disappeared. I stepped back in. It came back. The radio was still on.

"Papa loves mambo (Papa loves mambo)!
Mama loves mambo (Mama loves mambo)!
Papa does great with it,
Swings like a gate with it!
He loses weight with it, now!"



Mafia II is a follow-up to 2K's underappreciated 2004 sandbox game. Developed by Illusion Softworks, who was recently purchased by Take-Two and turned into 2K Czech, the sequel looks to improve upon the original to compete with the surplus of open-world games to come out this generation. At this year's Penny-Arcade Expo I had a chance to sit down with the shooter, and after fooling around a bit with the open world, I completed a few of the game's story missions. While I wasn't told exactly what part of the game I was playing, the tutorial-like nature of the objectives made them feel like they were from an early section. Unless Vito spends the later sections of the game peddling cigarettes and chasing greasers, odds are this assumption is correct.

After completing a few small story sections Vito was handed a Tommy Gun and told to fire upon a diner. Using Nvidia's PhysX technology, the destruction was nothing short of impressive. Every bit of wood that splintered did so realistically, and it was much more satisfying than I had expected shooting the broad side of a building to be. After tearing in with bullets, I was given a molotov cocktail to throw inside, which lit the building ablaze. The fire looked great, and the game's visuals, which were fairly impressive throughout, shined especially bright during this segment. A cutscene followed the arson, giving a good view into the game's strong voice acting and dialogue. How they play out over the course of the game is much more important, obviously, though the game's presentation sold the 1950s vibe. Of course, the Perry Como didn't hurt.



Starting a fire and shooting at a diner was all a test for the big show, though. Before long, the gang went to the home base of another group to start some trouble. After trying to settle matters with words (and baseball bats), guns were drawn, and a firefight took center stage. This was a shame, because the game's gunplay, as of now, isn't as strong as the open-world gameplay. There's a cover system, a number of different weapons, and all of the other frills gamers have come to expect from third-person shooters, but it's hardly perfect. That said, catching an opponent in the chest with a powerful pistol is strangely rewarding, and it's hard to deny the allure of firing at opponents with a Tommy Gun. Even an imperfect shooter can feel unique with the right set of tools, and Tommy Guns may be said tools.

When the demo ended, I was left wanting more. More driving segments, more police chases, and, yes, more gunfights. I want to know where they're going with the story, and I want to immerse myself in the 1950s. There are a lot of people that are going to call Mafia II things. They'll call it a Grand Theft Auto clone, they'll call it a Godfather rip-off, they'll call it whatever they want. In the meantime, I'll be calling it one of my most anticipated games of 2010.

Mafia II is due out on August 24th for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.