At E3 2010, 2K was showing off some exciting new titles: XCom, Civilization V, and Spec Ops: The Line. Because of this, Mafia II, which Jonathan Cooper played earlier this year at PAX East, was a casualty of the “too many games, too little time” mantra that carried the two of us through E3 this year. Luckily, I had the opportunity to play more than just the E3 demo in New York shortly after returning from E3. Just like Coop was a few months ago, I walked away very impressed, and with some memorable music from the 1950s stuck in my head.


It’s hard not to call any open-world game that focuses on stealing cars and shooting people a Grand Theft Auto clone. It doesn’t help that many games have tried, and failed, to emulate the highly successful GTA formula, which makes gamers wary of titles that appear to be in the same vein. Despite some similarities in the gameplay, however, Mafia II appears ready to stand on its own with great attention to detail, a setting that utilizes interesting era in modern American history, and most importantly, gameplay that happens to be really fun.



Mafia II takes place during the 1940s and 1950s in an area reminiscent of New York City, but which actually takes elements from several notable U.S. cities. I jumped into the game during the latter decade, which is later in the game, and found myself controlling main character Vito as he receives a phone call in his apartment. He’s got a job to do, and he needs to get dressed and go. Before heading out, though, I took a couple of minutes to explore Vito’s living quarters. I could grab a snack from the fridge, change clothes several times, even read the Playboy casually left on the coffee table (which accidentally displayed a naked lady on my screen while I was in a room full of journalists and 2K representatives). Once I was sure that I had seen enough, I went outside to steal a car.

To be honest, it didn’t go too well. I tried to get in the quiet way, by picking the lock rather than breaking a window, but after a few seconds I heard sirens. The cops were on to me, and I panicked, breaking the window as shots were fired in my direction. Between the sirens, the shouts to stop what I was doing, and the alarmed screams of onlookers on the street, things were getting out of control. I managed to get into the driver’s seat just as two police officers swarmed me, guns out, and drove away amid a hail of bullets. Sure, I was still wanted by the law, but for the time being, I was safe!



It was actually while driving around the city that I experienced the most memorable moment of the play session. After the noisy and chaotic events that had just occurred, I switched on the car radio, and the Everly Brothers’ “All I Have to Do is Dream” began to play. It was oddly calming, and a fitting juxtaposition to the near-death situation I had escaped only moments before. Instead of driving directly to my goal, I cruised through the streets, enjoying the music. When the song ended, a humorous fake radio ad speculated about what would happen if cars had phones in the future, and how that would affect the ladies, who love to talk but stink at driving. It actually seemed so genuine that I later asked one of the game’s producers if that was a real clip or not, but it had been recorded just for Mafia II.

Since my time with the game was quickly running out, I soon ditched the car and continued with the mission, only to find that the non-driving gameplay was just as fun. None of the shooting mechanics feel particularly innovative, but when you’re jumping from cover to cover, taking guys out one by one, and grabbing the weapons from their corpses while something explodes behind you, you probably won’t be focusing on originality that much. Yes, Mafia II may never shake the “GTA clone” label, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a ton of fun in its own right.

Mafia II will be out on August 24, 2010, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

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