Written by: PlayDevil.com Staff

 

 

 

After spending some time with the demo version of "Mafia 2", I feel able to offer up my thoughts about this open world title from 2K, coming to stores at the end of the month.

 

The demo is pretty short, offering a single mission, and limited time to much about when not on the mission (a paltry 10 minutes), but you do get a chance to experience some of the open world, and do a bit of driving and shooting.

 

Graphically, the game looks great, although I found that the camera, especially in tight spaces, left a lot to be desired, and whilst I don’ think that it quite beats Red Dead redemption, there is more going on at one time, and the game is undeniably beautiful, especially when travelling across the Hudson into Manhattan.

 

The sound is also good, with some nice voice acting, and good music, although it’s pretty Godfather-esque stuff.

 

The game itself plays quite a lot like GTA IV. And by quite a lot, I mean, basically the same; except with some minor exceptions. You get regenerating health, although each hit you take will bring down your maximum health a little, to encourage some cautiousness. The car handling is a little less heavy than GTA, although you do need to be cautious, and a strong crash will kill you (I found this out the hard way).

 

The mission structure, however, seems similar, and so does the gunplay, which leaves quite a bit to be desired. I didn’t like the aiming that much, and the cover mechanic is very basic- with no blindfire or peeping above cover, your options can be quite limited. It doesn’t help that I found movement a little clunky as well. The mission, and story sequences were really enjoyable though, so it’s a shame that gunplay hasn’t evolved over the last couple of years.

 

The demo only takes about 20 minutes to get through, so it’s difficult to give a full impression of the game- but while the visuals and story seem top-notch, some of the gameplay feels very dated compared to rival open-world games.

 

Hopefully this is an old build, but at the minute, I’m not sure Mafia 2 will be anything more than competent, unlike the world-beating predecessor several years ago.