Image credit: PlayStation / Sony Interactive Entertainment promotional art.
Source: PlayStation
Summary
- Name of the game: Mafia II: Definitive Edition
- Launch dateMay 19, 2020
- DeveloperHangar 13
- Publisher: 2K Games
- Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (backward compatibility)
- Genre: Action, adventure, semi-open world
- ContextGame based in Empire Bay, USA, between the 40's and 50's, in the middle of the post-war and American Mafia era, sequel to the story of Mafia I.
History and narrative
Mafia II immerses us in the story of Vito Scaletta, an Italian-American immigrant who, after returning from World War II, is drawn into the world of organized crime in order to achieve economic stability and social advancement for himself and his family. The narrative is undoubtedly one of the pillars of the game: the dialogues are well written, the setting of the 1940s and 1950s is carefully crafted, and characters such as Joe Barbaro and Henry Tomasino are charismatic and memorable. Even characters with little involvement manage to generate empathy. However, the main antagonist lacks the impact of the villain of the saga's first title; the abundance of mobsters and assassinations dilutes that sense of personal enmity with a specific villain, something that was more strongly achieved in Mafia I.
Compared to its predecessor, this sequel focuses more on the criminal life itself, leaving aside concepts such as morality or honor. Unlike Tommy Angelo, who becomes involved almost by accident in the mafia, Vito deliberately seeks that life. He is a colder and more calculating character, which changes the tone of the story towards something closer to the hitman than to the classic mafia drama. On a narrative level, the game has a cinematic approach with well-produced scenes, although they are sometimes triggered abruptly, interrupting the gameplay flow unexpectedly.
The story, presented in 15 chapters, maintains interest and motivates to continue moving forward. However, some time jumps slightly affect continuity. The structure of the chapters can feel repetitive: go from point A to B, complete a mission and go back to sleep. Despite this, it does not seriously affect the overall experience.
The end of the game leaves mixed feelings. While the last mission is adequate, the final cinematic feels cold, sudden and lacking in closure. It ends with a powerful sentence: “He wasn't part of the deal.”, but without a subsequent development showing the consequences. In contrast to the emotional and satisfying ending of Mafia I, This closure is unsatisfactory.
In summary, Mafia II maintains the narrative as one of its main attractions, although without reaching the depth and emotion of its prequel. Even so, it manages to hook the player and build a solid story that is worth experiencing.
Gameplay
Mafia II is a third-person action game that combines shooting, driving and light exploration. It is not an open world GTA, The combat system is basic but functional. The combat system is basic but functional: cover, limited variety of weapons (pistols, submachine guns, shotguns) and melee fights that, in some chapters, are especially entertaining. A street boxing type fight mechanic stands out, which adds dynamism to certain moments, mainly in one chapter.
The driving presents realistic physics in keeping with the era, although not without frustrations. Vehicles are difficult to maneuver, collisions are unnatural and NPCs show erratic behavior. A particularly annoying point is the police AI, overly reactive to any minor infraction (such as speeding or accidents), and surprisingly present everywhere for the 40s and 50s, they can even ruin a mission for something like speeding.
The game is accessible for beginner players, with adjustable difficulty options, but limited customization. You can change outfits, sell stolen cars and perform minor heists, but these options quickly run out of novelty. Replayability is low due to its linearity.
Some missions stand out for their tension and narrative, such as the bank robbery or planting a bomb in a building. However, the gameplay, although polished, does not innovate too much with respect to the first game, and can sometimes feel like a repetition.
Graphics and visual design
The 2020 remastered edition offers graphical improvements over the original 2010 title, including sharper textures, more detailed modeling and higher resolution. Despite this, it falls short of the visual standards expected for its release year. The lighting looks outdated, facial animations are not very expressive and models are reused, which detracts from the freshness of the visuals. It gives the impression that resources were exhausted in the production of Mafia I, and this installment was worked on a more limited budget.
Despite its technical shortcomings, the art direction shines in faithfully capturing the atmosphere of the era. From the classic vehicles to the architecture and ambient music, the setting is very well achieved, with outstanding details such as the weather seasons (winter and summer) enriching the aesthetic experience.
Sound and music
The soundtrack is composed of classic songs by artists such as Dean Martin, Bing Crosby and Chuck Berry, which adds great authenticity to the atmosphere. The radio music is outstanding; many tracks are surprising for their quality and period, even encouraging you to look for them outside the game. This aspect elevates the driving experience considerably.
The sound effects are good, especially in relation to weapons and engines. The voice acting in English stands out for its well achieved mafia accents, while in other languages, such as Spanish, the dubbing is more limited and not very memorable.
Difficulty and accessibility
The overall difficulty is medium, with occasional peaks. In normal mode, certain points may require replaying, but progress is largely uncompromised. Accessibility options are poor: there are no advanced settings for players with disabilities or detailed subtitle settings, which represents a major opportunity for improvement. Also, text size can be small on large screens if not manually adjusted.
Additional content
The main campaign has an average length of between 10 and 12 hours, which is reasonable. The remastered version includes the DLC Joe's Adventures y Jimmy's Vendetta, which add between 6 and 8 additional hours. While secondary content outside of the main story is limited, the DLCs expand the experience in a satisfying way for those who enjoy the base game. However, replayability remains scarce: there are no significant narrative decisions, mini-games or options to motivate replaying the campaign.
Technical Aspects
On modern consoles, the game remains stable at 30 fps, with some drops in demanding scenes. On PC, it can reach 60 fps if you have a suitable GPU. Although bugs are not frequent, there are occasional bugs, such as enemies that freeze, NPCs that do not react or companions that get stuck. One of the most notorious bugs occurs in a mission where progress is blocked if an invisible enemy is not eliminated. Today, this bug persists. On PS5 and X Series, the title enjoys faster loading times, but does not have a native optimized version.
Value for money
Mafia IIDefinitive Edition offers an entertaining experience, especially if purchased at a price below $20 USD. For that value, the complete package, base game plus DLCs (entertaining, but not as good), represents a good investment in terms of playable hours. While graphically not up to par with other contemporary remasters, it offers an acceptable balance of nostalgia, solid storytelling and additional content.
Trophies / Achievements
- Platinum obtained: No
- Percentage of trophies obtained: 56%
- Estimated time: 25-30 hours
- Platinum difficulty: 4 out of 10 (requires completing the story on hard and finding collectibles)
Conclusion
Mafia II: Definitive Edition is a game for fans of organized crime in video games. Although its gameplay and graphical presentation feel somewhat outdated compared to current titles, its narrative, setting and characters continue to shine as they did in 2010. It's not a reinvention, but it is a halfway decent improvement. Ideal for those who value story over free gameplay.
My final rating for Mafia II: Definitve Edition is:
3.5/5
