Mafia II

Preview from Luke - Saturday, 24 April 2010 @ 8:30am

Set in fictional Empire Bay, Mafia II spans a ten year period from the mid-1940s; a time of fast cars, fine women and gangster violence. Vito Scaletta returns home on leave from World War II where he is quickly reunited with his friend Joe Barbaro, a man who has taken a path of crime with the mafia. Joe convinces Vito that talking the same path will have great privileges, including not having to go back to war. This sets in motion the beginning of Vito rising through the ranks of a crime family.

I start the game with Vito in an apartment; the room is filled with great little details that fit right into the time period. The window near the kitchen is closed, peering outside I see people on the side-walk. As I open the window the ambient noise from the street fills the room, things seem a little breezy out. Luckily Vito has all different types of apparel to suit the occasion; an overcoat seems like a great idea. After dressing Vito in the appropriate attire it's time to go meet Joe. I exit the apartment closing the door behind me. The 2K rep advises me I'm the first person to do that... Seems like a logical thing to do, who leaves the door wide open when they leave their house?

Outside on the corner street a paper boy stands yelling the news headline for the day, a passerby stops to take a copy. I'm standing on the grass as the sun beats down on the surprising lush and colourful environment. It's made aware to me by 2K that the weather will change throughout the course of the game, I can be at the same location at a later stage of the game while it is in a Winter setting for example. After admiring the buildings around me I walk over to the garage where all my fancy cars are located, then I pick out one sweet ride. As I'm cruising down the street with the radio cranked to 11 – oh, awesome music too might I also add - something just doesn't seem right. I pull the car into the local chop shop, throw on some bigger wheels, slap on some sick gold rims, spray the car green, and change the number plate to read “HULK”... now we are ready to kick some ass!

I proceed to go the meet up with Joe, the location map at the bottom of the screen helps with directions. Joe is standing next to a pick-up truck filled with cigarettes, I jump in the back and pass him different varieties as he sells them to people walking past. It isn't too long though before some rival gangsters show up and start hassling us for the merchandise. Joe isn't going to give in though, throwing in some harsh words of warning. The nice men don't seem to appreciate this and show their disapproval by destroying the stash of goods and taking off via car. A car chase starts - however the “HULK” is built for brute force, not speed.... We are no match for the rival gangsters, they have much punier yet faster vehicles allowing them to get away.

It’s time to call the boss and give him the bad news. I drive to the nearest payphone in the city, parking the car in the middle of the road… as you do. Running toward the phone I accidentally bump into some guy that was clearly walking in my path. I brush off the situation but the douchebag wants to throw down and starts having a go. A few punches are planted into one another until Officer Party Pooper steps in to control the situation. Lucky for He-Man that the police were nearby or his face would have ended up eating the footpath. I focus my attention back onto the payphone, though it’s in use by a lady. I figure she is lost and asking for directions on how to get back to the kitchen, hmmm this could take a while. A button pops up on the screen as I get closer behind her, an interaction - pressing this throws the lady out of the booth and onto the ground. The payphone is now free to use.

I phone the boss and he gets all the details of what went down, he knows where to get our revenge and sets Joe and myself off to meet up with some buddies. We drive to a diner where the rival gang hangs out. Me and the boys open fire on the building - the destructible environment comes into effect as pieces of wood come flying off the structure. I finish off by setting the place on fire, I'm sure they'll get a kick out of that.

We then take off to an industrial factory where the gangsters are hiding. My crew busts in the front door, guns blazing. I take advantage of a nearby junk pile to stop from being sprayed with bullets. This is where I’m now able to use the cover system, picking off people from a distance while moving in and out behind objects. I fire a few precise bullets into the fuel tank of a car at the other end of the yard, it explodes causing the surrounding enemies to perform a superman like dive from the force. I've now completely cleared out the area and unfortunately this is where my time with Mafia II ends.

I had a fun with what was offered and look forward to playing the finished product. So far things look to be on track with my solid experience. 2K Czech is developing Mafia II for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. It is due out in Australia and New Zealand on the 27th August 2010. Keep an eye out here for the full review.