Mafia II Demo Impressions

I have never been more excited for a sequel to a game that was, to put it bluntly, a bit shit. Playing through Mafia was one of the worst experiences in my gaming life, especially because I played the console version which was even worse than the horrible PC one. It was an open world game with barely populated streets, horrible shooting mechanics, and terrible AI. For one of the first times ever, I could blame not finishing a game on it rather than myself. It wasn't hard because it was challenging, it was hard because it was broken. However, the one thing it did right was story.

The developers have had years to make the sequel, though, and it seems to be paying off. Even before the demo was released the game looked pretty good, and now that I've had my hands on said demo, I can say with all honesty that it will be.


This is normally where a video would go, but all the footage of the demo level was obviously done before it was released... also, there were gross censors. Lame.

Everything, and I mean everything is better. I could go on about the better shooting, the gorgeous animation (reloading itself made me drool a tad), or the addition of cover to the series, but the thing I really want to bring attention to is destructibility. The environments you have shoot-outs in are heavily effected by gunfire. Wood chips, columns crack and break. Items on shelves fly off when hit by gunfire. When you look back at a room you just had a gun-fight in, it really shows. It brings the situations to life. However, the destructibility isn't just limited to areas that were meant to have gun-fights in. I'm not going to compare the whole game to Grand Theft Auto, but seeing as it is the leader in the land of open world games I find that this comparison is fair. Driving away from cops in GTA can sometimes be a pain, because running into a gate will stop you dead. Sure, there are some fences you can drive, through, but you know what I mean. When fleeing the cops in Mafia II i drove, through fences without issue, but then I found myself driving full-speed-ahead into a street barrier. I thought this would be the end for me, but then I smashed right through it. Pure awesome. I continued my escape which led to the demo's end.

The one and only issue I had was movement. It is in no way bad, but after being spoiled by the Euphoria Engine, it felt a little stiff. It will in no way detract from the gameplay, though. I know a demo is not the final product, but I expect Mafia II will prove to be a great game come the end of August.