Mafia II: A Narrative Joyride Through the Fine Art of Whacking

Mafia II, available for Xbox, Playstation, and PC gaming, isn't so much a great game as it is a great movie. You play as Vito Scaletta, a second generation Sicilian in America, who decides the best way out of his slum is through organized crime. The story begins with a botched robbery you undertake with your friend Joey which sends you oversees to fight in the war in order to avoid jail-time. Once you return to Empire City on military leave, you become drawn into a life of crime with the Mafia by your father's unpaid debt. So begins your epic journey through police tickets, serial whacking, and hip 50s era clothing, all towards your goal of mid-level mediocre gangster cliché.

Some warnings before buying Mafia II:

If you're looking for innovative game play, this isn't that game.
The demands are pretty basic and may get boring after a while. When you have to Vito can dish out the knuckles, but the fist fight scenes are about as simple as a flash game with only a choice between light and heavy attacks. You get your standard guns from the first Mafia like the Tommy Gun and pump-action shotguns, but you also get to handle World War II guns like the MP40 and the MG 42. Illusion Softworks, now 2K Czech, has also tweaked the cover system since the last Mafia game; now instead of crouching behind an object you can hide behind walls and other objects to shoot baddies, but the gun fights get repetitive and you end up rushing through them to get to the next story scene.

If you're looking for Grand Theft Auto, also developed by Take-Two Interactive, this isn't that game either.
Don't be fooled into thinking this is an open sandbox world. Mafia II doesn't exactly funnel you towards the story, well, OK it does. You are not a mercenary taking on whatever you want, doing whatever you want. The game is linear and you are a career man, but you can choose to take your sweet time doing your Mafia jobs (just like with your real life job) and explore what little there is to your heart's content.

Mafia II isn't about the little things you can do in your virtual world to customize it or interact with it, though they do exist. I enjoyed watching the icicles melt off my car while driving, and I liked the first few times I was pulled over by the cops and got written a ticket. You can also get personalized license plates on the gazillions of cars (really just 50) you can obtain in Mafia.

What this game is.
This game is about telling a story, and has over two hours of well-shot cut scenes. As with the first Mafia game, there are many scenes that are a homage to the great Mafia movies. It's worth a play through, especially if you love a good ole gangster story where friends become enemies, your enemies become dead, and your video games blur the border between your movies.