publisher: 2k games
platform: pc - ps3 - xbox360
release date: USA , August 24 , 2010
genre: third-person shooter - action
Mafia II is a third-person action-adventure video game, the sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. It is developed by 2K Czech, previously known as Illusion Softworks, and is published by 2K Games. Originally announced in August 2007 at the Leipzig Games Convention, it was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in August 2010
gameplay:
mafia 2 is third person shooter or crime game this game its like Grand Theft Auto IV you will play in 1945 and 1952 in empire city so you will drive an old cars and you will fight with old gun too you will listen to classic music. in this game you have 15 chapters every chapter include more than one mission
there are mundane parts where you watch Vito pick up the phone and stare at the wall like a robot. You'll finish a mission on one side of the town and then have to drive your car all the way home to park it, walk inside your apartment building, walk to your bed, and go to sleep. Nothing essential happens in this time. You're just doing menial tasks to close out the chapter.
In a similar vein, police in Mafia II can be interestingly aggressive and annoyingly conscientious. The game uses a cool mechanic where cops will report your license plate or clothing description, and then it's up to you to make it to a chop shop or clothing store to throw them off the trail. Other times they'll be stopping you for speeding or fender benders (while they ignore you blowing through red lights). Most of the time, I dodged these issues without a problem, but during one of the final missions, I ran into the fuzz three separate times on three blind turns and had to get out of the car each time so that I could wait while they wrote me a ticket.
story:
The storyline for Mafia II is a gritty drama and chronicles the rise of Vito Andre Scaletta, the son of Sicilian immigrants. As the game progresses, Vito joins the Falcone crime family and becomes "a made man" along with his best friend Joe Barbaro. The story begins with the player character Vito returning home from World War II. Vito had joined the U.S. military as a way of avoiding jail time for a botched robbery. Vito reunites with his old friend, Joe Barbaro, and the two quickly embark upon a life of crime. Their criminal ascension starts with Mike Bruski, a car mechanic who gets in a conflict with Joe. Mike also needs a certain type of car to chop for parts, and will pay $400 for one that the police are not tailing. Soon enough, Vito, Joe, and Henry Tomasino (already a made man) find themselves battling with, for, against, and around three crime factions: the Falcone, Vinci and Clemente families.
The game first shows a rainy night in Empire Bay where Vito Scaletta introduces himself and tells his background history of being born into a poor Sicilian family. Vito was born in San Martino, Sicily in 1925, into a very poor family. A few years later, his father decided that they should move to America where they can start a new life. Sadly, even in their new found home in Empire Bay, they couldn't escape poverty. While in school, Vito met a boy named Joe Barbaro, who had a gang. Vito challenged Joe to a fight and Joe took a shine to Vito. They quickly became friends. Joe, being a year older, protected Vito from bullies, for he was a bully himself. The pair became close friends and have always looked out for each other; they now trust each other with their lives. In 1943, Vito and Joe attempted to rob a jewellery store; however, a police officer caught them in the act. The two attempted to run away, but, while Joe escaped, Vito was caught. Seeing that Vito was a Sicilian immigrant with an understanding of Italian, the police gave him the option of staying in jail or serving in the U.S. Army in the Italian campaigns. Deciding that he didn't want to serve a sentence in jail, he chose the army. He was drafted into the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment that served in the liberation of Sicily and was part of Operation Husky. The first mission in the game takes place there, where Vito and his squad attempt to save a prisoner from the Fascists in Italy. After eliminating a majority of enemy soldiers, Vito and the surviving members of his squadron witnessed an old mafia godfather, piloting a tank, ask the enemy soldiers to give up. Remarkably, the men surrendered, showing their immense fear and respect for the Sicilian Mafia. After the Sicilian liberation, at some point around 1944-1945, Vito was shot in battle. After spending a few months in the infirmary, he was sent home on leave from the war for a month. Upon arrival, Vito sees Joe who manages to get him some forged discharge papers, from Giuseppe’s general store. With these papers, he did not have to return to war in Italy. World War II ended three months later. When he gets back, Vito soon finds out that his father has left his family a debt of $2000 in with the mafia. Vito learns about this when his sister is being harassed by a thug sent by a loan shark whom Vito's father borrowed money from. Vito beats the thug up, and finds out what has happened in the two years while he was gone. Realizing that he has to help his family, Vito quickly starts looking for a job, for which he turns to Joe. Joe takes Vito to get his discharge papers, get his own car, and to get a reliable source of income. The first work he finds is for Mike Bruski, a junkyard owner who sells stolen cars and fixes up cars for criminals on the side. Vito's mother asks him to get a good line of work. She suggests that Vito should be working for Federico "Fat Derek" Pappalardo, a union boss and Vinci family capo. When Vito arrives looking for work, Derek orders Vito to do a mundane task of loading crates on to a truck. Vito gives up and barks at Derek's right hand man, Stephen "Steve" Coyne. Vito proclaims he can make more money working for "Barbaro Incorporated". Steve brings Vito back to Derek saying that anyone who works with Joe wouldn't waste their time moving crates. Derek is cautious to accept this claim, so he pulls out a gun, just in-case Joe does not pick up the phone or says he does not know Vito. Joe confirms Vito's story, and Derek's suspicion is put to rest. Derek then asks if Vito wants to be a collector and get some money for "the barber." Vito collects all of the dock workers fees and returns to Derek. After Vito does his job for Derek, he tells Vito that Joe called asking Vito to come over to Freddy's Bar. Vito arrives to find that Joe has found them a connection to the mob. Their connection is a Clemente soldier named Henry Tomasino. His first job for Vito is for him to sneak into the Office of Price Administration and acquire a large sum of rare gas stamp rations. Vito is told to see a woman named Maria Agnello as she can get Vito in. After he gets the stamps, he will take them back to Henry for evaluation. Henry notices that the stamps will expire at mid-night, so if Vito re-stamps them all before midnight, he will get a bigger cut. The next day, Vito is exhausted and is mad at Joe and Henry for keeping him up. Henry's next job for the two is to steal some diamonds from the mall in the middle of the city. The assignment was according to plan until a group of Irish criminals called the O'Neill Gang led by Brian O'Neill crashed their car into the store. After a little back and forth talk, the police arrived, Joe and Vito escape from the mall, and they head home later that night. Vito heads back to Freddy’s about a week later to do another job. Henry must now kill a man named Sidney Pen aka The Fat Man, who has not been paying Don Alberto Clemente his money. To do so, Vito must acquire an MG42, which he gets from arms dealer Harry. Vito takes it to the apartment where he, Joe, and Henry are staking The Fat Man's distillery. Vito decimates the Fat Man's entourage, but escapes inside. After killing most of The Fat Man's guards, Vito, Joe, and Henry circle around him. Henry is shot trying to deliver the message about sending Clemente’s regards, to which Joe and Vito kill the Fat Man. Vito then gets the group to El Greco so that Henry can be treated. When Henry pays Vito $2,000 for his help in the hit, Vito rushes home and gives the money to Francesca, to which she is grateful.
As it turns out, when Vito leaves Joe's Apartment the next day, he is arrested for stealing the same ration gas stamps from the Office of Price Administration. One of the gas station attendants ratted him out, providing the police with access to his mother and sister, where they unknowingly told the police his address. Vito is provided a lawyer courtesy of Henry, but he proves no help. Vito's trial lasts about three months, when in May they give the sentence of 10 years at Hartmann Federal Penitentiary. Vito becomes deeply depressed, as he is beaten and treated terribly. After three days, he hears from Joe that a man by the name of Leone “Leo” Galante, a Vinci family Consigliere, can help make Vito's stay easier and possibly help him get out earlier. He finds Galante, but is found by O'Neill, who was arrested after Vito and Joe successfully escaped the mall. Vito and O’Neill get into a fight, but it is obvious O'Neill has the upper hand. The Warden stops the fight and puts Vito and O’Neill in The Hole. Vito got out early thanks to Galante, who wants Vito to be another fighter in his repertoire. At first Vito is put in as a punching bag for Pepe Costa, but soon proves himself a good fighter. Galante soon devotes much of his time into training Vito and Pepe. Vito's first fight comes after he fights a "prison triad". After Vito fights a "spook" in the laundry room, Francesca comes and visits to tell Vito that she is getting married, but also tells Vito that their mother is sick, so Vito tells her to take what's left of his money as a wedding gift and get the best doctor for their mother. Vito goes about his day to day for about a week. He must clean the urinals in the bathroom, but the guard makes it hard for him to even stomach the job. He is then ordered to take a shower. Vito's time of thought is quickly interrupted when three men who want to rape him come up to him. He is then jumped but able to take out two of the rapists before the guards come in, and Vito is beaten, and sent to the Hole once again. This time Vito receives disturbing news via mail, that his mother died on the day Francesca was visiting him. Vito is released a decent amount of time later (his hair has grown from a buzz cut back to normal), and finds that while he was in the Hole, the Irish gang jumped Pepe and now he cannot fight. Pepe asks Vito to find O’Neill and "break some bones" of his. He finds him in the gym and prepares to fight him. Vito gains the upper hand against O' Neill once, but he gets back up and continues to fight. Vito is surprised that he is stronger than he thought. O' Neill then pulls out a shank and tries to use it on Vito, but Vito manages to dodge it multiple times. Vito disarms O' Neill slitting his throat and then stabbing him in the neck. At this point, Vito spends the rest of his prison time in Galante's cell, while Galante also schools Vito about the ways of the Empire Bay Mafia, the three main families, and asks what he will do once he is on the outside. Vito will be released earlier then expected in April 1951.
While Vito was locked up in prison, Joe began working with the Falcone crime family. Vito, while trying to adjust with the 1950s culture, along with Joe and their new friend Eddie Scarpa (who is the Underboss of the Falcone family), go out to celebrate Vito's release from jail at the Garden of Eden (a cathouse). On the way home, Eddie forgot to mention that he was supposed to dump the body of Frankie Potts, an undercover FBI agent. The party was overall a failure to Vito, but he still manages to get into the swing of things and, with Joe's help and Eddie's offer, he quickly begins working for the Falcone family, selling stolen cigarettes and taking on the Greasers. One of Vito's biggest assignments as an associate to the family is the assassination of Luca Gurino, a Clemente Family capo, though his main reason is to find out what happened to Harvey “Beans” Epstein, Antonio “Tony Balls” Balsamo and Frankie the Mick. He heads to Little Italy and follows Luca from Freddy’s Bar to The Clemente Slaughterhouse. Vito sneaks in through the sewer system and tries to find his way into the meat grinding room. He finds Beans and Balls (but Frankie the Mick is lying dead on the floor, presumably killed by Luca’s men), and proceeds to free them. Vito and Balls fight through Luca's soldiers and Balls proceeds to beat him down. Vito leaves the slaughterhouse before Balls and Beans kill Luca. Soon, Vito and Joe earn the trust and respect of Don Carlo Falcone and, along with Galante's recommendation, they become made and are brought into the Falcone family. After about two weeks or so, Eddie and Don Falcone orders Vito and Joe (now as soldiers) to make a move on the already encroaching Clemente family, by assassinating Don Clemente himself. Vito and Joe, along with the help of young Marty as the getaway driver, go to the Empire Arms Hotel to place a bomb in the conference room where Clemente is holding a family meeting. The plan backfires, as Clemente was in the bathroom at the time of the unplanned explosion. Vito and Joe shoot their way through the hotel to kill Don Clemente. They get to the parking lot to find that Marty was shot and killed by Don Clemente and his men, trying to stop them. Vito and Joe chase Don Clemente’s car through the city shooting it up with bullets until they finally destroy the car. Joe then walks up to the car and empties his Thompson 1928 into the occupants, killing Clemente on the spot. After the hit, Vito is approached by Henry who wishes to escape the already crumbling Clemente family and make his bones with the Falcone family. Vito arranges a sit down for Henry to meet Eddie. Eddie agrees to help Henry, and tells him to kill Galante to prove his worth. Vito refuses to take part in the assassination after all Galante did for him in prison, so he rushes to Galante's home to try and get him out of there. Whatever happens during the mission, it will all end with Galante leaving to (possibly) Lost Heaven.
After the business with Galante, Vito will return home to find Francesca crying on his doorstep. She says that her husband Eric Reilly has been beating her and suspects Eric of cheating on her. Vito will then go to Eric's place of leisure, and proceed to beat him until he is a bloody mess. Vito threatens to kill Eric if he continues to abuse Francesca and cheat on her. Francesca is scared of what Vito has become and tries to cut all ties with him. Vito goes to bed that night to be rudely awakened by the O’Neill Gang now led by Mickey Desmond, the cousin of O’Neill. In retaliation for his cousin's death at the hands of Vito while they were both in jail together, Desmond orders some of his men to try and burn Vito alive in his house with Molotov cocktails. Vito escapes in his underpants, but all of Vito's clothing, weapons and money earned up to this point will be gone. Vito goes to Joe's home to find that it has been upgraded, but is more worried about the O’Neill Gang. Vito is forced to wear Joe's unfashionable shirt and trousers. Vito and Joe then discover that Desmond and the rest of the O’Neill Gang are at the Hill of Tara in Kingston. Desmond can live or die, but Vito states that he is still poor and penniless. Vito and Joe head over to the Hill of Tara and attack it, killing Desmond's thugs, until they later succeed in the killing of Desmond himself via car chase. Joe does Vito a favor and gives him Marty's apartment. Henry contacts Vito to try and help him out of his financial situation. Vito and Joe meet Henry at Lincoln Park and decide to enter the Drug Trade. The gang gets a loan from a commission-backed loanshark named Bruno Levine, and establishes a drug connection with a group of Chinese immigrants called the Empire Bay Triads, and have the Bombers distribute the product. The boys are initially earning profit, but after about a week, Don Falcone finds out and sends Eddie to take a 60,000 dollar cut. Also, the Triads discover that Henry is an FBI informant, and they brutally kill him in Lincoln Park in broad daylight. After killing Henry, the Triads steal his money. Vito and Joe arrive just to see their long-time friend pass away before their own eyes and kill his murderers. Vito and Joe then see Zhe Yun Wong, an Enforcer for the Triads, and his remaining men driving off from Lincoln Park. An enraged Vito and Joe decide to follow Wong, where he reaches The Red Dragon Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant that Wong uses as a base of operations and a secret drug factory in Chinatown. After killing half of the Triads there, Vito and Joe finally approach Wong himself. He is interrogated by Vito and Joe about why he had Henry murdered but refuses to tell where the money was which the Triads stole from Henry after killing him. Vito and Joe don't believe Wong about Henry working for the FBI and Joe kills him, much to the displeasure of Vito, who believed they could have interrogated Wong further to get more information. His death leads the Triads to blame the Mafia families sparking a war.
In order to pay back Bruno, Vito and Joe take any job they can get. Eddie gives Vito and Joe a hit on behalf of Ennio Salieri and the Salieri crime family. Their target, 51-year old Thomas “Tommy” Angelo. Vito and Joe talk about what to do on the way to his home on a Smith Thunderbolt car that Eddie has supplied them with just for this occasion. When they arrive, Vito asks, "Mr. Angelo?". Tommy answers yes, confused and surprised. Vito then says, "Mr. Salieri sends his regards", to which Joe lifts his Remington Model 870 Field gun and shoots Angelo in the chest. Vito and Joe are chased by the feds, but manage to lose them. Joe and Vito then go their separate ways to earn enough money to pay Bruno. Vito heads to Derek, who has a job for him about handling a strike. Vito helps Derek until one of the Dock workers tells Vito how his father really died. He says that Steve drowned Mr. Antonio Scaletta. Another replying that Derek ordered the death of Antonio and Steve followed the order. Vito then goes on a rampage and kills Steve and Derek as well as their henchmen. Vito then takes Derek's retirement money from his office after killing him. After Vito collects his share of the debt, he heads to Joe's, but he is no where to be found. Vito then asks Eddie what happened, but Eddie is more interested about Vito's business in the drug trade. Vito lies and then heads over to Giuseppe's to see if he knows what happened to Joe. He says that Joe was kidnapped and taken to the Mona Lisa Cafe. Vito goes there only to be knocked about by two Vinci thugs. Vito awakens at a construction site to find himself and a badly beaten Joe tied up where they are interrogated by Don Franco “Frank” Vinci. After Don Vinci leaves, Vito and Joe untie themselves and kill half of Vinci's thugs while escaping through the building. Vito then takes Joe to El Greco and Joe gives Vito his half of the debt. Vito then goes back to Bruno and gives him the money. Bruno reveals that he is the same loan shark that gave Vito's father his loan for his alcohol problem. Vito leaves angered and goes home. The game then brings us to the present day where Vito is looking back at his life via photo album. Vito is then tasked to kill Falcone for Galante as his chance at redemption. Vito then goes to the Zavesky Observatory planetarium in Hillwood and kills two guards, he then fights his way to the center of the building. As he approaches Falcone, Joe comes out with a Smith and Wesson Model 19 Revolver gun pointed at Vito's head. After Falcone's monologue, Joe decides to aid Vito into killing Falcone. He and Vito then proceed to kill all of Falcone's remaining guards. Eventually, Falcone himself comes out wielding a Thompson 1928 attempting to kill the duo, but Vito manages to wound him several times. A mortally wounded Falcone attempts to crawl away as Vito shoots him three more times while telling him how tired he is of killing for other people, then Vito gives his final shot in the back of Falcone’s head. Vito and Joe leave the planetarium to find a group of Vinci's men and Galante standing outside by two cars. Galante announces that they will congratulate by visiting the cathouse. Vito travels in the limo with Galante, while Joe is made to take a separate car. A short while into the drive and the car containing Joe can be seen driving a different way, presumably to the Old Observatory where Frankie Potts was buried. Galante apologizes to Vito and claimed that Joe wasn’t part of their deal. The camera shows an angry Vito before moving away from the car to show a view of Empire Bay. After which, the credits roll.
Closing:
Mafia II is an excellent return of a franchise with great promise. Vito and his associates are memorable characters in a city bursting with subtle visual details and violent undertones. The story pulls no punches, neither glorifying nor demeaning the difficult lives its protagonists lead--just presenting them with brutal honesty and letting you reach your own conclusions. After the 15-or-so hours it might take you to gun through Vito's story, it's hard not to come away with the sense that there should have been more to do in this beautiful city. Yet while you might be disappointed with what Mafia II doesn't do, it's hard to be disappointed by what this excellent game does do: deliver fun shoot-outs and pockets of shocking brutality in a world you're delighted to be a part of.
