Mafia 2 Demo Hands on Preview

Thanks to 2K Games, Game Hub was given the opportunity to play the Mafia II demo a week early. Representing Game Hub I went down to their office in Windsor, to Play Mafia II for the first time.

After 8 years in the making Mafia II is finally in reach of fans, just shy a few weeks from release. Powered by 2K Czech’s own Illusion Engine, Mafia II is concentrating on good old story telling.

It would seem as though this is an area that current generation of games is out of touch of. High definition presentation and powerful technology, powering video games is mainly the talk these days.

You’ll find that 2K Czech hasn’t followed suit of the inclusion of multiplayer and has chosen voice actors for their talent rather than their stardom. Mafia II wants players to experience an authentic time in America, where average jobs paid little and joining the Mafia was the route to stacks of cash. It’s not always a win win situation though, as joining the Mafia has its own implications. 

Mafia II is the story of Vito Scaletta, an Italian American who’s returned from the war and discovers his family is in debt. Vito has no choice but to support his family the best he can, but he knows that a normal paid job won’t help him. So he gets involved with the wrong crowd alongside his friend Joe Barbaro, scaling the ranks of the underworld to become a name to remember.

First of all let’s get one thing clear, I can proudly tell you that Mafia II has gone gold currently in manufacturing as we speak. The demo I played started off in an house with the phone ringing.

Most missions in the game will be started off with you answering from a payphone or one in your apartment. In that time period technology was on the rise and mobile phones weren’t around. 

Vito can interact with the house by opening windows, drinking and eating out of the fridge, interacting with a radio, turning on the sink tap and even flushing the toilet. If you scour around the house you will also find a Playboy magazine, which enlarges on screen.

Before you walk out of the house there is Vito’s wardrobe. Inside it there’s 2 outfits, a shirt and trousers the other is a full suite with a hat. Unless you answer the phone you can’t exit the house, so I answered the phone which activates the ‘Buzzsaw’ mission (Showcased at E3 2010).

One step out of the house and your presented with the beautiful Empire Bay, a fictional city inspired by New York, San Francisco and Chicago to name a few. 

The sandbox world of Empire Bay is created from scratch by 2K Czech. The design decision behind this is to create a world with the player in mind, for a more enjoyable experience.

On to the right of the house is your garage with pre stored cars, which are quite elegant choices. Alternatively you can choose to steal a car and roam around the city. Be sure to be quick though as there is a 10 minute countdown in the corner. 

In that 10 minutes you can either drive straight to the mission location or visit the gun store, clothes store or cause some commotion with the police. You’re only given less than half of the map to explore, so you’ll eventually want to start the mission.

When you’ve decided to start the mission you’ll be introduced to a beautifully coordinated cut scene. What’s significant is that all the games cutscenes are in real-time; this is a credit to 2K Czech in house game engine.

The objective of this mission is to kill the fat man who manages to escape your warm welcoming burst fire, escaping into a distillery across the street from your building. In this mission you are introduced to 2 main characters, one of them is Vito’s friend Joe and the other is Henry. Henry Tomasino is the son of a Sicilian mobster and a member of the Clemente Family.

As you make your way outside there’s 2 guys waiting for you, by tapping X you can take cover behind a car. L2 is used to aim and R2 is the trigger button.

Bursting through the opposite building the fat mans henchmen are waiting for you, Joe and Henry follow suit behind you. The next transitions of events are pretty simple, keep on wiping out enemies on each floor until you find the fat man.

On the way up you get a glimpse of weapons you can expect to see. The pump action shotgun has a neat kick to it, blowing people to their graves. The Thompson submachine gun shreds anything in its path. Think of the Thompson like applying butter to toast, it’s quick and effective.

Countless bullets to the temple later you reach the fat man accompanied by Joe and Henry. In the cut scene the fat man is approached by a gun placed in his mouth. A shot goes off and Henry falls to the side with a wound, the fat man is quivering with a smoking gun in his hand.  Joe and Vito finish him off with a chest full of lead.

The objective from here on out is to escape the building and get Henry to a doctor. On the escape route the cops are crawling all over the place. The demo finishes with the trio on a bridge surrounded by cops.

Whatever happens from here will have to wait until 27th August 2010. Mafia II lives up to the hype with a second to none narrative, great driving/shooting mechanics and an Oscar cast of characters.

With the campaign weighing in at 12 hours or more, I can’t wait to get my hands on the final build. The demo will be released to the public on 10th August 2010 on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. If you can’t wait to get your mitts on the game, let 10th August 2010 be your next fix.