Mafia 2

Available for: PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Format: Third Person, Action-Adventure

Multiplayer: None

DLC: Yes

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: 2K Czech

Now I've been a fan of the genre for a long time now since The Nomad Soul came out in 1999. I was blown away how good that game was. Now games like Uncharted, Max Payne, InFamous, the GTA series, Resi 4, etc are up there as the best of the genre and also some of the finest games out there. Most of these Third Person games are usually heavy into the single player. Sometimes that's for the best cause their story is good, have great graphics and have superb gameplay mechanics. But then again there is some of them that are so linear that they forgot a lot of parts to make it more than it is, Alan Wake is a great example of a Third Person game that had potential but failed miserably at the sales cause it didn't tick any box of it's potential. So I believe that's why it's so far a flop. But this game I'm reviewing today, It's basically half tick it's potential and the other half...well didn't.

For those who haven't played the first game, it's not connected to this game at all. You play a different story, character and a whole round game in general really. So you don't have to play the first game to know whats going on in Mafia 2.

You star is Vito Scaletta, who has come back home in Empire City from fighting in WW2 (Yeah that old theme that nearly every FPS game has) as his community service kind of thing after he got caught robbing a store along with his best mate Joe. And he with his mate Joe quickly climb up the ranks in the Mafia world. Full of murder, drugs, alcohol, betrayal, girls and politics. It's pretty standard stuff to get an idea of the game. Since I don't wanna spoil you dear readers.

Basically I will say one thing about the story. It's hit in the beginning and the middle. And then it's a big miss with a lot of plot-holes, a lost of sense of direction and not to mention a very very very shitty ending. The best part of the story is when you are in prison and basically it feels like an Shawshank Redemption coming to life in a video game which is really awesome. I actually wanted the game to be about Vito and his jail mates trying to get out of prison and all that when I was playing this part since I enjoyed it so much. That will be an more interesting story. But then after you get out of jail it's downhill from there and that's in the middle part of the game. So yeah they should have worked the story better imo. It feeled like reading a book with some missing pages most of the time. Which is kinda weak. But it's not the worst story written in a video game. Trust me they have been worse than this game. Tbh the beginning all the way to the end of the prison part was awesome. So it's not all bad.

As for graphics wise, it's very well done. The Scenery is nice and Empire City looks superb. The cars are well modeled and done in every detail. As for A.I it's good but most of the time with enemy A.I it can be annoying as they do run into open fire and they sometimes can't stop running around. Which makes it hard to shoot them dead at times, especially near the end of the game.

But besides the enemy A.I being hit & miss. It's pretty good with good cover mechanics and decent shooting. The auto aim is alright but don't expect it to auto aim really. The auto aim is false, it doesn't work until a couple of presses on the aiming button. Which can get annoying and it will frustrate you. So if I was you just manually aim and that's more simpler. And it works like a charm and besides the game isn't that hard. Only two bits near the game can be a pain but there is walkthroughs on the net so that'll help hopefully.

As this game's open world has been criticized by many major critics I will say I agree. It does feel empty and not much to do around the very well detailed city of Empire City. It feels like they wasted their time making Empire City so detailed and brilliant that they forgot the life of it. You get gun shops, clothes shops and dinners but that's about it. Theirs no side missions or mini games to keep the game going for a long period of time. And the story missions alone makes this quite a short game which is pretty weak. I believe they should've added more in here but they just didn't do a well rounded job at 2K Czech.

So my final score for this game is:

6

It's a good game that's missing a lot of things and has some flaws. The story was good until after the prison chapter, then it got disappointing with a very rubbish ending. The A.I was great but some minor annoying parts from the enemy A.I. The graphics were awesome but it's still no Heavy Rain which has the best graphics out there imo as console games goes that is. The voice acting is well done and the characters are great even though I dislike the main character's best mate Joe and most of them were ruined after the jail chapter all done and dusted. So I recommend giving this a rental or a try and maybe you'll like it or not. But don't expect a lot of free roaming and a lot of freedom. It's not the open world game your used to. In fact it isn't really an open world game anyway. But do give it a go but only as a rental or a shot at your mate's copy of the game.

Dead Space

I'll say one thing about Dead Space, it's just fantastic. Sure I'll end it there but that won't be much of a review isn't it? No I think I'll give yous loyal readers a belief history the Dead Space hype back in 08, So anyway. This groundbreaking game came from EA of all people. Seriously this is a video game promotion who usually does over-hyped and/or overrated sports titles, NFS and of course the Medal Of Honour series which is so overdone and tiresome. Basically this company's money whoring games where the SOS (Same Old Shit) and for a long time I was anti-EA. But then all of a sudden in 2008 I hear this new game called Dead Space was coming soon. Since I'm a big fan of horror games like Resi, Silent Hill and so forth. I thought to myself "I should check this out", but the EA label was shining at the end and the beginning of the trailer and also make me think "Hmm hope they nail this" cause the game is promising to be the next big thing in horror games. Even top critics like IGN & Gamespot were saying the same thing. After much thought, I forgot EA is publishing the game and give it a play all over the winter time in 08.....and my god WHAT A GAME. To me this rates up there with the best of the horror games imo.

The gameplay is just amazing with great controls to add to it & wicked weapons to rip apart emeries into tiny little pieces with. Along with the weapons you get Stasis, which is a tool that you can use to freeze emeries with and also slow down malfunction doors, wires, etc. Quite cool but it's sometimes a pain, especially at the start of the game when your not experience enough. Cause it keeps running out and it's empty at the wrong time when your surrounding by emeries & out of ammo. But that's when the kinesis module comes in handy, which you can push & pull objects or whatever you can find. A bit like the force pull & force push and it's a good thing. Cause you can like pick up exploding barrels which safe my arse bunch of time when I was playing it. So the kinesis module rocks.

The graphics are awesome which is no surprise since this game has been publish by EA (Who are well known for the awesome graphics in their games). EA are back on winning form by releasing good games after good games since 08 imo (Well except for NFS Swift, that was piss). And it all started with Dead Space. They really done well with this game which is are really scary indeed and will please every horror fan out there with plenty of blood & gore in it to give the Saw series the chills. Also the story is brilliant, which has some shocking moments in it and plenty twist & turns to keep the gamer going back for more. So in the end of the day this game is a must have from me and one of the best games EA has made in a long long time.

9

Near Perfection but almost. Still recommended

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

I do have to say this is one great game. It's like Tomb Raider only with better gameplay & a better plot imo. And it's also like Gears Of War gameplay wise as well. Yeah it maybe not an orginal game but it's still great nonetheless and it is one of the best game for the PS3. Well til number 2 came out but that's another review for a other day lol.

But anyway the plot follows Nathan Drake, who's a daring adventurer who finds his great great great grandfather's coffin which holds a map that locate his treasure in a Uncharted island somewhere near the island from Lost (I'm just guessing here). Along the way your fighting off modern day pirates who want the same thing (Cause that's what they do, they won't be pirates if they won't hunting for treasures). So basically you have to overcome the odds and get to the treasure before they do (Sounds easy but it isn't). The story is great by the way which I won't spoil (That was just a bit of my own preview of what the game's story is about). Theirs a lot going on so it will keep yous keep playing it for it. A lot of replay value which a lot of great brilliant games have.

The gameplay, like I said is like Gears Of War a bit. You do the same duck & cover & shoot approach like Gears Of War but less weapons & less gory/bloody than Gears. The only problem you'll find with the combat is the enemy A.I. They take a lot of shots to get killed which gets repetitive and irratiting at times. Still it's not bad, it's good fun nonetheless. Besides the combat in the gameplay, you get climbing stages as well like in the newer Tomb Raider games (Which is the same). It's all great but sometimes the camera kinda gets a bit sloppy & usually the controls is like that too but only a bit. It's nothing major but you will probably notice it if you play those climbing, puzzle shoving stages. But other than that everything works like a charm. Sure the flaws are noticeable but there not major, you probably forget about it when you play this game. Cause it's so good.

So in conclusion this is a fantastic game that I highly recommend. Besides some A.I problems, no multiplayer (Which isn't a major thing no matter what other critics say) and some camera issues in the climbing stages. This is a great action adventure game that it's well done with the story, the dialog is great, the voiceovers is well done (So well done that I'm surprised none of these actors have a decent career on TV and/or on film), great action gameplay and the graphics are superb.

8
Great stuff. Gem of the bunch