Mafia II
-
Frag Maniac
- Posts: 913
- Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 18:49
Mafia II
Well IMO turning reflections off is a lot uglier, esp on the water.
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
Starting with today, information embargo in Czech rep. is lifted and lots of previews and interviews are revealing, so to sum up the most important informations (as i see it):
- game will not be action oriented, but story and atmosphere oriented
- in every mission where you will face an opponent, there will not be tons of oponents, but usually 4-5 enemies and the fights are designed to feel interesting and unique, so there will not be massive gun battles with many people
- no walking with gun on streets, or police locks you up
- although there will be 50 cars (30 normal + 20 story based), you will be lead to use and spend your money on one or two
- many things are not implemented yet - car driving was presented only partly, because it is still unfinished - it will be presented later this year when it is time
- contact fight (punches, kicks, bashing with your opponent onto walls) was also not yet presented (there should be 50 animations + their variations of single combat).
- auto heal will work upto some level during fights, you will need to eat and drink to keep this level on max. It will depend on difficulty level, how many bullets you will need to absorb in order to die
- furniture is already fully destructable (except for few locations - like your partners flat - because why would your character in the story want to destruct it?)
- if you destroy furniture in the bar for some reason, and you leave, after some time police arrives, then the bar is closed for some time - you can not buy yourself food and drink there
- in press demo the gun fights felt better than in GTA4 according to the journalist (in GTA4 they felt less dynamic)
- 2 hours of gorgeous cutscenes
- professional English, German, French and Czech dubbing (the list is not final) by actors known from TV (if possible from mafioso movies, if possible then the same actor that dubbed a character in first Mafia will dub the same character in second Mafia)
- 120 developers working hard on the game, + 100 testers
- and lots of talking about missions and side quests and your relation between you and police that evolves as you become more powerful (you have more money to spent on police)
- game will not be action oriented, but story and atmosphere oriented
- in every mission where you will face an opponent, there will not be tons of oponents, but usually 4-5 enemies and the fights are designed to feel interesting and unique, so there will not be massive gun battles with many people
- no walking with gun on streets, or police locks you up
- although there will be 50 cars (30 normal + 20 story based), you will be lead to use and spend your money on one or two
- many things are not implemented yet - car driving was presented only partly, because it is still unfinished - it will be presented later this year when it is time
- contact fight (punches, kicks, bashing with your opponent onto walls) was also not yet presented (there should be 50 animations + their variations of single combat).
- auto heal will work upto some level during fights, you will need to eat and drink to keep this level on max. It will depend on difficulty level, how many bullets you will need to absorb in order to die
- furniture is already fully destructable (except for few locations - like your partners flat - because why would your character in the story want to destruct it?)
- if you destroy furniture in the bar for some reason, and you leave, after some time police arrives, then the bar is closed for some time - you can not buy yourself food and drink there
- in press demo the gun fights felt better than in GTA4 according to the journalist (in GTA4 they felt less dynamic)
- 2 hours of gorgeous cutscenes
- professional English, German, French and Czech dubbing (the list is not final) by actors known from TV (if possible from mafioso movies, if possible then the same actor that dubbed a character in first Mafia will dub the same character in second Mafia)
- 120 developers working hard on the game, + 100 testers
- and lots of talking about missions and side quests and your relation between you and police that evolves as you become more powerful (you have more money to spent on police)
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
thx for great preview...
here is another Mafia 2 video (it shows also how it looks inside 2K czech studio .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqX-mRYeYA)
here is another Mafia 2 video (it shows also how it looks inside 2K czech studio .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqX-mRYeYA)
-
Frag Maniac
- Posts: 913
- Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 18:49
Mafia II
Great review there, the AI sounds impressive. That video was awesome too. It's a humble yet techy looking studio. I liked the background music being created and the video itself definitely looked better quality this time, as if taken straight from the PC version with minimal degradation from compression.
Thanks guys, as soon as anyone finds sys reqs, please post ASAP.
Thanks guys, as soon as anyone finds sys reqs, please post ASAP.
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
make sure to download those 2 trailers in HD from official site - cutscenes look gorgeous and if there will be more then 2 hours of it (+ minimally 15-20 hours of gameplay), it will be awesome
the only information about sys. req. as far as i know was mentioned in one of interviews ...
[list]Mafii II proto zvládne i běžné PC, neděláme žádné nové Crysis, jak se různě povÃdá. Výkonné PC ovÅ¡em dokáže z naÅ¡eho Illusion Enginu vymáčknout opravdové maximum.
=
You will be able to play Mafia 2 on every common pc. We dont create any new Crysis as it is said here and there. But powerfull PC will be able to squeeze out maximum from our Illusion Engine.[/list:u]
So only that usual talking... :wink:
the only information about sys. req. as far as i know was mentioned in one of interviews ...
[list]Mafii II proto zvládne i běžné PC, neděláme žádné nové Crysis, jak se různě povÃdá. Výkonné PC ovÅ¡em dokáže z naÅ¡eho Illusion Enginu vymáčknout opravdové maximum.
=
You will be able to play Mafia 2 on every common pc. We dont create any new Crysis as it is said here and there. But powerfull PC will be able to squeeze out maximum from our Illusion Engine.[/list:u]
So only that usual talking... :wink:
-
Frag Maniac
- Posts: 913
- Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 18:49
Mafia II
Not interested in the trailers, just newer gameplay footage that shows what it will look like on PC. That req comment doesn't say much considering multi core CPU rigs are common these days.
It's also funny how they refer to Crysis because it happens to be one of the high tech games that actually runs fairly well on a single core CPU, provided you use common sense with the settings.
Some people are going to hold them to that promise though, so it damn sure better run on a single core CPU because obviously Crysis does and still looks pretty good doing it.
It's also funny how they refer to Crysis because it happens to be one of the high tech games that actually runs fairly well on a single core CPU, provided you use common sense with the settings.
Some people are going to hold them to that promise though, so it damn sure better run on a single core CPU because obviously Crysis does and still looks pretty good doing it.
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
2K Games plan to do bigger promotion for Mafia 2 then for any of its past games (Bioshock, Sid Meier's Civilization IV, Prey, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion..) .. as I read in Interview with developers in one Czech preview. So we should hear about Mafia 2 quite a lot in next months (more trailers, demo... etc.)
Some other interesting things:
- the music will be finally recorded by Prague's Philharmonic orchestra
- many many music hits from 40s and 50s in car's Radio + special news about 2 gangsters that just robbed a shop and how they or their car looked like (if someone saw you) - police is listening to radio as well...
- mission objectives are everything - you can drive through city, occasionally see oportunity to do some sidequest, or keep shopping for several days, but until "you meet your partner at 12 in the bar" it is still morning in the game, the weather does not change etc. It is these milestones, the storyline that is everything in the game... so you have a freedom to move through the city, but mission objectives are that what makes the story go on, that makes morning to become afternoon in the game, that changes weather etc. It is not GTA4, it is story telling game.
- you can make your own decisions - like in that gameplay scene on the roof of the skyscraper - you can start shooting on your enemies or you can act as window cleaning service.. there will be also hidden bigger decisions that evolve in different endings of the game...
- 50 different wounded animations + 50 death animations (that is a lot)
Some other interesting things:
- the music will be finally recorded by Prague's Philharmonic orchestra
- many many music hits from 40s and 50s in car's Radio + special news about 2 gangsters that just robbed a shop and how they or their car looked like (if someone saw you) - police is listening to radio as well...
- mission objectives are everything - you can drive through city, occasionally see oportunity to do some sidequest, or keep shopping for several days, but until "you meet your partner at 12 in the bar" it is still morning in the game, the weather does not change etc. It is these milestones, the storyline that is everything in the game... so you have a freedom to move through the city, but mission objectives are that what makes the story go on, that makes morning to become afternoon in the game, that changes weather etc. It is not GTA4, it is story telling game.
- you can make your own decisions - like in that gameplay scene on the roof of the skyscraper - you can start shooting on your enemies or you can act as window cleaning service.. there will be also hidden bigger decisions that evolve in different endings of the game...
- 50 different wounded animations + 50 death animations (that is a lot)
-
Frag Maniac
- Posts: 913
- Joined: 02 Jan 2006, 18:49
Mafia II
Seems much of the story structure will be same as original Mafia then. Personally I don't like this fascination with suspending time (TOD cycle) because only the missions themselves progress it. To me that sounds like they have each mission scripted to take place at a certain time of day or night again, like Mafia.
I do like some of the added nuances like the quality background music, more diverse radio playlist, and news flashes, but you need to have good structure in the core of the game regarding missions, it's much more important than those little details.
Still no talk of arsenal structure it seems. Mafia kind of sucks for weapons choices. You only get access to Yellow Pete's toward the end of the game. It's actually more useful for Free Roam than for the story.
It also lacks any kind of cover system whatsoever and shooting while crouched behind cover often results in shooting the cover vs the enemy. Nice to see they added a cover system. So many times I unintentionally went into a side roll strafing while crouched in Mafia while struggling to find cover that protected me without obscuring my fire.
I am still optimistic about this game, but when they play up features like 2 hrs of cutscenes and suspended TOD cycle, I get the feeling that just like old Mafia, much of it will be very scripted, despite all the talk about freedom of choices.
I do like some of the added nuances like the quality background music, more diverse radio playlist, and news flashes, but you need to have good structure in the core of the game regarding missions, it's much more important than those little details.
Still no talk of arsenal structure it seems. Mafia kind of sucks for weapons choices. You only get access to Yellow Pete's toward the end of the game. It's actually more useful for Free Roam than for the story.
It also lacks any kind of cover system whatsoever and shooting while crouched behind cover often results in shooting the cover vs the enemy. Nice to see they added a cover system. So many times I unintentionally went into a side roll strafing while crouched in Mafia while struggling to find cover that protected me without obscuring my fire.
I am still optimistic about this game, but when they play up features like 2 hrs of cutscenes and suspended TOD cycle, I get the feeling that just like old Mafia, much of it will be very scripted, despite all the talk about freedom of choices.
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
interview on GT TV - http://www.gametrailers.com/gametrailerstv_player.php?ep=57&ch=1&sd=0
-
misadlouhy
- Posts: 212
- Joined: 06 Sep 2006, 15:27
Mafia II
Here it comes.. new release date - early 2010
http://mafia2game.com/community_features.html
http://mafia2game.com/community_features.html
Re: Mafia II
So, how is it? Should I buy? Heard it loses all value after you complete the storyline (just like Mafia 1), is this accurate? Don't really want to shell EUR 40-50 for a couple nights' thrill :?
Re: Mafia II
So, how is it? Should I buy? Heard it loses all value after you complete the storyline (just like Mafia 1), is this accurate? Don't really want to shell EUR 40-50 for a couple nights' thrill :?
The base game is only a couple of nights thrill. It's very obvious the game has been cut up into pieces for shelling out additional DLC. The gameplay over the course of the main storyline is AMAZING. The guns/atmosphere etc. are all great, the graphics are good, the story is OK. But then it ends. And well... in hindsight it probably wasn't worth it. However... the game should have easily been soooo much better. And that's the problem. The game HAS it all, but it doesn't include everything they could have done with this game and so in the end it fails primarily not because it isn't fun, but because of this intangible something that is missing that you notice over the entirety of the experience. It's a good experience but something is missing and that something shifts this game towards mediocrity.
Re: Mafia II
[quote]So, how is it? Should I buy? Heard it loses all value after you complete the storyline (just like Mafia 1), is this accurate? Don't really want to shell EUR 40-50 for a couple nights' thrill :?
The base game is only a couple of nights thrill. It's very obvious the game has been cut up into pieces for shelling out additional DLC. The gameplay over the course of the main storyline is AMAZING. The guns/atmosphere etc. are all great, the graphics are good, the story is OK. But then it ends. And well... in hindsight it probably wasn't worth it. However... the game should have easily been soooo much better. And that's the problem. The game HAS it all, but it doesn't include everything they could have done with this game and so in the end it fails primarily not because it isn't fun, but because of this intangible something that is missing that you notice over the entirety of the experience. It's a good experience but something is missing and that something shifts this game towards mediocrity.
My reaction was slightly different, but I also get sucked into well written storylines. I thought the game was well worth the $50, despite the lack of replay value. In fact, if I hadn't beaten on Hard the first time through I would have jumped right back in for a harder difficulty. The number 1 thing I want DLC to add right now is a higher difficulty so I have a reason to play again.
Re: Mafia II
I thought the game was terribly paced because of one glaring flaw: too much driving. And I do mean way, way too much. Considering that there's nothing to actually do in the city other than follow the main storyline, this is just a bizarre decision. You literally drive around to play chaperone for NPCs and it couldn't be more boring.
There is no way 2K thought that all this dullness would make for a good game. There must have been DLC and other content planned for inclusion that would have made all the driving around a logical mechanic.
There is no way 2K thought that all this dullness would make for a good game. There must have been DLC and other content planned for inclusion that would have made all the driving around a logical mechanic.
Re: Mafia II
Yeah it just doesn't feel like a complete game to me.
I kind of feel like I'm in a big tech-demo. It's a nice one, but still.
I kind of feel like I'm in a big tech-demo. It's a nice one, but still.
Re: Mafia II
It just seemed like a pretty weak game all around compared to GTA4. Graphics were OK, and it plays great in S3d, but the depth of characters just wasn't there, and ya, way too short.
Re: Mafia II
Well, just watched the credits roll so I can chime in now.
Bought it off Steam for EUR 10.00 a week ago when it was on sale, 75% off. For that price, it was definitely worth it.
Overall, not a great game.
The shooter part of it was better than average, meaning hitboxes worked pretty much flawlessly, the NPCs took damage just how I was expecting, weapons were nicely effective and sounded alright, the cover system was a welcome tactical consideration most of the time, and I rarely ran out of hitpoints thanks to the "free healing" system.
The game ran beautifully. I ran it at 2560x1600 with all settings maxed except antialiasing which was disabled and A-Filtering which I'd toned down to 8x. Hiccups were very rare and in very predictable situations.
However, that's about all there is to say about it that's good.
I'm thinking the game ran well because the graphics aren't that good. They're basically shapes from 2006-2007 with some high detail textures and new lighting/reflection/environment manipulation features. For example, character models and animation were really bad compared to something like the opening video of Civilization 5, or even Half-Life 2, the latter of course being ridiculously old by now in comparison to Mafia II and still better.
Like you said the characters were mostly very underdeveloped which is unforgivable in a "movie for the gamer". When there's nothing to a game except an extremely scripted story, like in this case, the characters really need to be in the spotlight. These ones were mostly forgettable or annoying, except for the two main characters.
There was a nice tie-in to the first Mafia game which I thought was cool, though I did see it coming from a mile away.
The city is almost completely lifeless and featureless. After completing the game I still wouldn't be able to navigate in it without the map/GPS. There was no incentive at all to explore and I wasn't gently directed towards learning my way around either. And after the credits have rolled, you're kicked out of the game and can't roam the city with your accumulated cash, cars and weapons. As far as I could see my only options were to start a new game or DLC.
During the story, there was too much driving, like has been said. The problem was that the missions were all around the place. Every once in a while you get a new place but it makes no difference as far as mission distance is concerned. This also contributes to the unfamiliar-city-problem as you very rarely go any place more than once. What they should've done is what GTA does, which is concentrate missions of a specific chapter in a specific neighborhood and give the player a base to operate from in that 'hood. That way the travel times don't get out of hand and you learn the city block by block.
The cars were mostly alright but clearly there is a shortage of choice. There's only a few fast cars and they all look the same. Also, the controls were very weird, GTA does car control much better than Mafia II. In this game I was snaking all over the place with the cars because of the way the on-off steering input is translated.
Melee combat was interesting for the first couple of fights. Then I found out they were going to show off that feature over and over and over again for loooong periods of time, particularly in the prison sequence, where all you do for an entire chapter is fight guys with your bare hands. After a few fights you realize the whole feature is basically just about grinding your mouse buttons in rapid succession like the game tells you on the screen. In short, a stupid console game feature that hasn't been translated for the PC in a very interesting way.
Speaking of console translation, you can't strafe in this game, except while aiming your weapon. Strafe keys move the character face first in different directions which of course makes the character slow to control accurately . . . not exactly the best mechanism for a fast-paced shooter where mistakes are often fatal, due to the low hitpoints of the protagonist.
The cover mechanic was sometimes frustrating when the character aligned against a completely mindless surface or the wrong way round. The latter usually results in death as the character exposes parts of his body from the cover.
Another thing you can't do is save. In addition to making you take a break when the game lets you, that feature makes the game infinitely more frustrating in difficult combat sequences. Often you have to repeat a fight because the next fight killed you. And when a fight kills you in this game it's usually in a situation where it does so numerous times before you figure out your tactical error. So basically all the situations where this problem surfaced were a matter of there not being a save point when there should've been, which is typical for this mechanic, and should have caused most game developers to abandon the mechanic long ago IMHO.
When the game is so scripted to the last detail, and because of the lack of free roam, the "collect porn mags" feature, achievements, unlockable artwork etc. all seem pointless. As do the statistics. Apparently I've killed about 400 NPCs. I'm guessing the number is about the same for everyone who completed the story, because usually the NPCs are so specifically scripted to appear very near you in tight pipelike spaces that you couldn't possibly complete the level without killing them.
Sometimes the NPCs spawn out of thin air behind you which of course is an unforgivable game design decision. Usually this happens in late game where there are other idiotisms as well to make the game artificially more difficult.
Speaking of spawning, there seems to be some of the same issue that was IIRC in GTA: San Andreas. Namely, types of civilian car appear in relation to what you're currently driving, meaning if you're in a crap car and looking for a faster car, you'll be on the lookout for a comparatively long time, and if you're finally in a cool car, you'll immediately see more and more citizens driving them.
But even more annoying than that is the police, who seem to have an infinite operating budget in Empire Bay since there's at least one police car and a couple of officers per block. It's almost impossible to get anywhere without there constantly being police on your radar. This makes it difficult to "conduct business", but more importantly, causes instances of save-load-load-load-load where a mission leaves you with a wanted status and you're supposed to get to safety. Only there's a damned police car everywhere you turn.
The only positive about the police is that they've toned down the ticketing from Mafia 1. They will now very rarely stop you for speeding or running a red. But if you do run a red and look into the traffic to make sure you aren't gonna hit anything, chances are you will rear end a police car in the direction you're headed and not looking...
For a tenner it's a decent amount of entertainment, for 40 it's an absolute ripoff.
Bought it off Steam for EUR 10.00 a week ago when it was on sale, 75% off. For that price, it was definitely worth it.
Overall, not a great game.
The shooter part of it was better than average, meaning hitboxes worked pretty much flawlessly, the NPCs took damage just how I was expecting, weapons were nicely effective and sounded alright, the cover system was a welcome tactical consideration most of the time, and I rarely ran out of hitpoints thanks to the "free healing" system.
The game ran beautifully. I ran it at 2560x1600 with all settings maxed except antialiasing which was disabled and A-Filtering which I'd toned down to 8x. Hiccups were very rare and in very predictable situations.
However, that's about all there is to say about it that's good.
I'm thinking the game ran well because the graphics aren't that good. They're basically shapes from 2006-2007 with some high detail textures and new lighting/reflection/environment manipulation features. For example, character models and animation were really bad compared to something like the opening video of Civilization 5, or even Half-Life 2, the latter of course being ridiculously old by now in comparison to Mafia II and still better.
Like you said the characters were mostly very underdeveloped which is unforgivable in a "movie for the gamer". When there's nothing to a game except an extremely scripted story, like in this case, the characters really need to be in the spotlight. These ones were mostly forgettable or annoying, except for the two main characters.
There was a nice tie-in to the first Mafia game which I thought was cool, though I did see it coming from a mile away.
The city is almost completely lifeless and featureless. After completing the game I still wouldn't be able to navigate in it without the map/GPS. There was no incentive at all to explore and I wasn't gently directed towards learning my way around either. And after the credits have rolled, you're kicked out of the game and can't roam the city with your accumulated cash, cars and weapons. As far as I could see my only options were to start a new game or DLC.
During the story, there was too much driving, like has been said. The problem was that the missions were all around the place. Every once in a while you get a new place but it makes no difference as far as mission distance is concerned. This also contributes to the unfamiliar-city-problem as you very rarely go any place more than once. What they should've done is what GTA does, which is concentrate missions of a specific chapter in a specific neighborhood and give the player a base to operate from in that 'hood. That way the travel times don't get out of hand and you learn the city block by block.
The cars were mostly alright but clearly there is a shortage of choice. There's only a few fast cars and they all look the same. Also, the controls were very weird, GTA does car control much better than Mafia II. In this game I was snaking all over the place with the cars because of the way the on-off steering input is translated.
Melee combat was interesting for the first couple of fights. Then I found out they were going to show off that feature over and over and over again for loooong periods of time, particularly in the prison sequence, where all you do for an entire chapter is fight guys with your bare hands. After a few fights you realize the whole feature is basically just about grinding your mouse buttons in rapid succession like the game tells you on the screen. In short, a stupid console game feature that hasn't been translated for the PC in a very interesting way.
Speaking of console translation, you can't strafe in this game, except while aiming your weapon. Strafe keys move the character face first in different directions which of course makes the character slow to control accurately . . . not exactly the best mechanism for a fast-paced shooter where mistakes are often fatal, due to the low hitpoints of the protagonist.
The cover mechanic was sometimes frustrating when the character aligned against a completely mindless surface or the wrong way round. The latter usually results in death as the character exposes parts of his body from the cover.
Another thing you can't do is save. In addition to making you take a break when the game lets you, that feature makes the game infinitely more frustrating in difficult combat sequences. Often you have to repeat a fight because the next fight killed you. And when a fight kills you in this game it's usually in a situation where it does so numerous times before you figure out your tactical error. So basically all the situations where this problem surfaced were a matter of there not being a save point when there should've been, which is typical for this mechanic, and should have caused most game developers to abandon the mechanic long ago IMHO.
When the game is so scripted to the last detail, and because of the lack of free roam, the "collect porn mags" feature, achievements, unlockable artwork etc. all seem pointless. As do the statistics. Apparently I've killed about 400 NPCs. I'm guessing the number is about the same for everyone who completed the story, because usually the NPCs are so specifically scripted to appear very near you in tight pipelike spaces that you couldn't possibly complete the level without killing them.
Sometimes the NPCs spawn out of thin air behind you which of course is an unforgivable game design decision. Usually this happens in late game where there are other idiotisms as well to make the game artificially more difficult.
Speaking of spawning, there seems to be some of the same issue that was IIRC in GTA: San Andreas. Namely, types of civilian car appear in relation to what you're currently driving, meaning if you're in a crap car and looking for a faster car, you'll be on the lookout for a comparatively long time, and if you're finally in a cool car, you'll immediately see more and more citizens driving them.
But even more annoying than that is the police, who seem to have an infinite operating budget in Empire Bay since there's at least one police car and a couple of officers per block. It's almost impossible to get anywhere without there constantly being police on your radar. This makes it difficult to "conduct business", but more importantly, causes instances of save-load-load-load-load where a mission leaves you with a wanted status and you're supposed to get to safety. Only there's a damned police car everywhere you turn.
The only positive about the police is that they've toned down the ticketing from Mafia 1. They will now very rarely stop you for speeding or running a red. But if you do run a red and look into the traffic to make sure you aren't gonna hit anything, chances are you will rear end a police car in the direction you're headed and not looking...
For a tenner it's a decent amount of entertainment, for 40 it's an absolute ripoff.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests