The banter between Vitto and Joe, alongside other mafia associates, is still entertaining and swear-laden if you’re not looking for anything too meaningful in your crime film-apeing video game storylines. Mafia II’s lovely gameplay moments are still present and intact, from your stamps-selling escapade as you sell bonds before midnight strikes using old-timey cars, to storming a mafia-filled slaughterhouse single-handedly while covered in sewage. But apart from one or two cutscenes, everything seems golden on my end so far. I am seeing some Steam reviews reporting graphical glitches here and there. Driving through the cityscape of Empire City, be it during wintertime in the 40s or using hot rods in the 50s at broad daylight with Fats Domino playing on the radio feels good with these pimped-up aesthetics.
The remaster makes the trials and tribulations of war hero-turned-mafia-goon Vitto Scaletta and his partner-in-crime Joe Barbaro all the prettier to play again. In all seriousness, Hangar 13 and D3T Limited did a decent job in remastering the game’s past assets anew. So what does the remastered version of this 2010 sequel bring to the table? Facial pores. It’s a unique place for the franchise to set in, but one that earns it cult status. While the Grand Theft Auto games were packed with a plethora of things to do, Mafia II was a focused experience attached with a semi-explorable living world. Concerning the latter, the devs made it clear from its design that Mafia II is linear, with a living breathing facsimile of New York (called Empire City here) for players to sometimes faff about. At the time, it came bow-wrapped with a decent narrative that went well with its pacing, 1940s/ 1950s gangland trappings, and game structure. Made by former devs 2K Czech, Mafia II was a nice action-adventure GTA replacement for folks who want actual cars to drive and “modern” guns to fire at in a city. In a year loaded with megaton games like Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mass Effect 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and that one cowboy game from Rockstar, Mafia II stood out just fine in 2010.
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