Mafia II: Perfection for NVIDIA's Graphics Plus Technologies?

[TimTheEnchanter]

Personnally, not impressed neither by PhysX. Again. I do understand Sky's point, but i think what makes PC gaming special are its modding/customizing capability and community.

[heflys20]

Guys, just wanted to make you aware of a promotion where you can get Mafia II for free with the purchase of select NVIDIA cards:

That was quick. LOL! Too bad it's not for the 460, since that card is leagues better than the 465. I guess Nvidia is trying to get rid of the things.

[Bao]

Hey Sky,

Did you try the game with various settings using dual GTX460's?

I assume you have a pair of GTX460 1GB's around :)

[heflys20]

Wow. The reviews for Mafia 2 aren't looking too good. Anyone got the game? Folks keep telling me it's nothing but fetch/chauffeur quests. I was really looking forward to this game, particularly after playing its predecessor. Damn it.

[FiXT]

Originally Posted by heflys20

Wow. The reviews for Mafia 2 aren't looking too good. Anyone got the game? Folks keep telling me it's nothing but fetch/chauffeur quests. I was really looking forward to this game, particularly after playing its predecessor. Damn it.

Trying to get a video review up soon

There is definitely a lot of driving, and no "quick jumps". There is also a lot of short missions, that you wind up spending more time driving to get there than to do the mission, and then all of a sudden you are driving back where you came. There is also some boring stuff or seemingly "silly" types of missions... but who said a gangster's life was all about cappin guys and crazy gun fights. IMO that would make the game old pretty quick.

I actually don't mind this because I enjoy the driving aspect - though many people who were used to using a wheel in the first one - no can do with #2, Ill go more into that elsewhere.

The action scenes are a lot of fun though, lot of run and duck style shooting, get up with your tommy gun and mow down the the m$%#f%^kers.
I know IGN knocked it for this because you wind up hiding and taking cover a lot.
That's because you can only take about 3-4 bullets before you die, personally I really like that kind of realism. The stupid games are where you are the terminator running through swarms of enemies and you are basically invincible have very little appeal.


One thing I can't say enough good things about is the story. It is really really good and for the most part flows very cleanly. It is something you can really get into and 2k has done great with the character development. The voice acting is awesome, and there are a ton of great cut scenes that work to develop the story. (Again some game reviewers seem to hate this and just want to shoot things)

The only game I enjoyed half as much for the story would be COD4. Mafia II takes the cake though.

It is a very linear game - if you were expected GTA sandbox style you are definitely out of luck. You follow missions 1 by 1 by 1 and progress the main story. I think to many reviewers were expecting that Mafia II would take the blueprints of GTA and put a mobster twist on it. They labelled it as a sandbox game, and when it turned out to NOT be that style, everyone got all sour.


Graphics are also exceptional. Beautifully done, and if you have a good system you enjoy it even more. If you are able to enable the APEX Physics do it, because it just adds that one more step of realism.
Another great thing is there are so many unique environments. A lot of games use all recycled buildings and interiors. Same patterns, same blueprints, different wallpaper.

Mafia II really really diversifies that, there are a whole ton of different models, especially as you move through the eras.


Now granted, I haven't finished it and actually won't be finishing it due to their controller support
However it is a really fun game if you are looking for a fairly "directed" style of gameplay. Think of it almost like a movie where you get to personally take part in scenes.
You have to really want to enjoy the story and being playing the role of a mobster's life though.

If you are looking for a game you can pickup the controller and mindlessly go and mow down bad guys with, this isn't it.

Maybe @ $49.99 retail price it is a bit steep, but maybe on a good sale in a month or two it would be a fun purchase. I say this primarily because, aside from the main story there isn't anything else. No online multiplayer and the game definitely doesn't have a lot of re-playability. There isn't much you could do different the second time round.
Again it's like the new release movie that you watched once, and while it was a really good movie, you won't watch it again because you already know what happens.

[belgolas]

I say go ahead and buy it. I am 5 hours in and half do so this game is a 10 hour game. Not the longest but definitely a good length.

I am enjoying this game every moment. I really like the driving in the game as I love the era and not only that the history in the radio while driving is so nice. You get absorbed into the game. The action is pretty epic at times as well. This game is my favorite shooter this year so far and will probably play through it a second time. Wish it was a bit more open but then you wouldn't get as good of a story which for this kind of game is very important. I am liking this game a lot more than GTA IV.

As far as controls I don't need a controller as the mouse and keyboard controls are good enough. I am fairly good at driving with the keyboard but some parts of this game look more like it was designed for consoles first and PC second so that is a big minus but it still works unlike some other ports.

Graphics are great but I still wish I had more as far as textures as the characters are not that highly detailed nor are the cars but still better than some other games so can't complain too much.

[thorn]

$50 for a 10 hour game does not appeal to me, I expect to get at least an hour per dollar out of something.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by OCZbao

Hey Sky,

Did you try the game with various settings using dual GTX460's?

I assume you have a pair of GTX460 1GB's around :)

Well, what other settings are needed? Two GTX 460s play the game with all the settings cranked across three screens. ;)


Oh, and anyone know how to sell cars that you steal? At first I thought at the scrap yard but I guess not...

[Bao]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Well, what other settings are needed? Two GTX 460s play the game with all the settings cranked across three screens. ;)

Oh it's because I don't quite understand how it works.

Say I go with dual 460's (though to this date my htpc with i7-860 @ 3.8ghz + single Gigabyte GTX460 1GB @ 850/2100 is fine for almost everything).

Would I be able to play at 1920x1080 with pretty much maximum everything (at 30fps minimum)? (Apex/Physx)

[SKYMTL]

Yes, you would.