Mafia II

Mafia II was a rough gem, a title with a ton of promise that executed wonderfully on some of its concepts and fell (excuse the pun) criminally short on others, hamstrung by some fairly basic issues. The third pack of downloadable content, Joe’s Adventures, hit your favorite online service recently and while it shares the main title’s strengths, it’s also vulnerable to its weaknesses...

Alfons Capone. Henry Hill. Vito Corleone. When you think of great Mafia men, these are probably some of the first names that spring to a criminal mind. Y’know, who you don’t think of? Such woeful wiseguys as Enzo from Bayonetta, Uncle Paulie from the Darkness or that idiot you whack while dressed as a doctor with Niko in GTA IV. Yup, games have constantly been starved for a decent line-up of gangsters (well, apart from the ones they nicked from the Godfather titles). Ah well, at least most of the moronic Mafioso inside end up with a pair of concrete shoes.

Greetings and welcome to TalkRadar UK's 56th episode. Leading the charge across all things game-related are Meiks, Dave H and Nathan as Cundy recovers from a severe bout of gut rot. Eugh.

So what can you expect from this week's packed show? All this and a bit more...

- The news!: In fact, that's a lie. There wasn't any because on the day we recorded everyone was gearing up for TGS so we leap straight into...

- What we've been playing!: Meik's discusses his experiences with Halo Reach and Dave H is working his way through PS3's back catalogue.

- GamesRadar Hotline!: We field your questions sent to us through the medium of text messaging.

- More, more, more!: <---- what that bit says.

Listen now...

Well it's that time of year again, the dog days of summer have just wrapped up and you're either headed back to school or you're grinding away at work, except now it'll be darker sooner, and colder to boot. If there's one upside to the lack of sun and incoming miserable weather, it's that you can feel less guilty for locking yourself in your room and tearing into a stack of games. This week we've got a FAQ for  Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (make sure your room is properly ventilated before blowing all the dust off of your PSP), and some helpful strategies from Tyler Nagata and Matt Keast about Starcraft 2 and RTSes in general. Also, Mafia 2!

This week, we’re giving away fresh copies of Mafia II along with a ton of mob-tastic t-shirts. Entering is easy, but supplies are limited. Find out how to win inside…

By now, it's possible you've finished Mafia II's story. You may have even scrounged around and found all 50 of its hidden Playboy centerfolds, giving you a complete set of what might be the best collectible whatsit ever dropped into an open-world game. But you can't really say you've exhausted Mafia II's potential until you've hunted for its ultimate collectibles: the whopping 159 developer portraits disguised as wanted posters...

Mafia II is great. Between its deep, epic plot, warm, likeable characters and brilliant set-pieces, it's an absolute winner if you're after a thrilling slice of cool crime and smooth storytelling. And also, it has boobs. One hundred of them in fact.

Not in some horrendous Cronenbergian flesh parade, you understand. No, Mafia II contains 50 original vintage Playboy spreads as collectables, littered around the game world for your ogling pleasure. We've already told you how to find them, and believe us, it's worth the effort. The huge, HD prints look great onscreen, and even better, they're zoomable. You know, for appreciating the quality of the lighting in each composition. And stuff. But if, however, you're too lazy or impatient, or just want a sneak preview before you go and collect them all for yourself, we've captured the lot of them and spread them decadently across the next few pages. Click on! Click on now, for the love of God!

If you picked up the PS3 version of Mafia II last week, then you've probably already had a taste of playing as Jimmy, the bald, mercenary protagonist of the "arcade-style" Betrayal of Jimmy DLC. Enjoy your exclusive claim on the guy while it lasts, because next week - Sept. 7, to be exact - Jimmy's Vendetta, the follow-up to Betrayal, will be available to 360, PC and PS3 owners for $9.99 (or 800 Microsoft Points)...

Metroid: Other M, Mafia II, Tim Schafer drops by to talk about Costume Quest, and Paul Ryan returns!