10 reasons to respect Mafia II

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Our first real look at the 1950s crime epic left us impressed – here’s what we took away

7. The radio knows what you’re doing
Mafia II won’t feature multiple radio stations you can switch between, but Grace said that, instead, you’ll hear convincing-sounding radio broadcasts that match the mood of whatever you’re doing. If you’ve just finished a tough mission and the coast is clear, for example, the music’s going to be upbeat, while dangerous situations are going to sound a lot more foreboding. And if you’ve just done something that’s attracted a lot of public attention, you’ll probably hear a news report about it.

9. The game knows you’re busy
Despite the huge size of its script, Scalici said that there are around two hours of non-interactive cutscenes sprinkled throughout the game, and that in general there was an effort to keep them to a minimum. Instead, the bulk of the story will unfold around you while you’re in control. We’re also told that Mafia II will never make players sit through a load screen. So long as those cutscenes aren’t unskippable, this should come as great news to the impatient.

10. No mandatory racing
According to Grace, there won’t be anything in Mafia II like the mandatory race mission that was such a bear in the first Mafia. So thank God for that.

Apr 27, 2009


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Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.