But other than that, the chase was going fine and dandy until I tried to be cool and took a corner a bit too fast, which lead to my car clipping a barrier, violently spinning around smacking into another barrier and finally landing on its side, killing my characters in the process. A tad clumsy and not as tight as it could be. When it was my turn to rev my car up and chase the bad guys, it honestly felt like every other chase scene I've played. I've never been a huge fan of chase scenes in videogames because more often than not, the controls are just wonky and feel clumsy. Long story short, there were two parts of this demo, a car chase (think of every other chase scene you've played) and a firefight that reminded me of the Uncharted games. Before I start off, I should mention that between getting the good ol' Game Over screen and a demo error, I was only able to get hands on for about 10 minutes. If they had centered the demo around one of the more exciting moments in the game, they might've knocked it out of the park, but from what I saw there's nothing special about Mafia II. During the stop-n-pop firefight section, all I could think about was how much better Uncharted 2 did it during the open world parts, I thought about GTA IV and so on. There's a serious lack of that "wow factor" that would leave you walking away with a smile on your face. I think the problem with the demo is that nothing in particular stuck out to me. After the short time I had with Mafia II, I've got to say I walked away without much of an opinion. I don't have anything in particular about the game that rubbed me the wrong way, but at the same time everything I saw has been done before, and done better. Finally the demo wraps up with a typical cover system-heavy firefight through an abandoned train station. When you fail to keep up because of the crappy car you're given, you and your buddies meet up and decide to unload clip after clip of ammo into an empty building. After a harsh exchange of words you get into a firefight, which quickly evolves into a mediocre chase scene. The Mafia II demo kicks off with you handing out cartons of cigarettes. After only 30 minutes, I must say I was impressed but it needs to show me more depth before I consider it a purchase. This is a perfect example of a game where the story can make or break it as mafia games are rare to find and good ones are almost non-existent. One of the biggest drawbacks is that the game brings nothing new to the table. The same could be said with the controls. The graphics are solid but nothing spectacular. You can clearly see that 2K Games put a lot of effort into the characters and creating a great 1940s atmosphere. One of the first things I noticed is that the voice acting is one of the strong points in the game. I only had one payment left! With the 30-minute demo I was able to play with some fellow bloggers, I found that Mafia II is shaping up very nicely. If you're into this sort of game, you'll probably like it, or you may feel like you've played it one too many times before. Minus some small visual fixes that need to be made before launch (still four months away), it's a good looking game for sure, though it could use just a little more stylistic flare to stand out. What really sells a sandbox game for me are the missions, side missions and story as far as I can tell, all of that is all going to be fun in Mafia II, and I suppose that's what really counts. Fortunately, the all important aiming controls are pretty sharp. However there are some wonky driving controls, which as far as I know resulted in the participants in this preview feeling like they had failed a part of the demo because of the controls, when in fact, it was impossible to catch the car in question. The controls are your all around basic third-person schtick, all of which are perfectly suitable. The music, as strange as it sounds, is probably the thing I enjoyed most (I'm a sucker for vintage jazz). What is there to say about a game you feel you've played multiple times before? I suppose the biggest attraction to the game for me personally is the setting, the whole 40's vibe. What did they think of their time in the city of Empire Bay playing the same demo IGN saw at GDC? Well, let's find out, and then be sure to click on their usernames to visit their blogs here on IGN. Six IGN bloggers joined Daemon Hatfield and Greg Miller to drive around in cars from the '50s, shoot Tommy guns, and sell stolen cigarettes. In return, IGN told those kids to write some impressions. That's right, 2K Games was nice enough to turn over its Mafia II demo area for a VIP session for the IGN Community.
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