Wednesday, August 11, 2010

PSN Demo Showcase for 8/11/10 (The Mafia II Edition)

This time on the PSN Demo Showcase features a long-awaited sequel to one of the best open-ended action games ever... (The Mafia II video is NSFW for language and violence)



Mafia II will finally be out at the end of the month and so far its living up to be a satisfying sequel to the critically acclaimed original. Even though I didn't play the first Mafia, playing this demo does get a little taste of what the mafia is really like and it won't have any Grand Theft Auto-like shenanigans. The demo is pretty much one simple mission of driving and then a shootout sequence in a distillery. The driving is what you expect out of a game like this with vehicles handling like the good old mafia days. The shooting controls may take a little time to get used to if you have been playing first person shooters on the PS3 as aim and fire are on the L2 and R2 triggers instead of L1 and R1, but they are changed according to your preference. The cover-based shooting does work for the most part, but going guns-blazing without a plan of sorts will get you killed even though there is a health regeneration system. Vito can die in a snap if caught in a difficult situation especially in a mission like the demo above. Graphically, Mafia II looks pretty good as I didn't notice any glaring issues as some people would compared to other versions of the demo. I enjoyed my time with Mafia II as it will be worth a purchase if you love open-ended action games with a deep story.