About the computer game Mafia II. About the computer game Mafia II Music in the game
Philosophical question: do you need a game mafia 2 download? More precisely, not philosophical, but rhetorical! Because it is clear that this game is worth passing! Therefore, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the basic information about this game.
Game engine and technology
A separate engine called the Illusion Engine was created exclusively for this game. You can enjoy all its charms if you want. download mafia 2 via torrent on PC. It is thanks to him that the game is what it is now. It allows you to process huge locations without reloading. This creates a sense of seamlessness of the world. This engine makes the image nice and realistic. Game designers have been smart about color grading. Changing the colors in the filters at the right moment creates the right feeling from what is happening, creates an atmosphere. The water looks realistic. Reflections are clearly visible in it. The engine supports soft shadows. As for physics, then everything is fine with that. Clothing of characters and NPCs develops in the wind, while not passing through the model of the character itself. since this, among other things, is also a car simulator, the physics of cars is worked out perfectly. The developers have introduced many parameters to consider that affect the realism of the behavior of cars on the road.
Mafia 2 plot
The game takes place in the city of Empire Bay, an American town. All events take place during the years 1943-1951. The main character is Vittorio Antonio Scaletta, an Italian by birth. He moved from Sicily to the States in early childhood. Little Vito was sure that in the new country all his dreams would come true, but everything turned out quite differently. His father worked for mere pennies in the port. He often drank in a tavern. Soon he dies, and the exact cause of death is not determined. It is believed that he fell into the water drunk and drowned. His mother works as an assistant to a reverend at a church near their residence. It is clear that they live poorly and not at all as Vito would like. At school, he made his best friend, also a boy from a poor family. It turned out to be Joe Barbaro. He did not disdain to steal and rob, he was a bully. Together they and the main character turned their hooligan and gangster affairs. When they grew up, their affairs became more mature too. They decide to rob a jewelry store, but fail. The police saw them, but Joe managed to escape. The less fortunate Vito had to choose between prison and the front (we remind you that there was a war on the street). Vito went to the front. The further plot is divided into 15 chapters, which are told in three intermezzos.
Mafia 2 Characters
The main characters of this game include Vito Scaletta, Joe Barbaro, Henry Tomasino. Among the secondary ones, of which there are quite a lot in the game, one can single out Alberto Clemente, Carlo Falcone and others.
- Vittorio Antonio "Vito" Scaletta is the protagonist. Part of the Clemente family, which belongs to the Falcone family, the Vinci family. Date of birth - May 2, 1925, Sicily. He spent the first years of his life in Italy, then moved to the United States of America, where his family lived in poverty. There, he decides that he will become a mafia, because he considered the mafia the only worthy future. After the war, he worked for the Clemente family. For trading in stolen coupons, he is imprisoned for 6 years, after which he joins the Falcone family.
- Joseph "Joe" Barbaro. Vito's friend. He grew up as a bully, became involved in petty crimes with age. First he joined the Clemente family, then - to Falcone. After Vito returned from the war, they continued to be friends and commit crimes together. His ultimate fate remains unknown.
- Henry Tomasino. He, like the two hero-friends, first belonged to the Clemente family, and then joined Falcone. He was born in the family of a Sicilian mafia. He was sent by his father to America for security reasons, because then Mussolini threatened to crack down on the entire mafia in the country. In America, he worked in Empire Bay. Closed and uncommunicative.
System requirements
- Operating system Windows XP (SP2 or higher) / Windows Vista / Windows 7;
- 3 GHz Intel Pentium D processor or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (Dual core) or better;
- 1.5 GB of RAM;
- Video card nVidia GeForce 8600 / ATI HD2600 Pro or better;
- 8 GB of free hard disk space;
- Sound card compatible with DirectX 9.0c;
Main characters.
Vittorio Antonio "Vito" Scaletta.
Description:
Vito Scaletta. The main character of the game. An accomplice of the Clemente family, the Falcone family, then the Vinci family. Born in Sicily on May 2, 1925, his family then moved to Empire Bay.
Vito's father got a job at the port for the man who brought them to America.
Here, in America, Vito, as a child, understood what poverty was, and decided that the mafia was the only worthy profession for him.
In 1943, during a store robbery, he was captured by the police. He was given a choice: go to jail, or go to the front of World War II, Scaletta chose the latter. In January 1945 he returned to Empire Bay, after which he worked for the Clemente family. From 1945 to 1951 he was in prison for trading in stolen gas coupons.
After his release, he joined the Falcone family. September 26, 1951 Vito kills Carlo Falcone on the orders of Leo Galante.
Joseph "Joe" Barbaro.
Description:
Joe Barbaro. Vito's best friend. An accomplice of the Clemente family, then Falcone. Brash and unpredictable, Joe seems to be able to make trouble out of nothing. As a child, Joe was a yard bully in the Italian Empire Bay ghetto.
He met Vito when he, younger and smaller than Joe, offered to fight him for a place in his gang.
In the next ten years, they made an excellent team of petty criminals: the calm and reasonable Vito did not let the impulsive Joe burrow until his friend was in the war. After the return of a friend from the war, they continued the activities of the mafia.
Now Joe lives in a big way - strong booze, fast cars, light women. Climbing the criminal ladder for him is the perfect way to satisfy his needs. Like his friend, he worked first for the Clemente family and then for the Falcone family.
September 26, 1951 Vito arrives at the old observatory to kill Carlo Falcone. After shooting a lot of people, he got to Carlo himself.
But suddenly Vito felt the muzzle of a pistol at his temple. It was Joe. Vito thought Joe had betrayed him and said, "If you want to shoot, shoot."
Joe did not want to kill his friend, so he suggested that Vito should kill Falcone. Meanwhile, it becomes known that Carlo has appointed Joe capo.
Having completed the case, Vito and Joe leave the observatory, and then they are met by a lot of gangsters, led by Leo Galante. Leo says that this case should be noted.
Vito gets into one car and Joe into another. Joe's car swerved at the curve, while the car Vito was in continued straight ahead despite Vito's outrage.
Leo, after a short silence, uttered only a few words: “I'm sorry. Joe wasn't part of the deal...
According to cut alternate dialogue between Vito and Galante in the game files, Joe is being taken to Mr. Chu, likely to avenge the murder of Shi Yoon Won.
In Mafia III, Vito confessed to Lincoln Clay that Joe was rumored to be able to get out of trouble in Empire Bay and hid from the Commission for a while in Chicago, turning to reliable people.
But in the end, they handed him over, and Joe died at the hands of the Galante guys.
However, in one of the endings of the game, Galante personally drives up to Lincoln, whose driver is very similar to Barbaro, but already aged.
Henry Tomasino.
Description:
Henry Tomasino. Member of the Clemente family, then Falcone. Friend of Vito and Joe. The son of a Sicilian mafia and a gangster. There are 6 brothers in his family. In 1931, as a result of Mussolini's raid on the Sicilian mafia, Silvio, Henry's father, sent his family to America so that his family could receive protection from his bosom friend, Alberto Clemente, in Empire Bay.
Tomasino was adopted into the Clemente family and became a full-fledged gangster and respected wet case specialist. The father himself refused to go, explaining that he was too old for this. As a result, Mussolini's fascists arrested him, and he died in prison.
Closed and uncommunicative, his only motive is pride. After the assassination, Clemente joined the Falcone family. Brutally murdered by Mr. Vaughn's men after word spread in Empire Bay mob circles that Henry was working for the FBI.
The triad that killed Henry justify it by saying that Henry was working for the government. This is a strange claim, since Frankie Potts, who worked for the FBI, did not state anything in his documents about Henry that he or anyone from the FBI was collaborating with him.
However, when Franky gets into trouble and asks his superiors for help, he says that there is someone behind him who can help him, but he does not reveal his name. It is also possible that Henry did not work as an informant when Frankie was alive, but began doing so after Clemente's death.
Also, Leo Galante later assures Vito that Henry was a "rat". This can be explained by the fact that Mr. Vaughn claimed that Henry was an informant for the Bureau of Drug Enforcement. In the early 1950s, there was little cooperation between the FBI and the DEA. For example, Harry Anslinger, an agent from the Bureau, spoke publicly about the existence of the Mafia at a time when Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, claimed that the Mafia did not exist. This proves that Henry worked for the FBI.
Vito family.
Maria Scaletta.
Description:
Maria Scaletta. Vito's mother, life has not been easy. Poverty is a typical picture of Sicily in the early 1920s.
But even she cannot stop the love of two hearts - Antonio and Maria. In 1920, their wedding took place.
A year later, their daughter Francesca was born, and four years later, the long-awaited son, who received the name Vittorio. Then hard times came.
She came to America in 1932 with her husband Antonio and two children to seek a better life, but found only poverty and deprivation.
Before her eyes, her husband broke down and drank himself under the yoke of overwork, and her only son became a criminal.
A devout believer, Maria constantly prays to the Lord to save her family and direct Vito on the path of an honest worker.
After the death of her husband, the widowed Maria lives in a small apartment with her daughter Francesca.
Her son was in trouble, and he was given an ultimatum: either he goes to serve in the army, or he goes to prison for five years. Vito chooses the first.
But upon arrival in the city, her son again gets involved in bad company.
Vito thereby tried to pay off the debt of his father, who borrowed two thousand dollars from a moneylender. He succeeds after a while. However, he is soon arrested for speculation with gas coupons and imprisoned for 10 years.
This was the last blow for Mary. All this led to the fact that Vito's mother became seriously ill, and on the day when her daughter, Frannie, visits Vito in prison, she departs for another world.
Antonio Scaletta.
Description:
Antonio Scaletta. Vito's father. Antonio Scaletta married Maria in 1920 in the tiny Sicilian village of San Martino. A year later, their daughter Francesca was born, and soon their son Vito. Looking for a better life In 1932, Antonio and his family went on a long journey across the ocean.
Stranded in Empire Bay, penniless and unable to speak a word of English, Antonio got a job and shelter from union boss Derek Pappalardo.
Antonio worked for a boss for pennies. Unable to break out of the vicious circle of backbreaking work and monstrous rent, Antonio took to drink with grief, he spent almost the entire salary in a tavern. As Derek Vito said: "Your father drank like a fish!".
In 1943, he drowned on the Southport Docks after falling into the water while drunk. But 8 years later it turned out that his death was set up for an accident, and Pappalardo himself and his faithful assistant Coin. Vito killed his father's executioners.
Francesca Reilly.
Description:
Francesca Reilly. Sister Vito, a little older than him, a quiet and shy girl, she graduated with honors from school and from the age of sixteen led the youth club at the local church.
As a child, Francesca tried to turn Vito away from street gangs. Francesca, or Frannie as Vito calls her, lives with her mother, supporting everyone on her salary as an accountant at Trago Oil.
According to her, she began to gradually pay off her father's debts, which Vito would later pay himself.
After Vito is imprisoned, Francesca has to take care of her sick mother.
While she is visiting her brother, her mother dies. All the money Vito gave for Frannie and Eric's wedding went towards the funeral.
Francesca never found happiness with her husband - he was also involved in dirty deeds, drank and cheated on her.
She quarreled with Vito after he tried to help her in his own way, severely beating her husband.
Eric Reilly.
Description:
Eric Reilly. Francesca's husband. Eric was born in 1918 in Empire Bay to Irish immigrant parents.
The Reilly family lived in Millville, and young Eric worked alongside his father as a transport service for Trago Oil.
In 1936, he married Sarah Collins, the daughter of the head of the Trago fleet, but after the wedding, Eric began to constantly drink with his friends, came home drunk after midnight, cursed obscenely and beat his wife.
Two years later, Sarah left him. After that, Eric lost his job and began to earn a living as an occasional bartender and selling marijuana.
In 1945 he married again. This time Vito's sister, Francesca, became the lucky one. Judging by the long spree and drinking, he did not learn anything from past mistakes.
Unable to endure the beatings, swearing and frequent gatherings of her husband, Frannie turned to Vito for help and asked to speak with Eric.
Having caught him in treason, Scaletta "helps" him to look differently at his duties, including marriage.
The leaders of crime and the most important persons of mafia families.
Alberto Clemente.
Description:
Alberto Clemente. The head of the mafia family Clemente. In 1920, he killed a Palermo police captain on behalf of his uncle Silvio and fled to Empire Bay. Here, taking advantage of his uncle's connections in the underworld, he made money on bootlegging.
In 1929, the Commission allowed him to start his own family. Despite their strength, the Clemente gang has a gangster reputation as a "second-class family".
Basically, the reason for this was the methods of Clemente, unscrupulous even by the standards of the mafia. He was also arrested for extortion in 1935 and 1937.
He died at the hands of Joe Barbaro in his limousine, or was blown up in it (if you get into the gas tank).
He has a son (most likely illegitimate) Fabiano, who lives in Sicily.
Carlo Falcone.
Description:
Carlo Falcone. Don mafia Falcone family. Carlo arrived in America in 1913 and quickly became part of the Moretti family.
During Prohibition, he ran the family's bootlegging business, supplying liquor from Canada with Eddie Scarpa.
In 1933, Carlo entered into a conspiracy with Frank Vinci, as a result of which Tomaso Moretti was killed, the war between Vinci and Moretti ended, and Carlo himself became the head of the Moretti family.
A talented strategist and connoisseur of progress, Carlo despises the traditions of the Sicilian mafia and understands that she got rich on prohibition, and therefore, in order to stay afloat, she needs a comparable source of income.
Killed by Vito Scaletta on the orders of Leo Galante.
According to Eddie, Carlo was fond of astronomy.
That might explain why he owns the planetarium at Hillwood.
Franco "Frank" Vinci.
Description:
Frank Vinci. Don mafia family Vinci. Born in Sicily in 1885 in the family of the famous mafia Vincenzo Vinci and his wife Lily Tomasino; Has a sister Carla. Arriving in Empire Bay in 1908 with friend Leo Galante, Frank set up a system of extortion among Italian immigrants.
For the next decade, the Vinci gang held the entire city in their hands. Frank acted with extreme caution, acquired connections in the police and among politicians.
In the early 1930s, when the flow of money from the illegal liquor trade ended with the repeal of the 18th Amendment, the rivalry between the Vinci and Moretti families turned into a full-scale confrontation between the two clans.
An influential defender of organized crime traditions, especially when it comes to drugs. Frank often hangs out at the Mona Lisa Cafe and is also regularly seen on the race track.
Lucas "Luka" Gurino.
Description:
Luca Gurino. Kapo in the Clemente family. He took this place by immuring his predecessor in the foundation of the Culver dam. Always impeccably dressed, Luka tries to hide his rough nature with a veil of sophistication, although his ignorance always shines through.
During Prohibition, he participated in the bootlegging venture of Alberto Clemente, and later engaged in the family's less noble activities at the Clemente slaughterhouse, where his cruel nature ensured his rapid promotion.
There are many things behind his dirty soul, which was enough for old Sparky. Luka is a rare sadist, which is why he is " important person in the Clemente family.
He is the right hand of the most powerful crime syndicate in the city, and therefore he gets away with a lot.
But the family began to play against the rules, kidnapping the chief accountant of the Falcone family, Harvey Beans, and paid the price.
One of Carlo's men, Vito Scaletta, made his way to the Clemente slaughterhouse. Fleeing from the hands of reprisals, Gurino closed himself in his office and called for reinforcements, but this did not help him.
Then Tony Balsam dragged him into the butcher's, where, apparently, he put him into a meat grinder. Killed by Tony Balsam.
Eduardo "Eddie" Scarpa.
Description:
Eddie Scarpa. Carlo Falcone's right-hand man, does a lot of the boss's chores while sitting in the Maltese Falcon restaurant. Friend of Joe and Vito.
Once a mercenary for the Moretti family, Eddie controls most of Carlo Falcone's affairs from the Maltese Falcon restaurant.
Born in 1908 in Chicago and already in early age contacted the mafia. They met Carlo Falcone while smuggling booze to Empire Bay during Prohibition.
Having become the head of the Moretti family (now Falcone), Carlo decided to thank Eddie and made him the owner of the Garden of Eden strip club.
Scarpa remains close friends with the head of the family, though the Don privately sees Eddie as a potential source of trouble due to his thinly hidden drinking problem.
Leon "Leo" Galante.
Description:
Leo Galante. Born in Sicily in 1887. Leo grew up with his best friend Frank Vinci. The guys always did everything together. When both turned 20, they decided to move to America, where Galante began to train and take part in fights for money, while Vinci began to get into the “circle” of the mafia.
A couple of years later, Galante became a professional fighter and champion. But Vinci did not waste time either - by 1931 he had founded his family, and Leo offered the position of his consigliere. Galante agreed. But after a couple of months, Vinci decided to make good money on bootlegging and ordered Leo to take up this business. In 1943, Galante was arrested for "purchased" fights and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
In prison, he became a respected person, right after the head of the prison, with whom Leo got along well. There, Leo organized training fights and, based on his experience, began to teach other “convicts” new tricks.
It was there that Galante met his new assistant, Pepe. Before the arrival of Vito Scaletta, Pepe was the best wrestler.
Leo first saw Vito when he was trying to find him, and stumbled upon Brian O'Neal. During the fight between Vito and O'Neal, Leo saw the fighter he needed, which is why Galante agreed to help Vito.
Secondary characters.
Federico "Derek" Pappalardo.
Description:
Derek Pappalardo. Capo of the Vinci family. In 1916, he began working in the port of Empire Bay as a strike-breaker. Participation in smuggling operations brought him to the mafia, so Derek ended up in the Vinci family.
He had to spend two years in prison for embezzlement. After his release, Derek played a prominent role in the war between the Vinci and Moretti families in the early 1930s, and was rewarded with his current position.
The wedding with the goddaughter of Frank Vinci further strengthened Derek's position in the family. Derek is rude, cruel and greedy - ideal qualities for his job.
He died at the hands of Vito, after he found out that Derek was the initiator of the death of Antonio Scaletta (however, when Leo Galante is tasked to kill Carlo Falcone, you can call at the port and see Derek - presumably, he is there, since the authors forgot to turn off the game script , which is responsible for Derek's presence).
Stephen "Steve" Coyne.
Description:
Steve Coin. Mercenary of the Vinci family. Steve spent his childhood in rural Berkland, at the age of 16 he moved to Empire Bay.
When arrested for battery, Steve resisted and beat a police officer, as a result of which he was sentenced to ten years in prison, of which he served only five.
It was during his imprisonment that Steve met his cellmate Derek Pappalardo and began working for him in prison, and after his release he continued.
From the very beginning, he has a grudge against Vito, and during a shootout in the port, he shouts to him "I never trusted you, from the very first meeting!". Killed by Vito Scaletta.
Antonio "Tony Balsam" Balsamo.
Description:
Tony Balm. Member of the Falcone family. In 1933, Tony served as Tomaso Moretti's personal chauffeur and was seriously injured in a bomb explosion that killed his patron. After that, he mainly worked in racketeering for the Falcone clan.
Tony's latest assignment is to secure the family's accountant "Beans" Harvey Epstein and the Falcone financial secrets he holds. In the mission "Stairway to Heaven", Vito learns that Tony has been badly beaten and may not be able to walk.
Brian O'Neill.
Description:
Brian O'Neill. Irish gang leader. The O'Neill Gang has deep roots going back to the 19th century: Brian's grandfather, Jimmy O'Neill, led the once powerful criminal organization of the Irish.
The O'Neill clan first appeared in Empire Bay in the early 1800s. Brian has a motley pack of "vassals" under his command, with whom he often commits rash and cruel crimes. Killed by Vito.
Martin "Marty" Santorelli.
Description:
Marty Santorelli. A young man, a friend of Barbaro, an accomplice of the Clemente family, then Falcone. Marty Santorelli was born in Empire Bay in 1933.
His father worked as a projectionist at a large movie theater in Midtown, so since childhood, Marty has reviewed many different films, especially those with a gangster theme. Having dreamed up the romantic life of a mobster in his dreams, Marty began to hang around the Freddie's bar area as a teenager, just like his older neighbor and role model Joe Barbaro.
Over time, Marty began to work for Joe on errands: delivering messages, taking winnings from the bookmaker, polishing his car to a shine.
Joe sees a naive boy in Marty, so he ignores all requests to dedicate him to more serious matters, believing that he is not yet ready for this. Killed by Clemente's soldiers.
Shi Yoon Won "Mr. Won"
Description:
Mr Vaughn. Performer in the city organization of the Chinese gang "Triad". He is also the owner of the Red Dragon restaurant in Empire Bay Chinatown, which serves him to launder money and generate income from a drug den. There is an opium den in the basement of the restaurant.
Young Shi Yun Won arrived in America as a forced laborer on a ship of opium smugglers. When the ship anchored in Cape Peak, it escaped and headed east towards Empire Bay. Not knowing English and not having a penny, he became a slave of the Triad.
Vaughn slowly climbed the hierarchical ladder, guarding the opium censers, and eventually led the smuggling scheme.
He killed his own cousin for stealing a shipment of opium, and thus proved his loyalty, for which he received his current post.
Killed by Joe Barbaro, who was avenging Vaughn for the murder of Henry Tomasino.
Mikos "Mike" Bruschi.
Description:
Mike Brusky. Car junkyard owner in Riverside; buddy of Vito and Joe; a mechanic and formerly a felon who received two terms for bank raids in Lost Haven.
After his second term, Mike moved to Empire Bay and opened a car dump with hidden savings, where he trades various types illegal activities: trade in stolen spare parts, storage and purchase of stolen goods, assistance to organized crime in getting rid of material evidence.
Secondary characters #2.
Giuseppe Palminteri.
Description:
Giuseppe Palminteri. The best bugbear in Empire Bay. He often worked for the Sicilian mafia, including the release of thirteen notorious gangsters from a prison in the city of Palermo in 1917. When Mussolini came to power, Giuseppe moved to Empire Bay, where he continued to provide his services to the mafia families. Now the elderly Giuseppe has officially retired, he has no family and he lives only for the sake of his craft.
Bruno Levin.
Description:
Bruno Levin. Mafia pawnbroker, has his own office in Southport. Bruno is in charge of all loan sharks in the city, and his status is officially approved by the Empire Bay Mafia Assembly (Commissions).
Bruno's office is located in Southport in a rather nondescript building. Here he, with assistant Isaac, runs his business, lending money to the mafia to smaller colleagues, criminals and business people at extortionate interest and using gangsters to ensure security.
Almost all rich and respected persons borrow money from Bruno. But in one thing he is honest - Bruno has an equal attitude towards all clients, he strictly observes his obligations for each transaction, to the letter, but expects the same in return.
There are many stories that tell about the fate of those who failed to pay Bruno on time. For example, Mickey Gilliano, nicknamed "Crab", a soldier of the Falcone family, could not pay the debt at the right time, and Bruno's collectors cut off three fingers on both hands as "compensation".
Therefore, even the bosses of criminal families respect and fear Bruno and try not to anger him by paying their "loans" on time.
Harry Marsden.
Description:
Harry. A gun maniac who runs an illegal military equipment store in Kingston. Demobilization from the troops pushed Harry to the path of the “weapons baron” of a local scale.
He served six years in the American army, was a member of the Normandy landings and the subsequent liberation of France from German occupation. But somehow you have to have fun in the army in between battles! And then one day Harry, to his misfortune, decided to look into a brothel.
Climbing over the fence, he ran into a branch in the dark, as a result of which he was left without his left eye. Harold was written off as unfit for service and sent home.
Already at home, Harry used his army connections to gain access to surplus weapons in military depots.
Therefore, in between studying military history and drinking with army veteran buddies, Harry supplies weapons to the city's criminal organizations.
Andreas "El Greco" Karafantis.
Description:
El Greco. Doctor, Greek by nationality. He secretly provides medical care Empire Bay mafia families. El Greco received his medical degree in London and was at first a doctor at the Greek embassy.
In 1927 he was transferred to the office of the Greek ambassador in Empire Bay. Three years later, El Greco resigned from the embassy for having an affair with the ambassador's wife, after which he opened a private practice.
During the war of the Vinci and Moretti families, many gangsters passed through his hands. They paid well, and El Greco offered his services to the families.
He has a house in Highbrook, close to Leo Galante's mansion.
Sidney "Fat Man" Penn.
Description:
Fat Penn. Owner of a distillery in Empire Bay. Was once a companion of Alberto Clemente. In the late 1920s, Clemente bought out part of Pen's Empire Bay Cab & Co, through which he began to launder the proceeds from the alcohol trade.
Pen and the Mafia parted ways when Fat Man opened a distillery in Sand Island in 1939 and refused to take Alberto's share. Pen was confident in his own safety, having evidence against Clemente in his hands.
However, after his bodyguards finished off two unfortunate hitmen sent by a former partner, Pen strengthened personal protection. On February 20, 1945, there was an attempted murder on Sidney.
His motorcade was shot from a machine gun, almost all the guards were killed, and he himself was wounded.
Taken by surprise, Pen fired his revolver at Henry Tomasino and shot him in the leg. Enraged, Vito and Joe fired the entire clip from the weapon at the Fat Man.
Greasemen.
Description:
Greasemen. One of the Empire Bay gangs, they hang out in the garages and vacant lots of Millville, where they drive cars, drink and walk. They are named so because they style their hair with a special gel, among the people it has become known as “brioling”.
Jack Olivero.
Description:
Jack. A bartender at one of Empire Bay's most expensive restaurants, the Maltese Falcon, which in turn serves as the headquarters for the Falcone syndicate.
During Prohibition, Jack worked for Eddie Scarpa, delivering liquor from Tamborra. In 1928, Jack was arrested for smuggling and received time because he refused to cooperate with the police.
As a reward, Eddie and Carlo appointed him after his release from prison to his current job.
In his new position, Jack was quite satisfied with life, preferring to pretend not to notice the daily meetings of gangsters in the restaurant and the flows of money and smuggling passing through the institution.
Explain why Mafia is one of the greatest video games in history, a thankless job. Not because it is difficult, just to explain, it seems, and there is nothing. Even our duty saying “if you have never seen games in your life” will not work.
It will be difficult for a person who is far from the industry to explain what is good, for example, Starcraft 2, but Mafia speaks to its audience in a universal language and refers to well-known sources. In addition, as is usually the case with ingenious projects, in this game Chekhov successfully developed all- mechanics, staging, characters, design, music ... It is unlikely that in 2002 people from a provincial Czech studio were seriously going to make an interactive analogue of " Godfather". But that is exactly what they did.
The best evidence of their success for the author of this article is the following scene: when we were in the editorial office mafia 2, at one fine moment someone managed to turn on a random radio in a no less random kitchen. Having crunched juicy, the speaker began to play the theme from the first "Mafia" ... at that moment, everyone present somehow shuddered. "Has it really been eight years?" - flashed through my head. I suspect that everyone else at that moment thought about the same thing.
Quiet Don
Something else is much more interesting - why, with all the obviousness of the formula for success, for all these years no one has been able to do something like this? There was a video game based on scarface, there were two unsuccessful attempts to play the creativity of Mario Puzo, but they turned out to be mediocre action games and amateur GTA clones at best. All formal conditions seem to have been met - setting, mechanics, musical style, and on top - expensive film licenses ...
But mere observance of formalities, of course, was not enough. Illusion Softworks(today - 2K Czech) solved a problem of a much higher level: they tried to immerse the player as deep as possible in the world they invented. With sadistic determination, they forced us to live through all the events that happened to the main character.
If in the story Tommy Angelo is a taxi driver, then this meant that we would spend the first level behind the wheel of a cab, gloomily reflecting on the fact that honest work during the Great Depression did not earn a living. If it was necessary to load boxes with contraband into the car, then we were not shown a video, but were forced to push the load into the body on our own hump. And if at some point it was assumed that Tommy got behind the wheel of a sports car and retrained as a racer, then the action of the next level was transferred to the track, where it was necessary to come first to the finish line.
And no one cared that the game was actually about mafia showdowns, and driving vintage cars is a hundred times more difficult than any tarantass from GTA. Boss said we gotta win the race, so Tommy, start the engine and keep quiet. Not that copper basin, cement, quiet, but deep backwater and - bella ciao!
With this approach, one could not worry about the fact that the plot consists of 90 percent of clichés, and 10 percent of nonsense and gag of Czech provincials. Illusion Softworks turned every banal scene into personal experience, and from this she instantly ceased to seem banal.
Don, dear don
Mafia 2 works on the same principles. However, the plot this time has become more complicated and interesting. You probably already know how this story begins: a handsome young man Vito Scaletta returns from the war for a month's vacation. Right at the station, his best friend, Joe Barbaro, with whom they stole televisions in pre-conscription times, takes him by the elbow, and hints that last years got acquainted with the right people”, so now Vito does not have to return to the army, you just have to deal with a couple of pieces of paper. But here, in Empire Bay, there is a great job for him ...
In the second part, the writers abandoned their naive attempts to portray the gangster saga. Their story is much simpler and at the same time more realistic. There won't be a traditional oh-I-so-trusted-you-battle with a traitorous best friend, not even a love story. Vito and Joe are two sincere idlers who did not want to work since childhood, but wanted to earn money. Given their Italian origin, the best place for them is one of the city's three mafia families.
And the boys are starting to go to success. They don’t have much time - although the first and last missions are separated by a time period of six years, Vito spends five and a half of them behind bars (sorry, we can’t do without this spoiler). A couple of weeks before the arrest, a few months after - of course, during this time they will not have time to become either dons, or consiglieries, or even capos. But this is quite enough to get into the family, feel all the delights of tax-free income, make a lot of enemies and get into such troubles, of which there are only two exits, one of which leads - again - to a basin of cement and a quiet backwater.
Of course, everything turns out to be more complicated in the details: by the middle of the game, both heroes have a lot of reasons to cry into their pillows at night, and any video by this time will turn into a kaleidoscope of Italian surnames, in which you can get confused out of habit: Auditore (to avoid further spoilers, all names have been changed) are drug dealers, although the Organization has a strict ban on this. The Celentanos know about their affairs, so a war may begin soon, and it is not yet known who the Cipollino family will join ...
To be honest, if at some point you don’t follow this undercover fight, it’s okay. The main thing in Mafia 2 is how the two main characters develop over the course of their short but intense criminal biography. At the very beginning, real trifles are required of us: beat up a couple of stubborn port workers, steal some papers from the safe of the state office ... Then - the first contract killing, arrest, trial, a fight with homosexuals in the prison shower room, patronage of a criminal authority, early release, brothels , stolen cigarettes, Tomigans... Joe and Vito do not have time to notice how the pursuit of easy money turns into a dangerous and very difficult job. And by the time they realize it, it will be too late.
One of the most revealing episodes in the script is the day Vito was released from prison: six years have passed, the fifties are in the yard, summer is instead of winter, military-patriotic billboards on the streets have disappeared, completely different cars drive through the streets, and trendy rock sounds on the radio. n-roll. The developers have shown episodes from different halves of the game before, so we have already seen both appearances of Empire Bay, but it is after the painfully long episode with the prison, once we are free, we, along with Vito, understand that six whole years have passed us and that the world has changed forever.
Don's ghost on the hill
Although it is generally accepted that Mafia is a clone of GTA, the second part strongly refutes this claim. There are practically no optional tasks here, and no one will impose those that are on you - for example, the author of this text found out that you can rob stores in the game only in the penultimate mission.
You can also, contrary to the orders of the boss (“grab the barrel and come to me immediately!” - half of the fifteen game chapters begin here with this phrase) go to a car repair shop, repaint your favorite sedan in the color of a ripe apple, and then go shopping to buy new hats. But I don’t want to do all this: each episode in the game is a separate and extremely rich story, diluting it with vulgar car rides is simply stupid. In terms of structure, Mafia 2 is more like traditional action games: each mission has a strictly defined time of day and weather conditions that will not change unless the writers want it to.
In fact, all the most important and interesting things in the game happen within the framework of the route along which, according to the developers' intention, the player should move. The open city is nothing more than a huge scenery: cars drive there, newspapermen yell, bootblacks creak with rags, but there is no real life in Empire Bay. Passers-by are not that many, their faces are often repeated, and the best they can do is picturesquely press against the wall so as not to get hit by your car, and awkwardly slip on the ice during winter levels.
But what happens on missions! Another secret to Mafia's success is that here all the time something is happening. Going down the stairs of your house, you can find the police who are breaking in someone's door on the floor below. Next time there might be a smoking housewife. Or a dead drunk peasant in a dumpling cap. Tragic sighs are heard in the apartments you pass by… and this is even before you leave the entrance and get into the car!
Thousands of small details turn a clumsy story about two narrow-minded bandits into one of the most cinematic games of our time. Even the table of a third-rate clerk, which appears on the screen for exactly one and a half seconds, will never be empty - there will definitely be some papers on it or a glass with unfinished coffee. Or a fan. And in a deserted parking lot, you will definitely meet some crazy bum, selflessly carrying nonsense.
And again - the authors want you to plunge into this little world as deeply as possible. While each mission tends to end up as a rudimentary gunfight with cover, it's almost always preceded by a long story, each of which you'll be involved in personally. If it is said that Vito fought in Sicily, then this means that the first mission will begin with an operation to overthrow the Mussolini regime. If Joe and Vito are unloading a truck with cigarettes, this means that by pressing a button you must throw blocks of smoke from Joe from the back of the truck. If the warden in prison forces you to scrub urinals, grab a rag - and make it shine. Well, if Vito, for some reason, needs to get through the sewers, at some point something fetid will pour on him from the ceiling (the camera is positioned as if something is pouring personally to you in the face). Rest assured, the suit will then remain dirty until the end of the mission, and passers-by will make caustic comments in your direction so that you do not forget how smelly you are.
Maniacal attention to detail sometimes replaces fantasy for 2K Czech game designers - even though there are many identical shootouts in the game, how they are furnished! Always in unique scenery, always with something destructible: if you need to shoot someone's bar into chips, then you can be sure that it will shatter exactly into chips. Well, if a shootout takes place, say, inside a bar, then there will definitely be a lot of fragile glass objects.
All these small details, optional meetings and random episodes add up to a very, very realistic picture. Playing Mafia 2 is like watching a good movie, the director of which knows exactly where you will look in the next minute, and does not for a second let you doubt the reality of what is happening. The difference is that the player is personally involved in each key event of the process, and this, like eight years ago, excuses any clichés and absurdities that can break out of the characters' language.
Damn old don
We have already described in detail about innovations in mechanics in the previous issue, but just in case, we recall the main points. So, in skirmishes, a simple but functional cover system appeared. Opponents also happily use it, and, what pleases, they are trained to lean out of cover in several ways. Shooting has become more convenient, but no one says that it will be easy: health is restored, but slowly, and heroes die after one and a half bullets.
Driving around the city has become easier - the police no longer fine for running a red light, and sometimes we get away with speeding. But for those who are trying to escape from the scene of an accident, law enforcement officers hunt regularly. In addition, now they remember separately your appearance and car number, so even if you threaten a lot of money in a car repair shop, you can still be recognized at the intersection by an ordinary policeman.
In general, it feels like Mafia has become much more modern and friendly, but the hardcore past makes itself felt every now and then - especially if you turn on the realistic physics of the behavior of cars on the roads. Any carelessness, any presumptuous step (“yes, there are only two of them left in the room, right now I’m them!”) almost certainly ends in the failure of the mission, and this is as annoying as it was in 2002. Once, we were first forced to drive through the entire center of the city, line up behind the car of a mafia boss, follow him to settlements, sneak into the territory of a guarded facility ... after which (and twenty minutes passed) we were vulgarly barked guard dog, counted the failure, and the mission had to be completed from scratch.
But the most offensive in Mafia 2 is when the flawless image of the criminal metropolis cracks, and in the most unexpected places. For some reason in virtual world where in cheap bed bugs there are no two identical floors, all refuellers look the same. A blond saleswoman from a clothing store coos with a lovely French accent, but here's the bad luck: there are many boutiques in the city, and the girl and the accent are the same for everyone. Finally, delightful melodies on the radio begin to repeat themselves too quickly: given that there are only three radio stations, and remembering how things are in the same GTA, this is a rather weak result.
* * *
Mafia 2 doesn't have the scale that competing game creators are chasing. But they don't buy it for that. You want to live in the world of this game, and the word “live” here should not be understood in the sense that games like gothic or Oblivion. You won't stay here for long, but the few days that we spend together with Vito and Joe are worth many months of wandering through fantasy forests and hunting for elves of the eighty level. It will not be possible to exist peacefully here, here they offer to live a whole life - rich, stormy, sometimes tragically bloody, but always interesting. And when it comes to the finale (and Mafia 2 ends by no means with a shot or even with a pretentious monologue), you will sit in front of the screen for a long time. And then you will understand: for the sake of such games, eight years of waiting is not a time.
TRANSLATION: Localization from "1C-SoftKlab" turned out, let's say, uneven. Most of the actors (even Boris Repetur, who usually voices everyone) perfectly match their roles, but some - especially the main characters - sometimes for some reason break down, start speaking in some voices that are not their own and confuse intonations. In addition, for some reason, the speech of DJs on the radio is not translated, so if you do not know English, then the sensational news that smoking can be harmful to health will pass you by.
replay value-Yes
cool story-No
Originality-No
Easy to master-Yes
Justified expectations: 70%
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 9
Sound and music: 10
Interface and control: 8
Did you wait? Even eight years later, Mafia can still grab the player by the whirlwinds and drag them into their small but highly detailed world, in which expensively dressed men drink whiskey, carry corpses in trunks, go to prostitutes and listen to jazz.
"Fabulous"
Localization score: 2/3