Mafia II

[JRD]

Since we are now officially an open world dedicated site, I thought we may keep an eye at any game that has "open world" and "destructible environment" in their previews, so here is one I bumped in while doing my homework

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/mafia2/news.html?sid=6208079&tag=topslot;img;1

Looks good. Will wait for the reviews though
Anyone played Mafia I?

[PZ]

Nice graphics JRD - looks like another one to explore.  We might consider developing a list of who is planning to get what game so that we could have a player or two evaluate the game and report to the rest of the group.  I know a couple I'm planning on getting for sure (Warhound and the Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood) - probably more of the ones already posted, but have not had the chance to do much deep diving.

[Art Blade]

I didn't play mafia1, but I read good things about mafia 2.

Maybe after a while a game emerges of all those mentioned that we all play (apart from FC2 of course)

[JRD]

I am definitly waiting for Operation Flashpoint 2.
Release date is a bit confuse though. Some post said it has been postpond to september, which wold be really bad... some others said it will be released on TBA, whatever that is...
I'll wait til next month and keep checking the Codemasters site for new info

[Art Blade]

indeed, that dragon thing... All I say is, destructible environment  :D I hope they have handgrenades!

[JRD]

Art... think that will do??

[smg id=96 type=av]

[spaceboy]

That's a wicked clip, do they have others? 

[Art Blade]

JRD, just saw that in the gallery and commented, INDEED, that's my kind of thing!!! absolutely great of you to find that one in particular. Incredible  :D

[PZ]

Really cool vids JRD,

And you know what else is really cool?  The fact that we have so many eyes that are bringing news to the site.  Each of us is bringing snippets of games so that others can benefit from the investigation.  Eyes that appreciate the same genre of games - this is so cool...

[JRD]

Don't want to go off topic, so..
Yes, saceboy, they have more cool vids like that one.
Check them out here

http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?topic=23.new#new

Think Art will enjoy it too... and all other FPS fans here as well ;)

[Art Blade]

with reference to PZ: my eyes are starting to bleed already  ;D

[Didius Falco]

For my money, I'd buy Mafia and hold off on Mafia 2 until it gets to the cheap Platinum version, with the DLC included. Mafia is one of my all-time favorites; enough of one that I bought Mafia 2 as a new release.

Mafia 2 is short ( I finished it in under 15 hours easily), and while the city is very nice, there really isn't anything to do aside from the missions. You can rob gas stations, clothing stores, bars and restaurants and gun shops, but money is never really an issue throughout the game. You can also steal cars and take them to a crusher, for an average of 400$ each, but again, you'll make enough money just doing the missions. You can steal cars, take them to a garage and change the plates and paint job to "legalize" it, buy new rims and tune the engine, and, of course, repair any damage to the car.

There isn't much to buy in the game - guns & ammo, food and drink, clothes and the aforementioned car stuff.

While the city is large, it's also eerily dead - no talking with or by pedestrians, other than a few obviously scripted ones.

All in all, It's worth a quick play-through or two, but I'd wait until the price drops a long way. I want 85 of my 100 Aussie dollars back! 

[PZ]

Wow, that's a steep price for a game, particularly one that plays through so quickly.  Thanks for posting.  :-X

[Art Blade]

yes and indeed -- cheers, mate  :) :-X

[fragger]

$100AU is certainly nothing unusual for a game here, in fact it's very common for a game to be something like $99.90. Anything of a media nature, like CDs, DVDs, etc, is dear in Oz compared to many other countries.

Thanks for the heads up, JRD :-X And thanks Didius for the mini-review :-X

[B33 ENN]

Heard the words "sandbox... openworld..." and bought this and its predecessor in the Steam Holiday sale.

Look forward to checking it out although I constantly hear people say the original is better  :-\\ Which is the opposit with Just Cause 1 vs 2...

PS - Not sure why this and GTA IV are under "Race & Flight" though since they are more 3PS shooter/adventures games, and not about driving dynamics  ????

[Fiach]

Actually M2 has more driving than shooting, which is one of the games main problems.You spend an inordinate amount of time driving to and from a mission, compared to the time in the mission itself

I really enjoyed the game alot, but while it is "open world" there is nothing to do there except drive really old cars.

There are DLC's which open the world a bit more, but I havent bothered with them.

Try Saboteur, if you want an open world game in that era, it has shooting, driving, racing, sandbox events (like pigeon shooting), tons of missions, platforming and probably the most beautiful explosions this side of Art's headshots in BL  >:D

[Art Blade]

PS - Not sure why this and GTA IV are under "Race & Flight" though since they are more 3PS shooter/adventures games, and not about driving dynamics  ????

Both games feature a lot of cars to drive around with. Those games may fit into various categories, but I think we should decide which one, so it is race and flight. That subject (R&F) is only a general way of saying "loads of cars or planes in it" :)

and probably the most beautiful explosions this side of Art's headshots in BL  >:D

^+-+ :-X

A shame, really, that we can't have a simple way of reproducing scenes from BL, not even screenshots.. Because I did have a couple of tremendously beautiful headshots half across the map with the biggest scopes on the biggest rifles and massive rounds to boot with  ;D