Mafia stories are about the pursuit of the American dream. Typically, they’re tales of a character who tries to claim a his share of the world’s wealth and riches. And, as is true with all mafia tales, these rewards come at a great cost. In the case of Mafia II, our hero doesn’t want to be the Don, nor is he power hungry. He is in this life because this is (what he believes) to be the only thing he’s good at. He simply wishes to exist and make as much money as possible. If he happens to meet a dire end as a result of these actions, so be it. Instead of giving players a character who will rise through the ranks to achieve the rank of Best-Mobster-Ever — like EA’s approach to the Godfather videogames — we’re given one who is content with being the middleman. But in the process of trying to create a serious narrative, Mafia II falls into the trend of other sandbox games: it reminds you time and time again that with “you’re playing a videogame” moments that break the hard work put into crafting this narrative in the first place.
It’s a common problem: in these fully realized worlds, you’re often given the ability to create moments that don’t fit into the world you’re playing in. Games like Grand Theft Auto 4 or Saints Row 2 get away with this because their created fiction is full of puns and tongue-in-cheek humor. Mafia II on the other hand, a game that tries to create a serious narrative and a world full of colorful characters, instantly falls apart as soon as you’re allowed to toss random pedestrians off a boat pier. Or when you comically picks up a Playboy magazine to view the centerfold in the midst of a heated gun battle (one of the most off-putting collectibles in videogames to date).
