Mafia II



Mafia II is an action-adventure video game and a sequel to the original Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, developed by 2K Czech (formerly Illusion Softworks) and published by 2K Games. It was released on August 24, 2010.

During World War II, Vito Scaletta, a young poverty-stricken resident of the city Empire Bay (a Fictional Counterpart of New York City, with elements from San Francisco), is caught committing robbery and he chooses serving in the army during their invasion of Europe instead of going to jail. Vito is however wounded in service, and is send home to Empire Bay for a month - but upon his arrival, he discovers that the things has taken a turn for the worse. His father has died and has left his family with a massive debt of $2000... money which the local loan shark is getting quite anxious to get back.

While Vito has been gone, his friend, the small-time criminal Joe Barbaro, has been busy getting connections within the local Clemente crime family. He is able use them to get Vito some forged discharge documents and foot in the the mob's door, offering Vito a chance to pay off the family debt.

Mafia II is followed by Mafia III in 2016, which marked a stark departure from the rest of the series as it put players in the shoes of not a typical Italian-American mobster but of a mixed-race Vietnam War veteran who seeks revenge against the Mafia for killing his adopted family. Both Mafia II and III were remastered and updated in 2020 with the subtitle Definitive Edition as part of the Mafia Trilogy collection (which included the remake of the original game), with all DLC included and Steam owners of the original release getting the remaster for free.

""How lucky can one guy be? . . .""
 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Semi averted during "Balls and Beans", when Vito must sneak into a slaughterhouse through a sewer. Although the sewer has ample room for him to walk through and allows him to enter undetected, the trip is unpleasant, as Vito is unable to avoid stepping in revolting sewage water and even has unmentionable sludge dumped on him halfway in. It goes without saying that Vito's presence is easily sensed, or rather smelt, after that.
 * Anachronism Stew: Playboy magazines appear throughout the game, which starts in 1945 and ends in 1951, when in Real Life Playboy's first issue was realeased in 1953.
 * The game also has a radio newsflash about polls showing Dwight Eisenhower and his running mate Richard Nixon easily winning the presidency in the 1952 election in September of 1951. Eisenhower didn't announce his candidacy until March of 1952 and even after announcing it faced a tough primary battle before getting the nomination.
 * Anticlimax Boss:, but Your Mileage May Vary. Those Molotov cocktails can do a lot of damage.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Mostly averted with the gunfights, bullets will happily tear up bosses as easily as they do mooks. In the final fight  can take about 3 or 4 times as much punishment as a standard Mook, but that still means he'll go down in less than a dozen shots.
 * Awesome Yet Practical: The 1928 Thompson Sub-machine Gun. Holds 50 Rounds and has fairly good accuracy when shot in single short bursts at long range. Best of all, it's commonly dropped by enemies making ammo nearly infinite.
 * And it looks totally awesome, to boot!
 * The Shotgun, Thompson M1-A1, and the M1 Garand apply as well.
 * Bag of Spilling: There are several points in the game where you end up losing all your money and guns. This is especially aggrevating if you spent time selling stolen cars to grind up your cash reserves, although it does help emphasis the game's point that the criminal life isn't all it's cracked up to be.
 * Back Seats Are Just for Show
 * Badass Bystander: While robbing a store there's the chance that one or more customers will pull handguns and fight Vito.
 * Being Evil Sucks:
 * Berserk Button: Mention Vito's father Hurt Vito's sister  Mention money to Vito  Murder his colleagues EVERYTHING
 * Big Applesauce: Empire Bay.
 * Brooklyn Rage
 * Butt Monkey: Poor Vito spends the entire game bouncing from one collossal fuck-up to another, without ever really getting a chance to enjoy La Dolce Vita. This is in contrast to Tommy from the first game, who's shown to live it up pretty well up until his fall from favor at the end.
 * Casual Danger Dialogue: Even if you're driving terribly and keep on crashing into people, cars, and/or street signs. Even if you're being chased by the police, your friends in the car will continue to talk casually. The worst you can get is Joe scolding you for running the red light.
 * Chekhov's Gun: In Chapter 3, Vito steals ration stamps from the Office of Price Administration and sells them to gas station attendants around the city. Three chapters later, it turns out
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Everybody in the Mafia, towards everybody else. The only exception is the bond of loyalty between Vito and Joe that endures throughout the entire game,
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Just watch this video. It has broken the previous record for most f-bombs in one game, previously held by House Of The Dead: Overkill.
 * Continuity Nod: Vito and Joe
 * Retcon / Broad Strokes:
 * The Consigliere: Leo Galante.
 * Controllable Helplessness:
 * Cool Car: Most of them could qualify, really.
 * Critical Existence Failure: In the fighting sequences, Vito can take a parade of haymakers, jab combos and uppercuts. But once his health is too low, a single jab will send him crashing to the floor in a heap.
 * Deliberate Values Dissonance: The characters are about as racist as you can get in a game without causing a controversy. For instance: Vito asks Joe if he drove to the bar (in an African-American community), and Joe replies, "I wouldn't park my car in this neighborhood!"
 * Not to mention the countless times somebody says 'chink', 'dago' and 'mick'.
 * Die, Chair, Die!: A lot of Empire Bay's environment is destructible, notably the Hotel interior in Room Service and an entire Diner in The Wild Ones.
 * Do Not Do This Cool Thing: "The old game was a tribute to gangster movies, a romantic vision. Mafia II is grittier, real, a darker world, and the effects are based in reality." - Daniel Vávra, Writer and Director of Mafia explaining the decision to make the sequel Darker and Edgier.
 * Downer Ending:

""You've always been a quick healer, must be your diet or something.""
 * This is Mafia, after all.
 * Also, consider the Shoot the Shaggy Dog moment right after
 * Dropped a Bridge on Him:
 * Drugs Are Bad: Actually, the message is more "Drug dealing is bad." Henry comes to you with a chance to make a little money on the side by dealing heroin. So they borrow money from Bruno, and go to work  So at the end of the day,   And don't worry, it gets worse.
 * Drunken Song: Joe and Eddie at one point drunkenly sing along to Dean Martin's "Return to Me" on the radio.
 * Drowning My Sorrows:
 * Dummied Out: A look on the script files in the PC version reveals that the game was originally going to be much bigger. Remains of scripting still exists for a bunch of missions and side missions, usable melee weapons and car trunks, sections of Empire Bay and children NPCs, all of which were cut from the final version. This has raised some controversy in the gaming community, to the point where it has invoked the Wiki Rule.
 * Enemy-Detecting Radar: Here, it detects all enemies and police.
 * Every Car Is a Pinto: Semi-averted. Cars won't explode if you smash them or shoot the engine, but will burst into flames and explode if you Attack Its Weak Point.
 * Evil vs. Evil: C'mon! This is Mafia! And the police ain't no better, either.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 * Fat Bastard: Frederico "Fat Derek" Papalardo and Sidney Pen.
 * Sidney is even nicknamed Fat Bastard by the protagonists.
 * The Fifties: 1951, to be precise, but many elements from the rest of the decade crop up during the period.
 * It draws about 5 songs from The Sixties and cars up to 1957, so it's more or less The Theme Park Version.
 * Foreshadowing: Henry says that his thirteenth contract is unlucky because he almost got his balls shot off.
 * "...but how's [your] English so good?"
 * Game Breaking Bug: In Chapter 14 (Stairway to Heaven) you will be tasked with delivering the money earned to  When you arrive at  the door that leads into the building will occasionally not allow entry, making further progression into the game impossible. Even more troubling is the fact that if the player is able to enter the door and trigger the cutscene, the game will sometimes enter an endless loading loop from which it will not recover.
 * Genre Shift: The game mostly involves driving and gunplay, but in a couple of missions - namely "Enemy of the State" and "Balls and Beans" - it shifts to a stealth-based game.
 * Good Times Montage: One shows up at the end of Chapter 9, appropriately set to "Let The Good Times Roll". And another one is in Chapter 12, as Vito, Joe and Henry get into drug dealing. Watching your character buy nice stuff and kick the shit out of a guy while "Let The Good Times Roll" plays is pretty representative of this game.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: Optional, hidden Playboy centerfolds, as well the harder-to-find wanted posters depicting members of the development team.
 * Greedy Jew: Bruno, the loan shark.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Joe is Harvey Bullock.
 * Carlo Falcone is King Bumi.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fistfight against . After you land a few good hits on him, he automatically starts countering every single one of your attacks until your health almost drops to zero, which starts the next cutscene.
 * How We Got Here: The game starts with Vito looking in his photo-album and reminiscing his life. We finally catch up with him in chapter 15.
 * Hyperactive Metabolism: Consumption of food and drinks, including beer and cola, regains the part of your health that doesn't regenerate.
 * Lampshaded by Joey:


 * Hyperspace Arsenal: In stark contrast to the first game.
 * I Have a Family: Sidney Pen mentions this as he's begging Henry for his life. It doesn't work.
 * It Will Never Catch On: One guard in the background at the government office describes his idea for an interactive television game, only to be scoffed at.
 * Knife Fight: Vito and Brian O'Neill
 * Luxury Prison Suite: Leo Galante's cell.
 * The Mafia: As the title shows, the game is about the Mafia.
 * "Mister Sandman" Sequence: For the 1950s when, complete with the song in the trope name.
 * More Dakka: The Model 1928 Thompson and, ultimately, the MG-42.
 * Nice Hat: Snappy fedoras are, of course, plentiful.
 * No Flow in CGI: Mafia II averts this, at least partially, with the loose ends of your character's jacket, tie or trenchcoat flapping about when in motion, courtesy of an improved Phys X engine. This feature was a selling point promoted by the developers before release, even though it has absolutely no bearing in gameplay. It's not perfect either; push the limits of the game engine, and said parts of Vito's clothes may end up stuck and mangled within his body.
 * No-Gear Level: Played straight in Chapter 11 and Chapter 14.
 * No Honor Among Thieves: One of the main themes of the overall story, in contrast to the more romantized version of "The Family" seen in the first game.
 * Police Brutality:
 * Politically-Correct History: Oh, so averted. Racism of all stripes, segregation and sexism are on full display. Of course, to avoid being too offensive, they did have to dig up some pretty antique slurs.
 * Product Placement: Playboy magazine shows up (even if it's before 1953). Justified in that it amplifies the period atmosphere.
 * Punk in the Trunk: In the seventh chapter,
 * Real Men Cook: Leo Galante cooks for himself in prison, and has a rather nice kitchen in his mansion.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: You have the option of wearing a pink suit and fedora, which is not very far-fetched as the color was associated with boys up until the late-1950s. Still, the notion of going on a murderous rampage dressed in what is now considered a girly color will strike some players as being ironic and hilarious.
 * Wear it to the tense and dramatic initiation scene and watch the atmosphere dissolve!
 * Regenerating Health: Moving away from the first game's reliance on wall-mounted first aid kits, Mafia II now has the player's health roughly refilled automatically by up to 60% after taking several serious hits and avoid further injuries for several seconds (except during fistfights). The rest is healed by eating or drinking.
 * Roof Hopping: In "Murphy's Law".
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Vito, after he discovers who killed his father. Also, Jimmy in Jimmy's Vendetta.
 * Scenery Porn: Empire City is really quite gorgeous, especially in the snow.
 * Shout-Out: "Would you kindly?". I see what you did there Take-Two.
 * In one mission you encounter in a prison yard a prisoner who mutters the famous line: All Your Base Are Belong to Us, You have no chance to survive make your time. Guess?
 * One of the Achievements/Trophies is called Get Rich or Die Flyin'.
 * Shoplift and Die: Attempting to steal items from a gunstore will cause the owner to pull out a shotgun and shoot you.
 * Shown Their Work: It's an almost totally accurate period piece; notably, when Vito mentions to Joe in 1945 that he's driven a Jeep, Joe replies, "What the hell's a Jeep?" as the first civilian models didn't appear until later that year.
 * Depends on where you're looking. Barring the storyline, many aspects of the game appear ahead of their time, like songs ("The Fat Man" by Fats Domino, a 1949 song, shows up in 1945 Empire Bay, and Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" only debuted nine years after the end of events in the game in real-life) and cars (especially those circa 1951, like the Shubert Beverly, a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air look-alike). Seems more like the creators opted for an Artistic License to make the most out of the time periods the game is set in.
 * The most egregrious are a 1964 song in 1951, and a 1963 song in 1945, as well as a 1949 Caddilac Expy in 1945 and a 1957 Ford expy in 1951.
 * The worst part is that most anachronisms had been avoided had they just set the 50's in 1956, as almost all the music would fit and so would the cars...
 * The retcon above would have been unnecessary aswell.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: A lot, assuming you leave the radio on default stations--for instance, after you get handed a pistol for the first time, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" comes on.
 * As well as "Happiness is a Thing Called Joe", "Maybe", "Chow Mein", and "Come Softly to Me", and their granddaddy - "Bellville".
 * Take Cover: Essential for your survival in gun fights, especially on hard difficulty.
 * The Theme Park Version: How the game treats The Fifties and to a lesser extent, The Forties.
 * Such as a certain 1964 song appearing in 1945, and a song of the same year in 1951. Cars too.
 * The Triads and the Tongs: The latter play a pretty important role fairly late in the game.
 * Third-Person Shooter: With plenty of driving.
 * Tragic Hero: Vito, forced into the life of villainy only to save his own family from a monstrous debt - and ending up wasting all his effort!! He also ends up becoming violent himself.
 * Two Shots From Behind the Bar: Bartenders will pull a shotgun on Vito if he tries to rob them.
 * Villain Protagonist: In contrast to Tommy from the first game, a law-abiding schmuck who pretty much only joined because he needed protection and was gradually seduced by the Family way, Vito makes it clear he sees himself as a man of violence who is willing to hurt people for money and is simply in it to get rich or die trying. However, by the end he learns that Being Evil Sucks.
 * "Wake-Up Call" Boss:  So you've gotten the hang of running and gunning. From cover, without it, doesn't matter to you, so long as you meet your enemy face to face. Not this guy. Not only is he surrounded by Elite Mooks, but he   Be ready to have your skills tested.
 * Wanted Meter: For minor infractions like speeding, the cops only want to ticket you. For more severe crimes like beating people up, they'll bring out the cuffs and try to arrest you. Start killing? The gloves are off, and they'll bring out the guns - first pistols, then shotguns, and then Thompsons.
 * If you're fighting someone and no one has died, however, a cop will just stop the fight.
 * What Could Have Been: among the things axed from the final versions were working taxicabs, subway system, moving trains, ability to buy cars and houses, melee weapons like knives and baseball bats, a job system and a race track. But considering the racing mission from the first game...
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: What happened to Vito's Sister? She is last seen late in the game, then she is never mentioned again.
 * When last heard from, . That strikes me as enough justification for her not being seen again.
 * World War II: One third of the storyline is set against the latter half of the conflict. The United States' participation in the war is in full swing, evident in Empire Bay with World War II-themed music on the radio, and off-duty troops and army trucks.
 * Hell, even
 * Writer Revolt: Writer and Director Daniel Vávra, apparently dissatisfied with 2k, left the development team mid-production, explaining that "I want to do my stuff according to myself."
 * You Killed My Father:
 * You Bastard:
 * You Killed My Father:
 * You Bastard: