Mafia II

A few years back, I played a pretty revolutionary pc game called "Mafia".  Unlike Grand Theft Auto or other open world titles, The original Mafia was  quite revolutionary in telling a realistic mafia story.  I had extreme high hopes for Mafia 2, and I've been eagerly waiting for it's release for the better part of 2010.   Now, twelve hours later after getting my hands on the final product, I'm left disapointed and wondering what exactly went wrong?
 
It's a shame too.  I figured because of the extra development time after it's delay from May 2010 to August, that it would be much more polished then it turned out to be.  For starters, this isn't an open world that you'll want to really explore, which is probably Mafia 2's biggest downfall.  Besides a handful of collectibles and the ability to rob stores, Empire City offers pretty much no side quests.  A huge mistake for any open world game.  
 
So let's get past that mistake.  I was highly intrigued by story from the get go here, starting out in Sicily during the war makes for a great story backdrop, but nothing is really done with it.  Once you get past the first chapter, you realize how linear and short this game is going to be.   I'll also point out at this time I played through this entire game on the hardest difficulty, and for the first ten chapters, it's a breeze.  I died once.  Then something happens to this game.  When you reach Chapter eleven, it's if all polish from the game fades away, and out comes a multitude of broken gameplay.  The first thing I noticed within this new-found broken gameplay was that the once great cover system, turns to complete trash.  I found myself getting shot at through brick and steel walls, which is utterly ridiculous to even comprehend.  Then, to make matters worse, the game changes from taking about three shots to die, to taking one shot and your dead.  Last time I checked, this isn't a Tom Clancy game.   Finally, in an attempt to make the game seem longer, Chapter 14 gives you a small section to free roam.  
 
One thing I have to give mad props for in this game though is the combat system.  Hand to hand combat works wonders here, and is probably the best hand to hand combat this side of Fight Night.  The shooting mechanics are decent enough, just like any third person shooter.  However, the driving mechanics, although not as poor as Grand Theft Auto 4's, aren't anything special either.
 
This game seems to penalize the player when you free roam, which troubles me because I still have to go back and finish up getting collectibles and a handful of other achievements that I missed.   I will point out that the voice acting and sound here is top notch.  The story, however, just hashes out about every Mafia cliche you've seen throughout the last forty-years of cinema. 
 
Mafia 2 isn't a terrible game, and for the achievement hunter, it'll net you a pretty easy 1000 points to your gamerscore.  Just don't expect the world out of this game.