Didn't really like how it ended so abruptly, and it didn't make much sense. Basically just made Vito out to be a total asshole. Joe had the chance to off you for personal gain, yet didn't out of the friendship they spent the entire game building up, yet seconds later he is being sent to his death and Vito doesn't even protest. Makes even less sense considering the mission before that was basically a 20 minute long suicide mission to go rescue him.
Overall I didn't think the story was as good. I think it still had brilliant voice acting and so on, but I think the pacing is a bit weird. In Mafia 1 there felt like a clear beginning, middle and end, where as here it felt like most of the game was one big middle, and then suddenly decided to end. In Mafia 1 you go from a nobody, to a wiseguy doing dirty work, to being one of the most trusted guys given all the important jobs, and its this believable transition of this rise and fall within the family. Here you sort of never really progress, even when you're a made guy you're still getting chumped by people, left and right. I feel like they wanted you to feel this same sort of dramatic fall from grace like Tommy Angelo did, but instead it doesn't make much sense why Vito and Joe are even in the positions they're in.
There were loads of twists in there that I think the story didn't really earn, or plot points they didn't really flesh out enough to give them the impact they were supposed to have. His sister just sort of comes and goes, Leo coming back is just this sudden deus ex machina moment, Henry being a rat is sort of the same. Most of all I just feel like there aren't enough principle characters to draw you in. Mafia 1 had Tommy, Sammy and Paulie as your main 3, but then even Salieri, Frank, Lucas, etc all felt like you were part of this little group, where as most of the time here, its you and Joe and occasionally a third who gives the mission context, so it makes even less sense that at the end they're like "Oh yeah, by the way you just let Joe die without a word"
I remember in Mafia 1, you really felt an allegiance to Salieri and the gang, etc where as here there is basically no loyalty to any one group, so most of the time you wonder who the fuck you're supposed to be rooting for, or what anybodies intentions really are, etc.
Most of all im a bit disappointed the story basically hurries to the same conclusion that the first did - a deal behind your bosses back that pisses off the wrong people and ends up being your demise. I mean you just go on a suicide mission to rescue Joe, basically taking on an entire Family and the Police force to get back your lifelong mate, who then dismisses the chance to rise up by betraying and killing you without a seconds thought, yet when its the other way around Vito just goes "Fair enough" , which would be fine if he was a hard nosed dick or they'd built up some sort of resentment towards Joe, but they basically smashed home the element of mates sticking together for the last 8 hours.
have an awful feeling that the ending is actually setting up some DLC, which would piss me off massively. I would hate if I went to a movie and then 5 minutes from the end they switched it off and went "yeah pay another 3 quid and you can see how it ends" Thats bullshit in a narrative driven game. Im all for extra content showing different subplots or different arcs of a story like in say Mass Effect 2, but its a dick move to do that in a game that had one completely linear story thread all the way through. The more I think about Mafia 1, the better I think the story is, not just in comparison to 2, but just when compared to other games in general. Its SO well done, might be the best videogame ending ever for me.
No idea why im analysing it so much, I guess the fact I am shows I still enjoyed the story. But yeah
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