Humanity may not have the time machine yet, but we do have “Mafia II.”
A dizzying digital metropolis seems to visit the video game world about once a month, but none feels as uncannily real as the 1940s New York, er, Empire City, that serves as the backdrop for “Mafia II.” Where other video game cities feel like theme parks, Empire City feels like a peek into a place where people could actually live. Motorists are pulled over looking under their hoods. Diners and shoppers discuss the war. Even the way cars crash is startling — almost educational — in its attention to detail.
Not only does “Mafia II” create a convincing 1940s, after something happens at some point in the story — mum’s the word — the action flashes forward a decade, and the cars, the music on the radio and even the architecture change dramatically.
In keeping with the set design, the story, which takes about 15 hours to complete if you never stop to enjoy the scenery, is on par with a Scorsese film (if every conversation in a Scorsese film ended with the characters gunning down waves of henchmen running at them down a hallway).
There’s a hazard, though, in making a game this way. If you craft an utterly convincing world, the mechanics of the game must also be seamless, or they will ruin the illusion. You might be in a building whose every faucet and light works, whose windows can be opened to view a canyon of fire escapes, whose fridges can be opened to access food, but talking to people requires you to stare at them for several seconds waiting to see if they have dialogue programmed. Police will ignore you if you’re driving on the sidewalk, but if you get in a fender-bender, they’ll immediately radio in a hit-and-run before they’ve even had a chance to see if you’re going to pull over and exchange information.
Between its exhilarating firefights and inimitable sense of place, “Mafia II” is an amazing piece of craftsmanship, which highlights flaws that would blend into the overtly false world of a lesser game.
