Ok, so I finally managed to finish Mafia II yesterday. My final impression of the game is that it could have been so much more. The thing which disappointed me the most was without a doubt the story itself. While the cutscenes were all great and the voice acting excellent, the script in general really sucked. I never felt really attached to the main character and there wasn't even one EPIC moment that I recall from the game. If Mafia II were to be made into a movie, it would have sucked balls. The story is one thing which the original got right. At that time, having that kind of story in a game was a great achievement. But today, with so many games driven by fantastic story, Mafia II's story felt really cheap.
Everything else about the game, I liked. The graphics without a doubt were among the best in any sandbox game. The game was heavily optimized for PC and despite having such sweet graphics it was not too taxing on the system. Coming to the gameplay, there wasn't really anything wrong with it. The Driving was fantastic and the shooting was great too. Definately better than GTA 4. Although the hand to hand combat was irritating at best.
The problem with the game was mission design. I am not complaining about the linear gameplay but the whole "drive all the way from one place to another to just trigger a cutscene was a little tiresome. But where this game really excelled was at getting the atmosphere right. 1950's looked beautiful in the game. I only wish they would have implemented whether change like that of GTA 4 and not had it specific to the missions.
Overall, it was a time well spent. If the story would have been more engaging, this could have become a classic.
My Rating : 8.5/10