My previous experiences with Mafia II were all too brief and only took me through the briefest of missions in the Mafia world. This time around, I got to tackle four different chapters taken from throughout the entirety of the game. These chapters were chosen to highlight the different time periods in the game, as well as tell a fairly coherent story, despite the disjointed nature of skipping several chapters in between each of the four we played.

The storytelling in Mafia II is, without a doubt, some of the best I have seen in a game of this type. The script (originally written in Czech) has been wonderfully localized by the team at 2K, featuring sharp writing that really helps elevate the experience. While the story itself is nothing all too impressive (WWII vet returns home to find family in debt, looks to the mafia for assistance, and ends up climbing the ranks), the way that story is told is pretty impeccable. Most of the dialogue in the game is rock solid, and very little the characters say seems forced or unnatural. The devs apparently took some liberties with some of the slightly anachronistic language used, but this was done on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, the voice acting in the title is spot on, and really captures that Godfather vibe, without resorting to any cheesy Italian accents.

All of this is bolstered by a refreshing succinctness that has seemed to be lacking in many recent games. For as good as it was (and it was freaking great), Red Dead Redemption seemed to drag on forever in each of the storytelling sequences. Thankfully, by comparison, everything in Mafia II was punched up a bit. The pacing wasn’t designed to exactly match that of a motion picture, but rather to suit a game that would last 10+ hours. The cinematography in the game’s cutscenes was also really impressive, and helped suck me in to the mobster movie vibe the game was striving for. There was even a totally killer montage scene that felt like it was ripped straight from Goodfellas. The other journalists on hand and I all agreed that it was cool seeing events that we might otherwise have played told in a flashy and engaging manner.

The streamlining applied to the storytelling in the game extends to the rest of the gameplay as well. Even through my several previous encounters with the title, I was under the impression that it was an open-world game. After spending about four hours playing through the four chapters on display, it became apparent that this title might be a bit of a misnomer. though there is a large game world in which you play, there is very little off the beaten path to go and do. The main flow of the story missions is where your focus will lie, and this is hardly a bad thing. The game was decidedly more linear than I thought it would be, which allowed for much more focused and structured action sequences.

At its core, Mafia II is an action game. There are some stealth elements, but these are largely mission dependent, and again add to the flow of the game, rather than halting it. Most of the missions involve taking out assassination targets, stealing cars, planting explosives, or just roughing people up a bit. It was all really immersive, and each mission I played tied in nicely to the story surrounding it. The focus on action doesn’t preclude some exploration elements, though these are largely relegated to nabbing collectibles throughout the game. There are pieces of game art as well as wanted posters strewn throughout the environment, though the most alluring collectibles are the Playboy centerfolds. These are taken straight from Playboy magazines of the fifties, and feature some pretty brazen nudity for a videogame. I was a little taken aback that the ESRB would allow something like this, but apparently, the fact that these centerfolds aren’t interactive lowers their offensiveness.

All of the core mechanics in the game hold together really well and make for a tight experience. The shooting is fully realized, with the obvious, modern inclusion of a cover system helping things flow along. The guns all feel great, and the sound design is top notch. Melee combat was also fairly impressive. It was a pretty simple affair, but it felt visceral and engaging, and only really popped up in occasional sequences where I found myself without a gun. On top of all that, the driving is pretty fun, with a wide variety of cars from which to choose, and a lot of nice customization options, including the ability to make a vanity license plate.

Everything in Mafia II seems geared towards absolute immersion. The score is amazing, heightening tension throughout the experience, and the licensed tracks from the ‘40s and ‘50s are awesome. One of the coolest things about the chapters I played through was that they took place from 1945 to 1953. As the era changed, so too did the architecture of the buildings, the cars available, the music on the radio, and the overall tone of the world around you. The game starts off fairly bleak, as the War had just ended. As things move into the fifties, spirits were raised, and rock ‘n roll attitude started making an entrance. Feeling this tonal shift in the world around me as I played was awesome and drew me in to the experience more than I anticipated.

After leaving 2K with some delightfully inappropriate swag, I realized just how excited I was for Mafia II. This may just end up being the definitive mobster game when it hits August 24.