Mafia II Guide by Colin Moriarty It’s a fact -- people are absolutely enamored with the mob. This fascination goes way back to the earliest parts of the 20th century, but came to the fore in 1969, when Mario Puzo released his quintessential mafia book The Godfather. By the time the book was made into a movie in the early 1970s, America’s (and the world’s) love with the Italian-American underground was fully cemented, and we ’ve never looked back. Especially in the realm of cinema, we are inundated with mafia and mobster movies. We just can’t get enough. Gaming is a different beast than cinema, of course, but with games like The Godfather, the mobster gaming sub-genre seems to be coming into its own. Mafia II itself is the long-awaited sequel to the game Mafia, released way back in 2002. The game focuses on a character named Vito, who rises from rags to riches through the illicit underworld of the fictional city, Empire Bay. The game has fifteen chapters to complete, and plenty of unlockables and collectibles to find, including elusive Playboy Magazines and Wanted Posters. And naturally, our guide’s got you fully covered. Mafia II Guide Contents » Basics, with fundamentals and advanced tactics. Walkthrough, for each and every chapter. Playboy Magazines, with all fifty found and documented. Wanted posters, with all 159 identified and mapped. Trophies/Achievements, all forty-seven of 'em explained. Q & A, because you've got questions, and we've got answers. © 2010, IGN Entertainment, Inc. May not be sold, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, in whole or part, without IGN’s express permission. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. All rights reserved. © 2010 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 1 of 287 Mafia II Basics Fundamentals Advanced Tactics Ten Tips The Story Mafia II’s storyline, feel and characters follow in a long, proud tradition of mafia-based books, films, television shows, and even games (like The Godfather and The Godfather II, both from EA). To some, the story and characters might be contrived, but to others who enjoy the vintage crime genre, they’re going to find a lot to love with Mafia II. The main character in the game, Vito, is a typical low-level kind of guy who eventually transcends the ranks of the family he works for to become more powerful than he ever imagined. Of course, his humble origins would suggest that he would never have such an opportunity in the first place. That’s part of the game’s beauty. Vito came over to the States with some of his family members during Mussolini ’s stranglehold of his home country of Italy in the days leading up to World War II. As he grew up in Empire Bay (a fictional east coast city that most resembles New York City), Vito turned to a life of petty crime. He eventually gets pinched by the authorities and forced into service during World War II in order to excuse the charges against him (his fluency in Italian made him an asset in the Italian campaign). But when he returns to the States following his service, Vito quickly falls back in with the same old crowd. That’s where Mafia II’s story really picks up, as you follow Vito’s rise from humble underling to a force to be reckoned with. © 2010 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 2 of 287 Handling Yourself Now that you know a little bit about Vito, it’s time for you to learn a little bit about controlling him as well. After all, outside of the game’s many artfully-created story-telling cutscenes, Vito’s fate will be entirely in your hands. Mafia II is a third- person action/sandbox game, so controlling Vito is fairly straight-forward in premise. You’ll use the analog sticks on your respective controller to move Vito around and control the game’s camera. Depending on the version of the game you’re playing, the face buttons and triggers will allow Vito to interact with the world around him in any number of ways. But obviously, there are two types of tasks in the game that are more important than any other, and you’ll need to know how to do both well in order to get through the game in one piece. The two important tasks are fighting and driving. Moving Vito around through the environment is easy, but when you have to drive and fight, things get a little more complicated. Be sure that you master how to do both as soon as you’re able to in the game. Thankfully, the game peppers you with tutorials as you move through the early chapters, so you’ll learn how to handle Vito in both hand-to-hand combat situations, as well as luckier (and more frequent) situations when you’re strapped with a firearm. And since Mafia II is a (pseudo-)sandbox game with a vast environment to traverse through and explore, learning to drive properly is integral to your success. Veterans of games like Grand Theft Auto IV may be distressed to learn that the driving mechanics in Mafia II are a little less arcadey than they might be accustomed to. But Mafia II’s driving mechanics are still in no way, shape or form realistic. So if you’re not a Gran Turismo master, worry not -- you should still be fine in Mafia II. Task at Hand You’ve learned a little bit about Mafia II’s main character, Vito. And you’ve learned a little bit about how to "handle yourself" in the game as well, especially in terms of the importance of learning how to fight and how to drive as soon as possible. But why are you playing Mafia II, and what are you expected to do during the course of the game? Those questions are easy enough to answer. Though Mafia II is a sandbox game, it’s also got a strict formula. Instead or running around Empire Bay completing task after task and mission after mission in a sort of non-linear fashion, Mafia II is organized into about fifteen separate chapters. Within each chapter, you’ll complete a number of tasks that follow along a sort of strung-together narrative. What this basically means to you is that you can approach Mafia II in a more predictable fashion that you may have been accustomed to in similar games, at least in terms of genre. Where things get decidedly more complicated is during each chapter when events culminate into any number of difficult or obnoxious tasks that must be completed. Of course, our walkthrough will be quite useful for you when you’re stuck. But even though Mafia II’s chapter setup might seem a little constraining, it’s actually a point of convenience, too. After all, there are myriad collectibles to find in the game, as well as Trophies and Achievements that may require you to return to previous chapters. Without the chapter system in Mafia II, those Trophies and Achievements would be unattainable without an entirely new playthrough! © 2010 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 3 of 287 Fundamentals Advanced Tactics Ten Tips Vito and the Law Mafia II plays a lot differently than many games in the sandbox crime genre (most notably Grand Theft Auto IV) in that the police react in a more specific manner to many of your illicit crusades through Empire Bay. In the GTA games, you could speed around with impunity, and commit all sorts of crimes that the people of Liberty City/Vice City wouldn’t even notice. This isn’t the case in Mafia II’s Empire Bay, however. The very act of speeding in a car can get the police on your tail in no time at all. And this doesn’t account for committing other crimes, such as bowling people over with your vehicle or smashing up a car in traffic. It’s important to keep these things in mind as you move through Empire Bay, because at the end of the day, you’re going to be attracting a lot more police attention than you probably would have wanted. The good news is that cops are a lot easier to lose in Empire Bay than they are in other fictional cities in other similar games, but you’ll also be distressed to learn that the cops will remember who you are and go after you even after you lose them. If a Wanted Poster icon appears on-screen, the cops will recognize you if they see you, so go to a clothing store and change your clothes. Likewise, if a Wanted license plate icon appears on-screen, they’ll recognize the (likely-stolen) car you’re cruising around in. So ditch it, or bring it to a garage to get your plates changed. © 2010 IGN Entertainment, Inc. Page 4 of 287 Looking For Extras One of the more disappointing aspects of Mafia II is that the sandbox in which it takes place in is... well... a little sad. Empire Bay is a fairly vast city, and you would think there would be a lot to see within, but it’s simply not true. The city is mostly vacant, and outside of primary mission objectives in the games fifteen chapters, you won’t find yourself doing too much exploring on your own. There are Trophies/Achievements to earn, of course, but there is another big reason to explore the town that won’t initially be evident.