The first evidence of this was in their booth at PAX East. Collections of indie studios sat clumped around the expo hall. Rockstar Games stood next door, showing off the highly anticipated Red Dead Redemption to an endless line of salivating fans. But, towering over all of it, was the 20-foot tall structure that made up the 2K booth, and the banners for the three titles they were showing off within.

The first demonstration was for the new downloadable content in Bioshock 2. This, alas, I could not touch, because I have not finished the game yet and do not want to spoil the story for myself. The second demonstration was a hands-off showing of Civilization V, a game it seems will do wonders for the realm of turn-based strategy. Jon Huie has already published an article with his impressions on Civ V, and if you have not checked that out yet, I suggest you do.

The third demonstration is the one I got a close look at. This is the sequel to the highly acclaimed 2002 release, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. 2K has lived up to the reputation of the original title and then went far beyond. Mafia II is shaping up to be a well polished title that is fun to play, beautiful to look at, and easy to become immersed in.

The player takes on the role of Vito, an impoverished Italian-American who is looking to change his lot in life. He and his friend Joe become involved in…well…some “legitimate” business enterprises, and as one thing leads to another they get drawn deeper and deeper into the sub-world of organized crime. As time goes on, they begin to see that the glamor and prestige is really just a facade for something much uglier.

The gameplay itself runs very smoothly. When you take control of Vito, you find yourself operating a familiar 2-stick, 3rd-person control scheme. Vito moves where you want him to move, and the camera is easily adjustable. Hints appear at the bottom of the screen to help new players get used to the controls. Before you know it, the tutorial segment is over, and you find yourself in the middle of a turf war that forces you to sink or swim. You learn to fire a tommy gun, throw molotov cocktails, and work cooperatively with your brothers-in-arms to make the bad guys an offer they can’t refuse.

Mafia II boasts an excellent “cover system,” that allows the player to duck and dive behind obstacles to get quick cover during a gunfight. This system is both innovative and intuitive. Vito always jumps in the direction you want him to go, and always gets behind some kind of solid mass quickly. Aiming from behind a wall is a cinch, performed with only one button and done without sacrificing cover. This system, and the solid aiming and firing controls, makes combat a blast. It’s fun, and not too easy.

Everything in the world is interactive, too. Wooden panels are destructible, as the player learns in an early segment involving a bar and some machine gun fire. You can shoot weak materials like wood apart, and use molotov cocktails to set them on fire. Vehicles are a little tougher, but if you manage to get a spark into a gas tank, you’d better stand back.

The graphics…well, look at the trailers. All the cinematics are done using the actual game engine, so the crispness you see on any release video is exactly what you’re looking at throughout the entire game. You can see the pores and freckles on the characters’ faces. You can see splinters of wood chipping off under gunfire. I thought I saw a hangnail splitting from Vito’s trigger finger, but that was just some fuzz on the screen. Nevertheless, if he had a hangnail, I guarantee I would have seen it.

I also need to mention the sound. First off, the effects do wonders for actually immersing you in the world. You feel much more like a part of the mafia if you believe the clack of your Italian wing-tip on the cobblestone street is accurate. The sounds are realistic and the gunfire is loud. Secondly, the accents are dead on. The characters sound as though they are actually from the time period, which I raved about for Assassin’s Creed II and will continue to do for Mafia II. Taking the time to find and fund skilled voice actors is important, and they have done that here. Finally, when you hop into a car (GTA syle, mind you), the radio turns immediately to authentic music from the 1940′s. This is 100% necessary for cruising, especially since, in this game, the police are out to make sure you are actually abiding by the rules of the road. Personally I don’t mind. As long as Hank Williams stays out of my car’s stereo system, we’re good.

Speaking of authentic though, I got to talking with 2K’s PR department about some of the goodies in this game (children, cover your eyes). It seems 2K struck a deal with Playboy, a well-known adult magazine that was very popular and influential in the 1940′s. They struck a deal that allowed them to publish some classic Playboy covers in game, as they appeared on the original magazines. These covers can be found throughout the game as easter eggs, and naturally you’ll want to keep an eye out for them as you play through. I asked if the classic Marilyn Monroe cover would be present, but the 2K reps were not sure. Considering Monroe did the magazine in 1953, a little on the tail end of the Mafia II time period, I’d wager not. I’ve included it here, though, just in case. Don’t want to disappoint!

Overall, Mafia II is shaping up to be a smash hit for 2010. It will not have many of the console problems that its predecessor faced, it will provide diverse and entertaining gameplay, and a deep story that will have you chipping away at it until the very end. On top of all this, 2K is working at this in tandem with Civilization V, and Spec Ops: The Line, both of which are tantalizing as well. This is a good year for 2K Studios, and let’s hope for more of them to come. A good year for 2K means a very good year for us.

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Keep in mind I only played this demo for however long it was, perhaps 20-25 minutes. Ultimately, I will be the first person to admit that I was wrong. This game is AWESOME! The fantastic blend of animation, humor, gameplay, and story provide an incredible game for anybody, but especially for us metal fans because the soundtrack is extraordinary. My expectations have been shattered and I await the game frantically, now as excited as I am for Uncharted 2.

One thing is for sure, I am going broke by the end of October (with Borderlands coming up on the 20^th as well) but I will be enjoying every second of it. I encourage any of you to download this demo seeing as how it is free.

Back to playing ODST!

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Games that give you the choice of being good or evil have been around for a while now. From Baldur’s Gate to inFAMOUS, this category seems to be slowly evolving. One thing that is not found very often is the choice to be “evil or more evil”, something the developers at Triumph Studios have brought about in the form of the Overlord series. While Overlord II is the first game in the series I have had the chance to play, I cannot say that the time spent with it is much encouragement to try out the first one.

Overlord II once again places you in the boots of an evil being brought into power by his gremlin-like minions. You are tasked with either enslaving or destroying a couple of towns on the way to dispose of the magic-hating empire that is attempting to take over your domain and capture your minions. Though this storyline sounds pretty generic, the “be evil or more evil” premise of the game makes it a bit more interesting.

The best part of Overlord II just happens to be the maniacal minions that are sent to wreak havoc on those who oppose you. Eventually you will be able to control four different colored types of up to 50 minions at a time. Each play a distinct role in your army, either being a healer of sorts or one of three types of attackers (melee, ranged or stealth). Simple strategy can sometimes be employed; browns can be used to lure enemies toward hiding greens, who pounce on them as they pass by, while reds rain fire down on them on a nearby hill and blues take care of any wounded. Most of the time, however, you can do just fine selecting all of your minions and throwing them all at a target. One of the funnier things is just setting them loose on a town. They’ll break things, drink alcohol, vomit and urinate everywhere, all while grabbing anything they can and either wearing it as a hat or giving it to you as an offering. Not only do they appear similar to the gremlins found in a couple of my favorite childhood movies, but Triumph managed to mimic the sound of them as well.

Speaking of sound, that brings me to the first of many gripes about this game. Normally, sound is not an issue for me. Default settings have almost always managed to suit me just fine. However, the way sound effects overpower voice work in the game is ridiculous. After alleviating the sound imbalance issues, though, I kind of wished that I hadn’t. Just about everything an NPC says in the game is repeated constantly and often times they would talk over each other.

The graphics are not very impressive either. There’s really not too much to say in this department other than I’ve come to expect a little bit more from Playstation 3/Xbox 360 titles than what Triumph has done with Overlord II.

Where the charmingly crazy minions pulled me into Overlord II, the graphics failed to impress and the sound just annoyed me, the controls and camera were probably what pushed me to dislike this game. The camera constantly got on my nerves, needing to be adjusted quite a bit. Having the camera and minion control mapped to the same stick seemed like a bad idea to me. Times when I needed to control both the overlord and a single group of minions made this apparent, since you cannot adjust the camera to see what’s coming up ahead if the right stick is in minion mode. Targeting in the game is handled poorly as well. Sometimes trying to pick whatever is in front of you just does not work, instead seeming to randomly pick something else to target. If the game feels like it, you can sometimes switch objects by using the right stick. However, if one of the targets you are toggling between happens to be a marker your minions are gathered on, it’s time to start the process over again, as any more right stick movement suddenly controls the group associated with the highlighted flag. Everything mentioned here just felt very inconsistent and made things very frustrating. My worst memory of this involves the Arena level midway through the game, where there are opportunities for each one of these gripes to pluck your nerves enough to eject the game and toss it across the room.

After suffering through the single player experience, I went to check out the online multiplayer aspects of the game. Considering that no one is playing this game online at all, the resources that went into making these seemingly useless modes could have went to fixing the issues that plague this game.

I had heard a lot of positive things about the first Overlord game back when it was released.  The only complaint I can really remember is the lack of a mini-map. Since I had also heard quite a bit of praise for Overlord II from other outlets, I was quite surprised at how much I disliked it. The entire game felt like a great idea that was just executed poorly. If it wasn’t for the combination of my love for playing as evil characters in games and fond childhood memories of the Gremlins movies, this game would have definitely scored even lower.

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