Screen tearing is very noticeable, however, I got used to it very fast, so it did not bother me at all. I heard bad things about the fps, but I did not notice any drop except once in the free DLC Betrayal of Jimmy. Maybe I am just too tolerant...
As far as the visuals go: They are pretty good and during sunny days IMO amazing. Very detailed city and impressive lightning. However, once again the PS3 is the most inferior version. Like almost any console game running just at 720p, but this was to be expected. What I cannot understand, however, is the lack of "real" grass, whereas the technically inferior xbox can handle it. Also there are no clothing animations whatsoever, which most of the time is not an issue, however the coat is glued to your legs, which looks ridiculous.
The game itself is great, but is not nearly as "perfect" as Mafia 1. The driving is awesome (simulation mode rocks!), but the car chases are unchallenging and boring. The shooting mechanisms work well and the destructible environments are nice, however the mission design, hmm... There is nothing special, really, except one level. In Mafia 1 you had such a great variety in mission designs and this seems absent. It is as if they lost all their creativity! E.g. the last level takes place SPOILER: in the planetarium, so basically a shorter and not as pretty museum from Mafia 1.
There are some indoor mission environments which are quite cool, but they are generally so short that I almost forgot that mafia 2 had any missions not taking place in a warehouse/factory.
Also, there are no adventure elements at all, you never have to think about anything, except where the best cover is. I know that mafia 1 did not have many as well and that most of you don't want them in action games, however, I like them.
The story: Many praise it and it has some great moments. It is better than in most games, but it has also some serious flaws. First of all, all the characters are most of the time just dumb criminals without any conscience. It gets better a bit as the story progresses, but sill, I cannot feel any sympathy except for one person. I know, mafia 1 was the romantic version and this was supposed to be the "cruel reality", however, I want romance!
And I have serious problems that there are almost no moral issues for the protagonists. They murdering constantly people without thinking.Maybe you are now saying, hey that is how those guys supposed to work or that every videogame does it. However, this neither good nor has to be the case. In mafia 1 you could justify every action of tommy some way or another and those which you could not were presented as serious moral problems.
The ending is terrible as well. It is a typical "We are so optimistic that our game will make enough money to make a sequel that we decided to make an open end so that you buy the sequel" end. If it is not supposed to be an open end, then it sucks, since I do not want
to speculate how the story ends, even though some say it is quite clear what happened.
Conclusion: My review seems quite negative, however, I really do feel like this is a great game and one of my favorites. The problem is just that Mafia 1 was perfect and Mafia 2 does some things worse and nothing substantial better.
