To say Mafia II’s inspirations are deeply rooted in Mafioso related films is possibly the biggest understatement of the century. Even the main character, Vito Scaletta, has a slightly psychopathic and careless best friend, much like Ray Liotta did in Goodfellas – oh Joe Pesci, you’re the evilest and littlest mofo on the big screen. That’s the point though, and it’s that familiarity with those iconic pieces which is easily Mafia II’s biggest lure. Billed as a mafia epic that wouldn’t be out of place on the big screen, 2K Czech’s latest sandbox adventure may be an open-world title in essence, but the emphasis is on its storytelling, its authenticity and putting you at the helm of what it’s like to be a wise guy.

Following on from our recent E3 hands-on, we recently got chance to check out 3 more of Mafia II’s chapters. 3 chapters that offer something a little different from each other, but with one staple holding the experience together throughout, and that’s the huge emphasis on the cinematic experience. Yes, Mafia II is going to be classed as a sandbox third person action-adventure title, but truth be told, the city, no matter how alive it is, really only acts as a context for the brutal goings on.

Kicking off our hands-on was the aptly named opening chapter, “Home Sweet Home,” which sees our protagonist, Vito, return to Mafia II’s fictional Empire Bay in the middle of the 1940s. It really only acts – like any opening chapter of a game – to give the story some roots, set the scene and introduce you to a few of the basic game mechanics. As far as opening missions go, it’s a fairly long-winded affair that sees Vito reunited with his clichéd Italian-American family, before setting on his path to becoming a made-man. So that means learning how to pick-locks, steal cars and get involved in some fisticuffs. You know, typical wise guy antics.

We next pick up with Vito a lot further into the game – chapter 9 to be precise – in a mission called “Balls & Beans” where our Mafioso wannabe has risen through the ranks to the status of made man, working directly for the family heads themselves. Vito is called into assist with a potential banana skin by the Falcone family’s lieutenant, Eddie, after it appears that a couple of Falcone’s men have been taken hostage by Luca Gurino, a crime boss of the rival Clemente family. Upon leaving our apartment, the corridors of the high-rise are flooded with character and in the space of only a few flights of stairs, we walk past an elderly woman scrubbing the floor and a crew of police officers attempting to gain entrance into one of the undesirable’s apartments that lives in Vito’s block.

Vito tracks Luca down to a seedy bar on the outskirts of town, Freddie’s, and as the rival wise guy jumps in his motor, it’s our job to follow him and hopes he leads us to Falcone’s kidnapped men. In typical follow-but-don’t-get-seen-pursuing fashion, we tail Luca all the way to a slaughterhouse in the Riverside district. As Luca enters the lot, the gates close behind him and we now have the perfect chance to pull up and plan our assault. To Vito’s left stands a local leaning under the bonnet of his car, presumably fixing it, while to Vito’s right sits a tramp swigging liquor while propped up against a corrugated metal fence. After lying to the wannabe mechanic about his dog running into the slaughterhouse’s yard, Vito finds out that he can get into the premises via a small opening in the sewers... although that means facing the rats and dank sewer tunnels that were lined with the Mafia’s finest faeces. When they said being part of the Mafia meant getting your hands dirty, I’m not sure Vito had this in mind.

Once inside, the game spun on its head totally and it presented us with a stealth section that although was a nice change of pace and something totally different from what we’d experienced before, it felt terribly 1990s stealth. With enemies on set patterns, triggered scripted events and the inability to perform stealth takedowns, it was a matter of just watching, waiting and then sneaking through the slaughterhouse’s back rooms until you got to Falcone’s men.  A fist fight later with a huge hulking bodyguard, a bit of confusion in the madness and Vito suddenly finds that Luca has made a quick getaway and backup is on the way. Vito and co are then faced with the unenviable task of wasting away wave after wave of Clemente scum. Sticking to the cover inside the room that Falcone’s men were being held hostage, the backup funnels through the door into Vito’s erratic bullet spray. The beauty with being so close to the door and armed to the teeth with endless clips of Tommy Gun bullets is that the battle is short, but terribly bloody. A short exchange with Luca, Vito and a meat cart later and the mission drew to a close.

The next mission, “Room Service,” was more of the Mafia II we had sampled at E3, with the ball back firmly in the action-packed shooter court. As it seems most chapters start out, Vito awakes once again from a slumber in his swanky bachelor pad with the phone blaring away on the window sill. After taking the call from Eddie once again, Vito is called across town to Joe’s – his partner-in-crime – apartment to meet crime boss, Carlo Falcone, who wants to take out the head of the Clemente family as revenge for his latest trick in their escalating feud.

After changing into something more appropriate and grabbing a beer from the fridge – rule #62 of the Mafia code: it’s never too early to have a beer – we headed across town to Joe’s. Jumping in our Berkley Kingfisher – 188 BHP, top speed of 104 mph if you must know – our trek across town begins. After clipping the rear end of a police car at the lights as we were rushing to our destination, we had suddenly made our beloved Berkley a wanted car in the eyes of the law. Incidentally, the wanted system in Mafia II is a two-fold mechanic: firstly, your car can be wanted, and so dumping it, changing it or buying new plates can eliminate that wanted level; and secondly, Vito himself can be wanted, which will mean he’ll have to break line of sight, stay hidden and change his clothes if he is to escape the long arm of the law. If all else fails, get arrested and then bribe the bent copper in true Mafia style.

To shift the heat we ducked into a local garage and shelled out $400 on a basic upgrade, gave it a quick repair, resprayed it, changed the trims and gave ourselves customised plates. Heck, that wasn’t even enough for us, so we opted to spend another $670 on the sports tuning and raced off to Joe’s with “Mambo Italiano” filling the airwaves.

After reaching Joe’s place, the plan became apparent quite quickly: head over to the Empire Hotel, obtain a disguise, sneak in, plant the explosives and ultimately, take down Clemente and his clan when they’re all together. It’s here when Joe’s “Pesci vibe” comes out, persuading Vito to bring a young kid along as a getaway driver, with a complete disregard for the young guy’s age and Vito’s concerns – you almost know from the off that it isn’t going to end nicely.

Upon arriving, Vito and Joe leave the youngster in the car in the parking structure of the Empire Hotel, and it’s our job to find an alternative route into the heavily fortified Mafia gathering on the 18th floor. Conveniently nestled in the corner of one of the maintenance rooms of the Empire Hotel are a couple of janitor’s uniforms – fresh with a flat cap and a fake moustache that Joe brought along. It was only while waiting for the lift out of the maintenance halls that we get our break to head upstairs behind enemy lines. A familiar face that leaves the lift puzzles Vito momentarily, but that’s soon forgotten when the two are ordered up to the boardroom that they have to infiltrate to clean up after a small “incident.”