Preview by: Troy Goodfellow

When a bunch of local toughs torched our truck of contraband cigarettes, I knew what I had to do. After all, no one was going to chase my family out of this neighborhood. And the text on the screen made it clear what the mission was anyway. I climbed into the vintage car (which wasn't vintage yet, because the game starts in the 1940s) and was told to chase down the fleeing gang members.

Obviously Mafia 2 had no idea how terrible I am at driving in games because I proceeded to bang into cars, mailboxes and medians in a vain effort to catch up. Part of this was intentional. I like breaking things in open world games and I wondered what was going to happen if I failed the mission. And, boy did I fail it.

No worries! The guy with me told me that now I had to find a phone booth and explain to the boss that I let the gang get away. All of a sudden I didn't feel so bad about botching the pursuit mission since it was OK to fail. I would get my revenge some other way.

This alternate mission structure is not especially new, but it was amazing to see how seamlessly 2k has integrated my failure into their plot. Making the phone call to a very angry boss didn't feel like a fail state at all.

"Seamless" is a pretty good way to describe the world of Mafia 2. Neighborhoods like the Chinatown where I found my phone booth (and shot a guy to watch him die) don't just pop up dramatically. The crowds on the streets change a little, the accents take on a slightly exaggerated Asian inflection, the people react in horror as you draw your gun – once again for the hell of it. Mafia 2's Empire Bay, from what little I saw of it, could be as convincing a setting as GTA's Liberty City. The game looks great, walking that tightrope between realism and washed out stylization.