Article by Andrew "PyGuy" Pyle. Screenshots taken (from the PC version) by, again, yours truly: Andrew "PyGuy" Pyle.

Almost immediately after Grand Theft Auto made the massive technological feat of transitioning to the third dimension, many third-party "knock-off" crime franchises followed, and are still being made as this article is being written. However, on August 28th, 2002, a game called Mafia launched for the PC. Mafia boasted a more realistic mafia experience (and tried to stray away from the line-up of Grand Theft wannabes) by having a much less lenient law enforcement system and visuals nobody has ever seen on a computer at the time. Cops will fine you if you run a red light, or even use lethal force if they hear gunfire coming from you in the open street. When you think about it, it really wasn't as overwhelming as one might think, as professional mobsters can't have any more police trouble than they do in their actual work. Such realism, along with intelligent writing made Mafia a true mafioso experience.
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Welcome to the living, breathing world of Mafia II. Read all about it!
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Moving on to Mafia II, the visuals were stunning and the scenery obviously had a lot of love put into it. It was already a believable Mafia experience. The demo only gives you ten minutes of free-roaming, so I promptly went to the garage to get a car and drove to the mission-start marker with my pro driving skills left over from Grand Theft Auto. Sarcasm aside, when I finally started the mission, I was ordered to man a mounted machine gun to take down enemies along with their cars (with some pretty intense explosions) in pursuit of a chubby store owner that angered your crime family. There were some pretty tough goons that slowed the pursuit once on foot, but the gunplay in Mafia 2 is stellar. Getting shot up enough will eventually decrease your maximum regenerative health but can be replenished with health pickups. The demo ended with Vito (the protagonist) and his two allies escaping a burning building and a suspenseful scene where the cops surround Vito's car. I exited the demo client only wanting more.
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You will not be disappointed in what Mafia II's combat has to offer.
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I already had a feeling that Mafia II was going to be great, but 2K didn't have to craft the demo so masterfully. I was able to run the demo on the PC with my trusty Gateway FX-series laptop with not perfect, but nonetheless beautiful settings. 2K already made it very clear that Mafia II is an offer you can't refuse. The full game hits stores in the US on August 24th (and the 27th elsewhere) for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

sounds good.

And if it's anything like the original Mafia game then it will be a solid game. I was impressed by the first one so I expect this one will be similarly good.