For years, films such as "The Godfather," "Goodfellas" and "Donnie Brasco" have been the defining vision of the American Mafia. Brutal and glamorous all at once, the life of a "wiseguy" is the stuff of urban folklore. With the release of Mafia II, you'll have the chance to taste the life for yourself.

Ostensibly a follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2002 PC game, Mafia, Mafia II is a sequel in spirit only. Characters and plotlines from the original are left in the past. Instead of rehashing the old, Mafia II introduces players to an entirely new set of characters and an entirely new set of problems. Spanning roughly a decade of time across the '40s and early '50s, the game chronicles the rise of Vito Scaletta from street punk to made man and the trials he faces in juggling the competing interests of Empire Bay's three crime families.

Mafia II's biggest strength is in its script and the no-nonsense way in which the game approaches its subject matter. There are no holds barred when it comes to content. Sex, violence, racial epithets, attempted rape, battered women, brutal murder — it's all here. If this were a movie, it would undoubtedly be given an "R" rating. That said, nothing is used in a gratuitous manner. Everything that happens within Mafia II is driven by the story and the characters. Motivation is believable, and actions never seem forced. Although it is unabashedly graphic, playing through Mafia II feels more like taking a peek at someone else's world, warts and all. Had it been sanitized, much of the emotional impact would have been lost.

Because the game is so heavily scripted, everything unfolds in a linear fashion. Although the city of Empire Bay is set up in an open-world format, the gameplay never completely embraces the open-world aspect. Sure, you can customize your car, buy a new set of clothes and drive on any street you choose, but step off the garden path, and there's not much beyond the façade. Let the game lead you by the hand, though, and the illusion of a fully realized city works well.

By breaking up the game into chapters, the developers were able to alter the environment at will to best fit the mood of the story. If the plot calls for a sunny day, well, let there be light! If the mood is dour, then rain shouldn't be unexpected. The same tactic is used to open and close buildings in order to meet with the needs of the story. Even the little things, such as the music selection on the radio when you hop into a car after a mission, are scripted in order to set the mood.

One benefit to following Vito across such a lengthy period of time is the variety of challenges that you'll face. From simple robbery to all-out gang warfare, Mafia II tries to ensure that each chapter feels different than the rest. Sure, there are plenty of firefights, but there are also missions that require stealth and puzzle-solving. You'll have to face off against cops and street thugs, as well as Italian soldiers. Even Vito's stint in prison is an engaging experience. All in all, the game is likely to take an average player around 12 hours to complete, and none of those 12 hours are repetitive filler.

With the main story being the primary draw, Mafia II relies on collectibles as a way to extend replay value. The game offers up 50 Playboy centerfolds and 159 wanted posters hidden across Empire Bay. In keeping with the game's theme, the centerfolds are the real deal — completely uncensored and historically authentic. The developers were not without a sense of humor when it comes to the nudie pics; the game statistics page has a timer that tracks "time spent with Playboy articles."

Focusing on the gameplay, Mafia II is at its best when you are exchanging bullets with others and at its worst when you are behind the wheel of a car. The game excels at firefights because of the pseudo-realistic manner in which it approaches them. Vito may be a Mafioso, but he's no superman. A few good hits and he's down for the count, so cover is an absolute necessity here. The cover mechanic generally works well, although it does fail every so often when in close quarters. More than once, Vito attempted to duck into cover, only to step against the exposed side of an object; it's the equivalent of holding up a sign that says, "Shoot me, please!"

Whereas a dash of realism helped ensure that the firefights always held a certain sense of danger and tension, the same dash of realism puts a severe damper on the time spent with cars. Let's face it; the cars in the '40s and '50s were large, boxy and didn't come anywhere close to turning on a dime. Unfortunately, that's just not fun when you're playing. Nearly every car, save for one or two of the end game sports cars, suffers from tremendous oversteer, not to mention an ability to go into a fishtail at the drop of a hat. As a result, high-speed car chases are an odd mix of frustration crossed with pure luck. Thankfully, these aren't a major part of the game.

The biggest problems we faced with the game, however, were the bugs. Some, such as falling through the floor in Vito's apartment, were minor, but others were game-breaking to the point that they required reloading from a previous save. For example, in one mission Vito needed to take out a security guard at a desk before he set off an alarm. Sneaking up behind the guard and executing the move would start the stealth kill animation, but then the guard would inexplicably get up (with Vito now choking thin air), set off the alarm and then proceed to get choked by an invisible set of hands. In another mission, one of the thugs we needed to kill spawned outside the game map, making it impossible to continue.

Topping the list of bugs, though, is the AI directing the NPCs where to walk and how to behave. On multiple occasions, we saw NPCs standing in place as they walked into an obstacle, such as a desk or a door, with a complete inability to walk around or simply open the door. Then there's Vito's good buddy Joe. After a mission that left us wanted by the cops, we parked the getaway car next to a clothes shop for a quick change. As soon as Vito hopped out of the car, Joe inexplicably decided that it would be a swell idea to hop out and start shooting up the street. Needless to say, this was not good.

Despite its technical shortcomings, Mafia II manages to become more than the sum of its parts. With a script that could have just as easily driven a major motion picture instead of a video game, Mafia II grabs hold early on and never lets up, not even at the very end. EA may have paid for The Godfather license, but Mafia II is destined to be the definitive mafia game of this console generation.

Score: 8.3/10