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As with every city, Empire Bay changes as the years pass. Changes also happen for individual characters in the game as they gain more money, or their tastes change. Today, we go inside Joe’s apartment with Martin Zavrel and look at how his home takes shape throughout the game.

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GameTrailers.com released a interview with Denby Grace. There are a lot of new gameplay from the GamesCOM.

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Games Com 2009 is in full swing but we took some time out to talk to 2K Czech’s senior gameplay producer Jarek Kolář about Mafia II. See what he had to say below and if you’re at Games Com, why not check out the 2K Cinema in Hall 6.1, stand A23, where you can see a trailer of the game in action!

Hi Jarek – can you tell us what era the game is set in and how you captured the look and feel of that period?

Mafia II is set in a fictional American city in the ’40s and ’50s and our aim is to re-create the environment as closely as possible. We did a lot of research for that, with members of the team looking to places like Chicago for inspiration. We also looked at aspects from the many popular mafia movies and we studied many photographs from the era to really capture the feel of the environment and the era.

How is the transition of time portrayed in the game? Is the gameplay affected by the changes in the seasons?

First of all the weather is very important in the story. The game starts in the ’40s where in Europe there is a war and it’s winter; the weather is cold and people are depressed – and so is our hero, who’s looking for a way to get some money and rise up out of the situation. As the game progresses he climbs up the ladder of the mafia, he gets more money, nice cars and so on, and then the climate and era change – we’re in the 50s and it’s the summer, the streets are looking nice with more colour and cars, and the people are happier, walking around the streets. In terms of the effect on the gameplay – driving is a very important part of the game so one difference you’ll see is when you drive on icy roads compared to driving in the nicer weather.

Can you tell us about the sandbox elements of the game?

The game is a structured experience but it takes place in an open world so the player doesn’t feel any boundaries. As the story goes on, we show the player how to move on but they have the freedom to go into the city and explore – by exploring the city like this you can get a lot more from the experience. If you think of it like a DVD, the main feature is made up of the story missions and if you explore the city it’s like seeing the bonus materials. We’re very much focused on the story that drives the game but players have the freedom to explore.

How important is gun-play in the game? Do we need to be expert Mafia hitmen?

It’s a story about Mafia guys and guns are an important element of that lifestyle, so we have the weapons that you would expect from these characters during this era, with shotguns, rifles, machine guns and so on. Shooting is important: It’s one of the aspects of the gameplay we have really focused on so it’s well implemented, down to the animation of the characters while shooting. We want to make the controls very easy for players to use. We are using a cover system because we want the game to be realistic; in real life shooting a bullet into someone is usually lethal, so in real life people in shoot-outs use cover to avoid fire, so we have this mechanic as well, enabling you to hide from gunfire using cover. It also creates a tactical element to the action.

Can players destroy the environments?

We are really proud of our technology that allows destruction of environments. Small objects and furniture can be destroyed but in some locations you can destroy complete interiors. It really adds to the atmosphere of the shoot-outs.

Source:2kgamesinternational.com , mafia.czech-games.net