It’s a new month and that means some new free games for Xbox Live Gold subscribers via Microsoft’s Games With Gold initiative.

The Xbox One will be receiving two free games with Castlestorm: Definitive Edition and Pool Nation FX. The latter is pretty straightforward (it’s pool, for crying out loud) while the former has been described as a side-scrolling action RPG wherein you must defend your castle from an onslaught of enemies. You can rally several different units like knights and even donkeys together with a variety of different of weapons to achieve this.

Meanwhile, on the Xbox 360, the first free game today is Mafia 2. This open world, old-school crime epic had a rather long development cycle but finally released in 2010. It’s gotten some above average praise for its storyline and is well worth a shot since it’s free. F1 2013 will be the next free game, available on May 16th till the end of the month.

What are your thoughts on this month’s free games? Let us know in the comments.

Of course, for the PlayStation 4, Sony plans to expand its PlayStation Plus service to include cross-game chat and free albeit limited versions of commercial games for players to try before they buy (for example, Evolution Studios’ DriveClub). Of course, it has also been decided that multiplayer on PS4 will now be available only through PlayStation Plus.

Xbox Live has also begun a push to offer free full games for the Xbox 360, which includes Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed II and more. As for what Microsoft will offer on the Xbox One’s version of Live – besides the abolishing of Microsoft Points – remains to be seen. Stay tuned for more.

Looks like 2K Games is planning to a release a Director’s Cut version of Mafia 2.

A listing over at retailer, Amazon’s website has all but confirmed that such a version is very much on the cards.

As you can see the listing reveals the cover art for the game and it mentions that it’s coming to all three platforms which the game released on.

The version is most likely to ship with all three DLC packs released for the game so far.

The price listing for the game is obviously fake as 2K Games won’t ever sell the whole lot for as low as $29.99. But, what if it’s true!!!

Regardless, it would make for a pretty good deal for those who are yet to purchase the game.

Mafia II, getting generally decent reviews across the board, but not by us, has been listed in the Guinness World Record as the game that has dropped the most f-bombs, i.e the game that has the most abusive language, dethroning the Wii exclusive, House of the Dead: Overkill, which featured 189 different usages of the F- word.

Mafia II currently has 200 f-bombs, yet Guinness is still counting, and will be receiving the full script of the game soon.

“The number associated with the record is liable to change in the next few weeks, as 2K have promised to supply us with a copy of the game’s full script under NDA so we can count the number of f-bombs ourselves and update the record with a complete figure” said a Guinness World Records representative.

Wow. Awesome. No, not this news about Mafia II- the Wii was supposed to have teh kiddy gamz! Boo ya!

[Joystiq]

Unfortunately, our answer to that is no- not an emphatic no, but a no nonetheless. While Mafia II does provide for some outstanding moments of atmosphere, thrill, adrenaline, with some few missions that will be remembered as time goes on, and a shooting mechanic which, though nothing new,  does provide us with some fun moments in the beginning of the game, ultimately, its cons outweigh its pros, and Mafia II comes across as a half-hearted attempt at bringing the world of GTA into the world of The Godfather, with nothing but half-assed attempts at mimicking the GTA missions, bland, forgettable characters, and very slow pacing.

Look at that vintage car. It’s cool. Let’s steal it and drive around the city. What, is that all I can do? You’ve gotta be kidding me.

Mafia II kicks off very impressively- the game has strikingly beautiful visuals with gorgeous textures and immense attention paid to detail, and it seemingly recreates an old time city by the name of Empire Bay (the game’s equivalant of New York) perfectly. But as I moved on through the game, I realized how hollow Mafia II’s world, which I originally thought to be a very open, living, breathing environment, truly is. There’s a complete disconnect between us and the world- you just don’t feel part of it. The civilians are dumb and do not seem very authentic, there’s a total lack of doing anything in the city, and the few attempts the game makes at providing freedom, like letting us buy weapons from ammunition shops and clothes and stuff fails miserably, and half the times you just want to scream at the screen, begging for a little freedom.

Of course, you can steal cars and drive around the city, but even that ain’t a lot of fun. The vehicle design is very boring and dull. Of course, that can be attributed to the fact that the game is set in older times, but other games like The Godfather and Scarface have featured great vehicle designs. Even the few cars that do look a bit interesting are boring to drive- like all the other cars. Sense of speed basically sucks in Mafia II, something that one would not want from an underworld, mafiaso game. Thrill, excitement and action high on testosterone is what I expected from a game like Mafia II, and all I got was boring, dull, drab driving sections.

Even when we do get the chance to take the speed around 50, the cops stop us immediately, for overspeeding. It’s an interesting new mechanic, something that all free-raoming games should logically have, but few do. Cops stop us for overspeeding, rash driving, and all the bad stuff that one would want to do in a sandbox game, i.e killing people and the like, but somehow, they never notice when we jump the signals, or break poles and pillars. The cops, however, are really intelligent, and they mostly make up for the otherwise dumb enemy and friendly AI.

STOOOOOP RIGHT THERE!!!!!! Bitch.

This inconsistency is present all throughout the game. From the mission structure, to the nature of E-Bay (not ebay.com, by E-Bay I mean Empire Bay), everything seems inconsistent and flawed- at one point, the city may feel very open, and living, and you might actually feel as if you’re a part of Empire Bay, but in other parts of the game, the majority of the game, it just feels… hollow. The citizens are all generic, typical citizens, taken straight from GTA III or Vice City. Those games may have felt great then, but now, they just don’t stand up. Mafia II is old-time in almost every sense of the word. It does everything what an ideal last gen game would have done, and it does them very well- but that’s exactly the problem. It doesn’t cater to the demands of the present day gamer. The city is very dull and drab, with no environmental changes throughout, and predictable architecture. Everything feels as if it is centred around you, the main character (who is dumb, by the way, but let’s get to that later). Everything being focussed so much on you might seem really exciting sometimes, but that is the main, underlying theme in the entire game. Something like this would look good in a game like Pokemon, which never takes itself seriously, but it Mafia II, which is a game based on a crime world, this just seems out of place, and strangely convenient.

Honestly speaking, the main character of the game, Vito Scaletta, doesn’t deserve the attention he gets. While 2K Czech have tried their best (or maybe not their best after all) to recreate Vito Corleon- they have the same first name… heck, both of them are scicilians- they fail to add any depth or complexity to him- or any character of the game, for that matter. Basically, Vito is a pushover. He does whatever work is told, and does it for whoever tells him to, no matter how they fare with each other. To even think that he was a soldier in the Second World War gives me the laughs- all he must have done was run around and sit behind sacks, being the dumb and spineless guy he is shows to be. You just never feel attached to him, and you never want to be him. He’s a very one dimensional guy. His emotions are predictable, and he reacts very strangely to situations. He is probably the worst guy I’ve ever seen in any sandbox game, worse even than Tony Cipriani, and I hated Liberty City Stories because of him- maybe that’s why the game just doesn’t feel as immersive and involving as it should have, especially since it tries to mimic GTA in a lot of ways, and GTA games are very immersive.

Vito isn’t the only badly developed character, though. Apart from him and the normal civilians, who feel very ghostly, making the city of Empire Bay all the more strange, Vito’s best friend, Joe is the dumbest, most retarded character I’ve ever seen in a game. While he does seem to have a brain at some points, what with him planning every move for Vito, he basically acts very stupidly, and… he isn’t very likable, to be polite. And the fact that he guides Vito on what he should do says something about just how… silly Vito is. He is a disgrace to his legendary name.

The character development is as bad as the visuals are awesome.

Where Mafia II does strike perfection, though, is the visuals department. Everything is greatly detailed, from the clothes the people wear, to the intricate designs engraved on the the footpaths, to the cracked, truly city-like roads, to the cars. Everything looks real and beautiful, and may even put a facade of the city being authentic, which may fool the gamer for some of the beginning chapters. What helps is the perfectly smooth frame rate. Never did I come across a frame rate drop, even when there were around fifty guys in the screen, shooting at each other from behind their covers. The game runs perfectly at a smooth 60 frames per second, and you’ll never come across a hiccup. Animations are smooth and voice overs are really well done as well.

Equally good, if not better, is the cinematography of the game and how well the cutscenes are presented and directed. Each cutscene provides for a good few vistas of the city, and each one of them keeps things fresh and interesting, thanks to their awesome direction, and they feel very movie-like, showing the true potency of the game that other departments fail to make advantage of.

Though there is something that keeps the game from feeling like a true, authentic mafiaso story. What is it? It’s the missions. All the missions are basically the same- you have to sit in a car, get from point A to B, pick up a person/drop a person, and go back home to save the game to trigger a cutscene and the next mission. All the missions are very similar to each other, and the structure and variety of missions is just plain sad- while there are a few select missions that stand out, like the one where you have to get into a building as a window cleaner to take out your target and the few stealth missions, the missions all involve huge amounts of driving, which, as I have said above, in not very exciting. This lack of excitement in the driving sections also effects the chase sequences, which need to have a great sense of speed and thrill- two things which Mafia II is completely devoid of. That definitely isn’t the life of a Mafia. I can tell you from my experience. And I’m Michael Corleone, so don’t question me.

The shooting mechanics, while not anything new, are still fun and more or less polished. The player takes cover behind walls, crates, cars or whatever he can find, and shoots from their. The take cover and shoot mechanic has been seen before a lot of times, and Mafia II adds nothing to it, but that is something that cannot be held against it. The mechanic is as good and responsive as ever, and shooting as very fun, even though there are few shooting sections. It does get a bit repetitive near the ends, but the game ends before it can get completely intolerable.

Such exciting sections are very few and far in between, but when they do come, they blow you away.

So, ultimately, what makes Mafia II such a mediocre game? Fact is, Mafia II does everything- yet it doesn’t do them as good as it should have done. In the 12 hours it took me to finish the game, I realized that contrary to what I initially though of it, the game was not worth the money it costs. It does not provide us with a proper free-roaming world. It has a forgettable story and strange, badly developed characters. The missions are bland and boring… it all just feels very rushed, and that is not something we would expect from a game of such high calibre. Ultimately, Mafia II has a few pros of its own, and they keep the experience worthwhile- well, somewhat. But, the cons heavily outweigh the good aspects, and Mafia II comes across as a half-assed, half-hearted attempt at bringing the world of GTA into older times. Consider renting the game, but don’t spend your money on it.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Looks like Take-Two have struck gold with their recently released Historic Action Adventure, Mafia II. After industry analyst Michael Pachter’s recent comment that Mafia II will not be successfull, Take-Two came out all guns blazing, saying that not only do they expect Mafia II to be successful, it has also gone off to a spectacular star (see full story here).

Looks like Take-Two were right all along. In the newly released UK Sales Charts, Mafia II topped the list, with highest sales, and newly released titles HAWX 2 and Metroid: Other M debuted at #10 and #12 respectively. Metroid: Other M also claimed the second spot in the full price Wii list, behind Super Mario Galaxy 2. These sales in a matter of just a week look very impressive, especially for a Metroid game, since Metroid games haven’t really sold all that well before.

Kane and Lynch: Dog Days remains at the second spot. Wii Sports Resort, Toy Story 3 and Red Dead Redemption are the next three entries in the list.

Here is the Top 10 list:

01. Mafia II (Take-Two)
02. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (Square Enix)
03. Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo)
04. Toy Story 3 (Disney)
05. Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar)
06. Just Dance (Ubisoft)
07. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)
08. Sniper: Ghost Warrior (City Interactive)
09. Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Ubisoft)
10. Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2

Following industry analyst Michael Pachter’s comments on the recently released Historic Action Adventure, Mafia II, will not be successfull, Take-Two has declared that not only do they expect Mafia II to be completely profitable, their game has also gone ‘off to a great start.’

“Mafia II’s average Metacritic score of 74 is well below expectations, and consumer interest appears to be waning, as the game’s position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week,” Pachter recently said (Gamasutra). “With six years in development, we believe the game is unlikely to achieve profitability.”

Take-Two CEO Ben Feder later said that “We’re very proud of the game. Based upon the initial launch, we expect this to be another profitable title for Take-Two.”

We’ll post the NPD August figures when they are released, and we’ll see if Mafia II has indeed sold well. So stay tuned. Also, look forward to our Mafia II review soon.

Gamertag Radio are throwing Mafia II community launch parties in New York City and Miami.  Details are here and Playmate Jo Garcia will even be who is actually in the game.

Playmate Jo Garcia at E3 2010

The teaser-taster lets you play through one level, Buzzsaw, which has you in “the summer of the 50s”, where Joe and Henry are to take out a mob boss called “The Fat Man”.

You will also get to explore a certain area of Empire Bay and a “type of vibrant edge-of-your-seat action.”

The demo will be available on August 10 on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and PC.

Mafia II itself releases on August 24 in the US on PS3, 360 and PC, and August 27 in the UK.

The Mafia II Digital Deluxe Edition will offer players plenty of exclusive content and benefits, including:

• Made Man Pack:Free access to in-game downloadable pack that lets you get behind the wheel of two different luxury automobiles. In addition, Vito will look the part with two new “made man” suits, including a vintage tux.
• Digital Art Book:Players get to know Empire Bay with a photo album-style Digital Art Book that takes fans through the artistic design process of the game.
• Orchestral Soundtrack:Immerse yourself in a symphonic masterpiece with the Mafia II score recorded by the Prague FILMHarmonic Orchestra.
• Digital Map of Empire Bay:Get familiar with the neighborhoods and own the streets with the Digital Map depicting the 10 square miles of Empire Bay and all the hangout spots.

Available for download instantly after pre-ordering either digital version of Mafia II, Mafia is the genre-defining, multi-million unit selling game set in the seedy underworld of the1930s. Rise from the lowly but well-dressed footsoldier, to an envied and feared gangster in an era of mob hits, car chases and bootlegging. Earn a reputation as a tough enforcer, daring getaway driver and deadly hitman in your quest for respect and power within the Salieri Family.