Mafia II

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Mafia II.

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Development Timeline#

• 2003 - Writing of the story script begins, with Daniel Vávra in charge of it.
• 2004 - Pre-production starts for the game's initial iteration that was aiming for a fast development for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles, utilizing the RenderWare engine and trying to be more console-friendly than the console ports of the first Mafia. This same year Illusion Softworks begins developing seventh generation console tech.
• 2005 - Following the unavailability of the RenderWare enigne due to Electronic Arts buying Criterion Software, and with a release on the sixth generation consoles no longer realistic, the decision was made to restart development and now aim for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. This restart involved Illusion Softworks beginning work on their own engine.
• 2007-2008 - The first playable build is achieved.
• January 8, 2008 - Illusion Softworks is bought by 2K Games, the studio subsequently went through a restructure.
• 2009 - Early in the year former director Daniel Vávra leaves 2K Czech, the exact reasons were unknown until he revealed it was due to 2K mandating certain content to be cut with him having no control over it and his screenplay of his vision of Mafia III being rejected. Somewhere in this year Mafia II also entered the full production phase. ^{1 2}
• 2010 - The game entered the beta phase and eventually went gold in July 2010 before getting released the next month.

2007#

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot of the left side of the street block Little Italy where Freddy's Bar is located.

• The Italian flag on top of the pizzeria's door roof is absent.
• The text on the back of the Parry Bus originally said Empire City Transport. Empire City was the original name of the game's city and is also how it's called in Mafia II Mobile, by 2009 it started being called Empire Bay in the advertisement.
• The phone booth in this area was originally in front of the area with grass and trees.
• The furniture store was a pool club. Also, the pool club signs around the city originally said Snooker, it was changed to 9-Ball by the period of the 2008 screenshots and it remained like that for the final game.
• As also seen in 2008 screenshots, the buyable Casual Suits originally had stripes going through them, which got removed.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot taken inside of Freddy's Bar.

• In the background there's a door that was removed and a cabinet with pool cues was put in its place.
• The shelf with boxes of billiard balls and a triangle rack on it isn't present.
• The ashtray is seen in the middle of the counter, in the final game it's located on the right side of it.
• The left top shelf behind the counter had bottles in it, they got removed.
• The painting behind the counter was different.
• There were three slot machines on the wall to the left of the counter, these were completely removed in the final game and can't be found anywhere.

2008#

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot inside Harry's shop.

• The posters behind the counter were different.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot inside Giuseppe's shop.

• The equipment on the left table was different.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot of the road leading to the Red Dragon restaurant.

• Multiple trees were removed from the area.
• Bicycles can be seen parked next to walls, none of them can be found here or anywhere else in the final game.

These screenshots were taken inside the Betting Office. While this interior was completely removed from the final game's files, a leftover door exterior model shows it was located in Dipton and was about greyhound racing, which is consistent with the pictures seen here.

These screenshots were taken inside the removed interior of the building located on the right in the Empire Bay Forge foundry visited in Chapter 8, only its non-textured collision model remained in the final game. A render of this interior was previously shown briefly in the 2007 CG trailer at 0:58.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot in the Midtown area in front of the church.

• On the left there was what seems like either a parking lot or some other area with metal fences around it. By the March 2009 gameplay demo another building was placed there and it would remain there for the final game.
• There were E signs that got removed.
• The Dipton Apparel clothing store brand was called Faurmeline and its signs on the right were designed differently.

E3 2009#

A scripted gameplay demo of Chapter 5 with commentary by producer Denby Grace and censored moments was shown at E3 2009. Shorter, uncensored versions of the gameplay without commentary were also published.

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• A "PENS" sign can be seen in the upper part of the exterior of the distillery in Sand Island, the sign ended up getting removed.
• When interacting with the distillery's elevator button, Vito doesn't do the animation where he presses it.
• Vito's response to Joe drinking in the elevator is "Leave it to you to be drinking on the job.". In the final game, he says "Drinking on the job, huh? When'd you turn Irish?".
• In the cutscene of The Fat Man's death, after Henry gets shot, The Fat Man says "I'm sorry. Please, don't make me do this.". The Fat Man's dialogue was changed to whimpering sounds in the final game, and while minor, this change was rather odd because Joe's response to it ("The fuck, you're sorry, you...") was left as-is despite not fitting the moment.
• During the cutscene he dies in, The Fat Man doesn't make any noises when his body falls to the ground.

The Story of Frankie Potts#

Pre-release	Final

• The front of the Maltese Falcon building was different.

Developer Series - Bringing the Action to Life#

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• (0:59) A brief look is given of the game's screenplay, more precisely Page 11. This excerpt is interesting as it details one of the removed parts of Chapter 1 that took place before the City Hall section. The location text shows the events here took place by the road in the countryside area leading to San Celeste, the names in caps show that this is where Vito and the scrapped characters Parker and Pietro first appeared, the cut Moscardo vehicle was involved here, and the objective was seemingly to hide bodies as ordered by the Corporal before they are noticed by an incoming truck. This also shows how detailed the game was planned to be, as it mentions the hiding spot being able to change and the dialogue varying with that in mind. Below is a transcript of this page, the bottom part is not written here due to the footage having that part blurry and unreadable.

11.

WILLIAMS
All clear, you can come out.

PFC. JACK PARKER, carrying wounded PVT. PIETRO DIMARCO on
his back, comes out of the bush together with PVT. VITO
SCALETTA.

EXT. COUNTRY ROAD IN SICILY - DAY

SAVE

The Corporal and Williams jump over a low wall separating
the road from its sorrounding and reach the Moscardo. The
Corporal then waves at Vito and Parker.

CORPORAL
Parker, get DiMarco into that... shit,
what the hell is that... truck? Well,
right here. Scaletta, you and
Williams get those bodies off the
road. Hide 'em good so nobody finds
'em.

In the event that the location of the hiding spot changes,
the Corporal's speech will be adjusted accordingly.

CORPORAL (CONT'D)
Parker, get DiMarco into that... shit,
what the hell is that... truck? Well,
right here. Scaletta, you and
Williams throw those bodies into
that ditch.

CORPORAL (CONT'D)
Parker, get DiMarco into that... shit,
what the hell is that... truck? Well,
right here. Scaletta, you and
Williams throw those bodies behind
that rock.

• (1:20) A monitor can be seen which shows a removed cutscene that took place at the entrance of Charlie's Service Station. Judging how Joe and one of Charlie's workers can be seen present in it, it might've been the cutscene of Charlie's introduction in Chapter 2.

• (1:23) The angle of the shot of Bruski looking at the Walter Coupe's interior was slightly different.

The Art of Mafia II#

This artbook was included physically in the game's Collector Edition, it later became available digitally as the Digital Deluxe Artbook.

This concept of the main menu, seen in Page 60, is layered over a screenshot taken at the port.

Pre-release	Final

On Page 61 a bunch of concepts for the in-game interface are shown, which are layered over screenshots that seem to predate the promotional ones from 2007 since Vito's jacket has a design that differs from the ones seen the screenshots reelased in that period.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot taken in Sand Island, in front of the distillery.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot taken in Dipton.

Pre-release	Final

A screenshot taken in Southport.

Game Developers Session 2010#

It was in this event where it was first revealed that Mafia II started development for the sixth generation consoles, and a 2004 report video of the pre-production period was presented. More footage not seen in the video was also shown, but the audience was told to stop recording. Something to note is that 10:12 in the first video and 1:55 in the second video onward shows what was described as a multiplayer mode, which the final game ended up having no equivalent.

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Portfolios#

Viktor Jung#

Many screenshots showing the various parts of the Sicily map in Chapter 1, which got heavily cut down for the final game due to the parts preceding the City Hall section getting removed.

Jiri Koten#

These screenshots show an interior that was removed from the final game, referred to as "50's Cocaine Flat". Where it was located is unknown and it was removed from the final game's files.

These screenshots show an interior referred to as "Lansky Office", it's unknown where it was located and it was removed from the final game's files.

A screenshot showing the removed interior of the Ricky's Records store in Midtown. It was removed from the final game's files.

Pavel Koten#

The various elevated train stations found in the city that are inaccessible in the final game originally had interiors and led to the train platforms. They were presumably scrapped when the plans for the train transportation system were abandoned. They were removed from the final game's files, but their collision meshes were left.

Mafia II: Definitive Edition#

Found only in the files of the remaster is this unused screenshot showing the removed interior of Charlie's Service Station in Southport. The interior was removed from the final game's files.

Agraelus Stream With Daniel Vávra#

On September 2020, Daniel Vávra appeared on a stream of Twitch member Agraelus, in it he revealed some of the parts of the game's story that got rewritten after he left the development. Watch on YouTube

• (0:24) Vávra mentions that originally Henry was not a traitor and that Vito was led to believe that was case thanks to Falcone who wanted to cause conflict between them. He also mentions that Henry "came out fine", seemingly implying he did not die. Despite the final plot pushing the idea of Henry being "a rat" it ended up written in a way that does not actually confirm it.
• (0:51) Vávra mentions that the ending in the final game is a rewrite and says some things about the game's original endings. The few details given reveal that, among other things, they involved Vito going to prison, Vito dying, and Joe getting killed (which the final game implies but does not confirm).

References#