I read an interview with Dan Vávra - (Lead designer, screenwriter, director), who left the 2K Czech because he didn't like the way they were going. In the interview, it was mentioned that the game was supposed to have 19 Episodes... Unfortunately, I can't link the interview as I read it in a magazine (LEVEL - Czech version). He also stated that publishers would ruin the game, because they were demanding too much and wanted it done in time so short it wasn't possible. So, we got a shitty unfinished game because of shitheads who don't even understand how they work, but know they are kinda similar to movies and make money... Oh, and just as a cherry on top, quite a few of 2K Czech devs were fired because of the facts, that Mafia II just didn't sell as much as the abovementioned publishers wanted - this includes several devs who were working in 2k Czech for years... Seriously, fuck all publishers. They are the reason Mafia II was shit, they are the reason why Watch Dogs was shit. They are the reason why every CoD is the fucking same shit as a year before - maybe with a little bit better textures. Fuck every goddamn game publisher. They used to be better before the gaming industry got big, because they at least understood the games a bit. Now it's just fuckers with numbers pulled out of their arse who want more bling for less money. Fuck all of them. /rant

Mafia 2 was a great game, but it could've been so much better than it was. Just think, the beta mission shown was just *one* of who knows how many other pieces of cut content. You can only imagine how much else was left on the "cutting room floor", not even to return as DLC. It's sad, really.

Mafia 2 beta it's a completely different game.

From the start Mafia II felt like it wasn't complete. Soo much good content gone forever. Shame.

This game could have been so much better. It makes me sad.

It really irks me how Take Two, after buying Illusion Softworks (Mafia's developer studio), totally stripped down this game to avoid any competition with GTA. They took out more than half of the original game content: melee weapons, barber shops, the subway, a LOT of mission objectives, some cars (who returned later in DLC like the Delizia), alternative endings (which were confirmed by the studio at some point and denied later) and many other things. I guess that explains why the game felt so unfinished to many people. Good video as usual, Vadim. I'm waiting for the second part of this and more.

After Mafia 3 they need to remaster Mafia 2 with most of these features.

I thought Mafia II was an awesome game but then I saw the beta and it's even better! so sad they had to remove all the cool stuff

If these contents weren't cut from the game Mafia II would be a Game Of The Year candidate

I think the reason the mission was set in 1952 is because the story was probably supposed to span more years originally. There are licensed songs up to 1960, plus it makes sense. The story ended up not making much sense because of how so much was cut and everything ended up being convoluted. Hopefully they redo/finish the game and release it properly with all of the cut content including any missions that were cut for no good reason.

The best video ever. I just... WOW. I didnt know of any of these things! Mafia 2 Beta looks so cool with that stuff cut from retail. Imagine how many missions were changed to worse, or cut at all. The lost pieces... Damn!

We need to start a petition to rerelease Mafia II with ALL of the cut content

After seeing this, I think the final game is just... Meh.

The explosion may still be in Joe's Adventures but without the "holy shit" reaction where Vito got knocked down it doesn't have the same impact. Great video, Vadim! Mafia 2 is a great game to tae a deeper look at ^-^

i always wondered why Bruski Derek Steve and Giuseppe were so under used in Mafia 2, and why there was a subway rail, but no subway, why there were newspapers stands and people advertising them, but you could never buy a newspaper... things like this stuff probably looked small on paper so a developer scratched it.... but diehard fans like myself all notice alpha and beta changes in games. Mafia 2 now looking back on it seemed rushed... there were no side missions, you always had to wear that fedora with most outfits, even though in cut-scenes like in the in the "Murphys law chapter" vito isn't wearing one in freddys bar... Its sad we will never see this, but to me Mafia 2 is still awesome... just sucks that the only way you can go to the big mansion in greenfield or the grocery store in Sand island... you need DLC

The thing with the side mission for Derek connects to what Joe says to Vito at some point after going to him at the port and beating those workers up for the barber's fee, when he says something like "You'll still take jobs from Derek, right?"

14:44 Empire City Radio Station? EMPIRE CITY?!

really sad how much stuff was cut from the game

military departments, real estate store and home purchase, car gallery and car purchase, home in Vito's childhood, Vito's pizzeria shop, printing house, train, bus, taxi trip, deleted radio music maybe more were deleted from the game

Even in 2019 it's hurtfull to see that mafia 2 should better game a masterpiece 😒 mafia 3 should the remaster of this game by adding everything that was cutted

They should have left the stiletto in the game, they were pretty common weapons in the '50s, and almost everybody carried one.

This is so much better than the real Mafia II to be honest.

The beta version is better than the final one.

melee weapons can still be seen in the game without a mod, in chapter 6 guards have coshes, and in cutscene where you kill brian'o neil you can see him trying to kill vito with a knife

till this day i still don't understand why did they remove some of the contents,these contents were actually not bad at all..

Mafia 2 is the best game I have ever played the atmosphere after ww2 1940's 1950's

No matter what was cut, Mafia II was still a great game

During The earlier game you could choose to accept assasination on Leo Galante (A Friend Of Ours)

nice work man, i love your videos, you can see there is a lot of hard work behind them. Keep it up!

Thanks for doing this man! You're the best! Thumbs up!

its so sad this game couldn't be completed :( this is actualy when Mafia became to fall apart :( This hurts Actual gamers.. they dont care for us..

The music makes this all seem super dramatic. But really, nice job

As much as I love Mafia II this video makes me see how it could have been so much better

I remember when they were talking about making this game when it first came out, and at the time I hadn't played the first one, but watched entire walkthroughs several times. I was VERY interested in all that they were doing. I followed the development closely on all the blog sites, and caught all the videos of production when they released them. Followed the side story about Frankie Pots (The guy you bury when you get out of jail in chapter 7) and was SOOOO excited for how open and amazing they were gonna make this game. It seemed like it was gonna be like GTA except maybe 10x better. Even though they delayed the release a few times, it was okay because they were gonna polish it and make it fantastic. Then the actual game came out, and it was a tight 15 chapters with a very good narrative (especially compared to the third one). It was good and I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong it was an awesome guy like it's predecessor, but it was a tad bit disappointing, because you just KNOW it was supposed to be and could've been more. Even in some of the dialogues where they talk about taking jobs for Derek and Giuseppe and stuff, you can tell there was supposed to be more to it. More side jobs and missions. The way you're supposed to feel bad for Marty when he dies, but you just don't (at least I don't. I mean I didn't connect with him enough to really feel what the game wants me to feel). It's just sad to see how much they ended up leaving out. This game could've been on par with one of the best of all times, instead it's a really good game that people who knew about back then, knew could've been greater.

The epicness of this almost made me cry, now I really want to play the DLC but mostly a beta version of the game, even if it was unfinished or just one chapter

The custcene with Derek is similar to cutscene in Mafia 1 where Morello's thugs are beating up some poor guy and he asks them to keep it down because he's trying to talk.

As always, Vadim, i am left in awe after your video. My eyes woluld've been. closed if it weren't for you. I am yearning for more of your videos.

Very amazing job with this video man! Keep up the good work :)

Beta is better

Great job on providing us with such in-depth analysis, it's obvious that it has taken you quite a long time. After watching this and a few other videos related to San Andreas and the GTA series in general and considering their quality I feel obliged to subscribe.

Where's part 2

18:50 Monique is Vito girlfriend

Even at 10 years, still one of my most favourite Games, I still learn something new about it everyonce in a while.

In beta was a different view of selecting clothes with wardrobe. You forgot

Thank you! I really wanted it. :D

Awesome, man. We want more! :)

Their thought process must have been, "Hey let's remove 50% of this games content and re-implant 20% as DLC". Just gonna pirate the DLC...

Mafia 2 is already a great game. But I always felt like something was missing

Awesome work! You've got a new subscriber here. Looking forward to the second part.

Very good Analysis,need more !!!!!!

Not gonna lie, Mafia 2 is one of my all time favorite games. But with the beta content, the game could have been much better! Damn.

Reblog if you cry every time

lets just hope They Reamester the game with cut features.

"You drive like my fucking grandmother, you know that?" Joe, 2010

The cut side-mission was reused in Joe's Adventures which released some months after the initial game release. All I know is that some cut content made it back in the game through there, because they didn't have time to complete everything, 2K was sort of pressuring them to finish the game. If they had another 6 months I reckon they could've got it all done and we'd have a better Mafia II. Still it's in my top 5 all time favourites though, so the cuts didn't harm it that much.

One of my favorite games when I was younger, played the main story and all DLC for countless hours on both xbox and pc. If they hadn't stripped it back so much I'm certain it would likely be my favorite game ever. I miss my hot-rod milk truck.

Thanks, dude. It's a shame that videos like this have so few people to watch them. Maybe if gamers paid some attention, we had less content cut away and inserted into countless DLCs...

Not so fun fact: The engine sound used for the Delizia in the demo is not used by any other car in the final game.

The stations were differently named. 14:44

Man... The beta use to be so much better, especially the melee weapons and the LTC for your fire arm that were cut. What a bummer... Btw great video Vadim, you should make a Beta Analysis video for Gta VCS and Gta LCS.

We can only hope mafia 3 contains these features because mafia 2 would have been more diverse than wake up answer phone meet someone kill these people go to bed repeat

1st in 1951,in chapter 12 joe decorated his apartment,while in 1952 it still uses 1940s one. 2nd.SPOILER ALERT We killed steve and derek.

This video made me unhyped for mafia 3

If you want - I have the very first video of an interview with Mafia 2 developers saying what should be in the game. Also, I've got exclusive preview that has been made in early 2008 and it contains A LOT more stuff that had been removed. I remember this GDC 2009 video being criticised for content that had been already cut. Everything is in czech though but translation should be easy.

Nice video keep it up!

I really enjoyed this. It was stuff I already knew for the most part, but you were able to illustrate it very well. I think almost 99% of the game's users knew that it was a vanilla game. We all thought it was going to be too much like GTA, but it was weird. Apparently "Linear Based Storyline" became a taboo word because new games went nowhere near a linear based storyline, but that's exactly what Mafia II was and it was bad. Obviously, there were missions for Mike, Derek, Steve and other bosses and I think those from the DLC were just made up along with the crappy Photoshop mission screens.

Hey @Vadim M the Mafia 1 remake just showed up today. I was thinking, maybe you could do beta stuff video about original Mafia 1?

Thanks for people like you helping in the mafia community

The animation of the cop messing with the dog is reused in the prison yard where you can see a prisoner messing with a dog , this is to the right end of the yard .

I wonder why DLCs like Joe's adventures, Jimmy's vendetta and the betreyal of Jimmy have cutscenes only in the beggining and in the ending.

most of the time, missions, side encounters and extra content that isn't present in the final game is usually because of the consoles. had this been a pc exclusive than a lot of these things likely still would have existed

Actually, dogs weren't entirely cut. In the Mac version of the game, in the main storyline. In one mission, (can't remember, but it's in chapter 2), If you open the window in the hallway near the stairs, you can see an old man pedestrian timidly keeping his distance from a brown dog) While that was the only time that dogs might've stayed, I just wanted to share this fun fact.

Vito deleted soldier missions, car gallery, printery,Vito family home, Vito girlfriend, train,forklift, Vito pizza restourant deleted

Did you meade a Mafia Mafia The City of Lost heaven - Beta Analysis?

I wish these guys would do more Mafia 2 videos. They're very in-depth with their research. One of the comments below says apparently there used to be 19 episodes. I'd love to hear more about that if any information can be dug up on it. I still think the final game was good, I had a great time and have good memories from it. Shame it wasn't made to it's full potential (assuming what users are saying about 19 episodes is true).

Even 6 years later I still blown away by how much content got scraped later in production 😭

anyone saw the correctio of driving the cars so you could not drift while driving and not pressing space? because compared to the final games cars they can drift and the controll very different

I think it was Eric, and Vito had to make a choice whether to kill him or not in the later part of the story. That's just my guess though.

Mafia 2 had a magnificent story, but unfortunately the open world gameplay was lacking. Lots of the stuff that got cut really would've expanded upon and added a coat of polish to the open world segments. Quite a shame really, especially with so much still in the files. If this game ever gets a remaster, I hope they decide to restore cut content.

The taillights on the Delizia are different in beta too.

I see a lot of comments where people are blaming 2k/take two for the cut content. I'm sure they're party responsible with their demands for releasing the game in 2010. But Mafia 2 had a long development cycle. 2003-2010. 7 years. 2k Czech spent most of that time developing their own engine to run the game. Development even got restarted when the move was made to release on new hardware such as PS3/360. Reading through most of the pc code you can tell it was not developed in an efficient way - most likely led to many problems and cuts along development. I read an interview with one of the developers from 2k Czech around 2010. I think just after the game first released - he said something to the effort of regrets about choices made during development. They focused on making the game look as good as possible, rather than adding in these extra bits of detail in and play testing. I think 2k Czech could have released their full game if they had another year or so. But 7 years of working on this game. That's not cheap, working on games isn't a hobby or passtime it's a business. I don't blame the publishers for pushing a release. What I do hate most is the fact that Hanger 13 took over 2k Czech's version of Mafia 3. I want to see how that would have turned out.

So the original map had all of the inaccessible roads...accessible? Would there be a roadblock to stop you or something? Note the one inaccessible road on the left in the original, not present in the final.

2:48 is there a mod that disables teleportation between 2 places?

I'm glad how you improved making videos. Those sound effects are so annoying.

nice! you should also do mafia 1 beta :)

From what I heard, only 40% of the content is left in the game. I wish they gave them another year so they could have finished it properly.

Oh shit! I always liked Mafia II and it was my favorite game, i thought that this game was perfect. But after seeing this... it could be better.

11:23 How come the "final" map is missing the road to and from the dam?

Mafia II would surely be my favourite game of all time with this whole content... It was amazing, but with side missions, melee weapons etc it'd be even better.

2:49, *you can get that to work,* if you get a cop to open the front or back door, then you can shoot the place up, and also not teleport. Strange encounter, but I got it about 3 times on the main story (by accident)

A mission involving a shootout in the parking garage in Uptown with the Tongs according to a cut Empire Classic news report.

it will be beta analysis about age of empirea 2 the age of kings?

Melee weapons are still in the gamefiles, some do not work properly, bit you're Aldo able to do stealth kills with some of them, if you search around YT you'll find some videos.

Also, the car in the chase scene had a different engine sound from the one in the final version. I actually preferred how it sounded in the beta. Maybe they'll give us what we want in Mafia 3, whenever they decide to make it.

Man i can't believe they cut some missions about Tommy Angelo. That is maybe the most important part of the storyline. For know something more about him. :(

11:45 all those characters and their side missions! That would have been such a great addition to the remaster. 🤭

wait so mafia got the strings changed a bit does that means like an update

A detail was missing when Vito is arriving at the garage, a train passes next to the car

This is a fantastic video. Thanks for creating this comparison. If only we would've gotten the full Mafia 2 with nearly 200 main and side missions ... this would be the perfect game for me. I don't really get it why small things like the minimap were changed and basically made worse. What's the point of this?

It looks like The beta is the retail and the retail is beta