'Now you can see someone walking into the phone booth in one place, while another pedestrian is hailing a taxi nearby, while the whole time the guy across the street is buying a hot dog.

'If you take a look at the city, Lost Haven, in the original Mafia and then at Empire City in Mafia II, the mood of living city is just on a whole new level. 'The whole city and all the interiors are full of prepared actions from which the NPCs choose as they walk the streets,' continues lead designer Pavel Brzak.

Mafia irs city feels alive, with thousands of different NPCs carrying on with daily routines, stopping to chat, doing the shopping, buying a hot dog, using a phone booth - and if you look up at the buildings at night you'll see the lights in rooms being turned on and off as people live their virtual lives. Any 'stiffness' in the computer-generated art creates an unnatural feeling.' The environment itself has to live with grass and trees moving in the wind, swirling trash on the pavement, sewers steaming. Cars have to drive around, ships have to sail on the river, people have to walk and perform their daily routines, birds have to fly in the sky.

However, it's the living, breathing urban environment that will be the game's true star, and one that causes the most development headaches - especially with 'stiffness', according to the game's lead artist, Roman Hladik: 'A city truly is a living, breathing organism. Peppered throughout with references to gangster movies, Mafia II looks to continue the reputation for well-written snappy dialogue, great voice acting and free-roaming gameplay built on a solid storyline and entertaining missions. Set in the '50s, in a fictional USA city modelled on New York, Mafia II sees you playing a new character called Vito who is dragged into a violent war between two rival families after being released from prison. The sequel to Mafia is being developed by the game's original designers from Illusion Softworks (now 2K Czech), and is looking every bit the Tommy Gun-sprayed crime action-adventure. If You Missed our world exclusive first look at Mafia II last issue, then shame on your family - a horse's head is winging its way to you by registered post right now.

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