The game starts off with the main character, some under-characterized Italian immigrant, being drafted into the American Army in the wake of the end of World War II. What follows is the tutorial that other tutorials follow - a mostly on-rails shooting gallery that teaches you the basics of taking cover and opening doors. Certainly not too fancy, but hey, it's an adequate tutorial, even if it is painstakingly arbitrary. After fifteen minutes of shooting, there's about two minutes of confusing exposition before the cleverly titled "Chapter 2" begins. And since Chapter 1 was only about 20 minutes long... this was the moment I knew Mafia II wasn't going to be very good.
