Is it already known whether Mafia 2 is going to support steering wheels? Because Mafia 1 worked surprisingly well with one. The PC versions of GTA III and VC had digital controls so they were unplayable with a wheel, but Mafia even had force feedback! Driving with a wheel from one of the first person views felt really authentic once you got into it a bit. Is Mafia 2 going to improve on that?
I don't think it's ironic really
I think it is, because if Flashpoint 2 had been more realistic than Flashpoint 1 no one would have complained. And if someone
had he would have been told to go play CoD or MW or whatever that series wants to be called these days.
And it really isn't like GTA IV is such a huge departure from the older games like certain people make it seem.
It has more realistic car handling and a slightly more tactical combat system. Other than that it's just about the same.
It still has psychotic characters, wacky radio stations and satirical humor all tied up into a pseudo-serious mock-movie story.
The perceived seriousness a) isn't that much different from GTA III, where it didn't bother anyone, interestingly, and b) it just comes with the setting. And the settings have always been more or less radically different from game to game.
The increased realism isn't a demographic or genre-changing change at all. The handling of cars got more realistic from GTA 2 to GTA III, again from GTA III to VC and yet again from VC to SA! The leap to GTA IV was mainly bigger because it was the first GTA on then-next gen consoles so they had more processing power to spare for more in-depth physics.
Same for combat. GTA III was more realistic than GTA 2, VC added aiming with rifles and was slightly more realistic than GTA III (although the *pffffff* sound of the M4 or whatever it was in full-auto will be missed
). San Andreas changed combat radically and was more realistic than either game before it.
Again, GTA IV made a bigger leap because it wasn't a ps2 game anymore.
The comparison to a theoretical Flashpoint 2 that topped Flashpoint 1 in realism really fits surprisingly well.
It's really not a case of abandoning a target demographic to appeal to a wider audience but regardless of whether we agree on this or not: that especially
you make that point when a series gets ever so slightly
more realistic when you generally make it a point to claim games are dumbed down and made
less realistic for that 'wider audience'... that is ironic.
As much sense as it makes to you, you have to admit that much, ya old bipolar realism gamer you.
That said, VC > GTA IV.