Melee Weapons

GC09 Mafia II interview

The video depicts Vito carrying a baseball bat from 1:32 onwards.

Evidence of these weapons in the original version of the game.

8

If you stop this video exactly at 2:19 you will see that Vito was able to buy a bludgeon (the melee weapon can be seen on the original HUD as well)

Podcast and transcript
http://www.mafia2game.com/community/us/podcast_3.php

Mafia 2 Mods - Melee Weapons (gameplay)

Video showcasing 19 melee weapons with perfect working animations.

However on 1/13/20 Mafia community modder, Modded Games released a YouTube video showcasing his Melee Weapons mod that adds 19 new melee weapons to the game with perfect working animations. The modification was posted publicly to NexusMods for download.

DENBY GRACE: So, the gameplay stuff that you saw in the trailer is a good example of the kind of classic gameplay that you can expect from this Mafia title. It's car driving, shooting, melee weapons, and all these things, and we're going to go into all these things in a lot more depth in future podcasts and future articles, so I don't want to give away too much, but in answer to your question, Elizabeth: Yes, this is the kind of gameplay that we will be expecting to play in Mafia II.

Mafia II - Melee Weapons

On Melee Weapons works a team from MafiaScene. Here is one of their videos of progress:

[1]

Textures of melee weapons were found in the game files.

Textures of melee weapons were found in the game files.

Textures of melee weapons were found in the game files.

In the trunk of the car you can see a baseball bat, like originally stated players could hide weapons and bodies in the trunk.

Melee weapons were buyable in shops. You can see a cosh in Giuseppe's Shop in the picture. However, in the files of the final version of the game, Giuseppe was selling Cleaver and Cosh was buyable in Gun shops.

Question: Melee weapons in the game?

2k answer: They will not be in the final game. We were focusing on awesome gun play.

Source: 2k forum

In Episode 3 of 2K's Mafia II Podcasts, posted May 4, 2009, 2K Producer Denby Grace responded to a question about whether the action montage in the Holiday trailer was indicative of gameplay:

...the gameplay stuff that you saw in the trailer is really, really sort of a good example of some of the, I don't know, the classic gameplay that you can expect from this sort of mafia title. It's like, of course, car driving, there's shooting, there's melee weapons, and all these sort of things...

Later in 2009, a Mafia II development video from GDS 2009 (November 6-7) surfaced on YouTube, showing a truly incredible melee combat system that's nothing like the final melee combat system in the game. Vito uses melee weapons, headbutts, and a variety of kicking, kneeing and holding moves. Enemies are seen using blocking, hold-breaking, pushing and evasive moves.

On August 1, 2010, when asked about the melee weapons shown in the video, Jack Scalici, 2K Director of Creative Production, replied:

They were never in the game. That video must have been showing a test bed for a work-in-progress melee weapon combat system. I have no idea where it came from or how it got onto the net. The general rule to follow is that if you haven't seen it in any of the official trailers or gameplay videos, it's not in the game.

Please erase any and all videos you have seen from your memory.

Shooting is the game's core combat mechanic, and that's what all the work went into. If you want to fight without shooting, you can use your fists.

Contrary to what Jack said, it's clear that a lot of work went into this melee system. Moves are shown in progressive sets, being strung into combos, and the animations are very fluid. It's a real shame that they didn't finish developing this very rich melee combat system.

(Game Developers Session, or GDS, is an annual conference on game development in Central Europe. It was first held in 2003, and includes participants from the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Germany, Poland and Hungary.)

In the Mafia II demo, in the SDS package pc\sds\tables\tables.sds, there's a file called meleeweapons.XML. Within this file is a list of melee weapons and associated values, as well as a list of different AI types and the melee weapons they can use.

There are two items listed in Czech. "Prazdne ruce" means "Empty hand" and "Pendrek" means "Nightstick".

CloseCombatWeapon
Weapon Name	Prazdne ruce
WeaponID	1
DamageMultiplier	1
Weapon Name	Knife
WeaponID	22
DamageMultiplier	3.5
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	1
MinSkill	30
MinAttackLevel	50
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Knuckleduster
WeaponID	23
DamageMultiplier	1.5
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	1
MinSkill	0
MinAttackLevel	20
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Wrench
WeaponID	24
DamageMultiplier	2
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	2
MinSkill	10
MinAttackLevel	10
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Pipe
WeaponID	25
DamageMultiplier	2.2
MinSkill	10
MinAttackLevel	20
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Chopper
WeaponID	26
DamageMultiplier	3
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	3
MinSkill	15
MinAttackLevel	70
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Crowbar
WeaponID	27
DamageMultiplier	1.9
MinSkill	10
MinAttackLevel	40
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Pendrek
WeaponID	28
DamageMultiplier	2
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	2
MinSkill	0
MinAttackLevel	0
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Bottle
WeaponID	29
DamageMultiplier	1.3
Breaks	true
BrokenWeaponName	BrokenBottle
MinSkill	20
MinAttackLevel	40
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	BrokenBottle
WeaponID	29
DamageMultiplier	1.7
MinSkill	20
MinAttackLevel	40
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Torch
WeaponID	30
DamageMultiplier	1.7
MinSkill	10
MinAttackLevel	50
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Baseball bat
WeaponID	32
DamageMultiplier	2.2
CounterAttackDamageMultiplier	2.2
MinSkill	0
MinAttackLevel	30
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Cue
WeaponID	33
DamageMultiplier	1.4
Breaks	true
BrokenWeaponName	BrokenCue
MinSkill	30
MinAttackLevel	20
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	BrokenCue
WeaponID	33
DamageMultiplier	1.3
MinSkill	30
MinAttackLevel	20
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Shovel
WeaponID	34
DamageMultiplier	1.6
MinSkill	20
MinAttackLevel	10
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Snow shovel
WeaponID	35
DamageMultiplier	1.5
MinSkill	20
MinAttackLevel	10
MinBlockLevel	0
Weapon Name	Broom
WeaponID	37
DamageMultiplier	1.4
MinSkill	30
MinAttackLevel	50
MinBlockLevel	0
PriorityList
Type	CIVILIAN
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	FRIEND
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Knife
Item	Chopper
Item	Bottle
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Cue
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
Item	Broom
PriorityList
Type	ENEMY
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Knife
Item	Chopper
Item	Bottle
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Cue
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
Item	Broom
PriorityList
Type	GUARD
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Pendrek
Item	Torch
PriorityList
Type	POLICE
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Pendrek
Item	Torch
PriorityList
Type	DETECTIVE
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Pendrek
Item	Torch
PriorityList
Type	CLEMENTE
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	FALCONE
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	BOMBERS
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Cue
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Bottle
Item	Knife
Item	Chopper
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
Item	Broom
PriorityList
Type	BIKERS
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Cue
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Bottle
Item	Knife
Item	Chopper
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
Item	Broom
PriorityList
Type	IRISH
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Bottle
Item	Knife
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Cue
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Chopper
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
Item	Broom
PriorityList
Type	CHINESE
UsesWeapons	true
Item	Chopper
Item	Knife
Item	Cue
Item	Broom
Item	Knuckleduster
Item	Baseball bat
Item	Wrench
Item	Pipe
Item	Crowbar
Item	Shovel
Item	Snow shovel
PriorityList
Type	SCRIPTED
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	VINCI
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	FMV
UsesWeapons	false
PriorityList
Type	SELLER
UsesWeapons	false