Graphics Detail: Polygons

2K Games did an excellent job detailing scenery and characters for Mafia II, but there are some minor imperfections that keep this game from appearing movie-like. Using the GeForce GTX 480 graphics card with all video options configured to their highest settings, we still managed to spot a few areas of the game that are rough around the edges. The first was a clip from the benchmark scene, where the gangsters are all in front of a car. In the image below you'll notice a beautifully rendered vehicle, but the headlights take on a dodecagon shape (twelve sided polygon) which is especially conspicuous at high resolution.

Another example of difficulty shaping a visually-correct circle is illustrated below, where the tank cannon points directly at you with a obvious dodecagon shape. Since the version we received for testing was pre-release, it will be interesting to see if the final version changes at all.

In the scene below, the character squatting down with the shotgun is wearing a trench coat. It's the outer edge of his coat that caught my eye, because it uses jagged polygon angles and flare upward past the legs (despite APEX PhysX).

Some items are much less pronounced than others, such as the hands in the scene below. Vito's hand appears smooth and realistic, but the street thug's hand and fingers are flat and poorly modeled. Upon closer inspection, the dreaded dodecagon makes another appearance inside the hat's headband... although it would be difficult to find unless you're looking for these items.

These examples were the bulk of items we found in Mafia II, and may be different in the final retail version. On the other hand, it's possible they're permanent; used to offset graphics load in particularly detailed scenes. This is especially true for the ported console version of Mafia II.

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