DX9+SSAO: Mafia II

Mafia II is a single-player third-person action shooter developed by 2K Czech for 2K Games, and is the sequel to Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven released in 2002. Players assume the life of World War II veteran Vito Scaletta, the son of small Sicilian family who immigrates to Empire Bay. Growing up in the slums of Empire Bay teaches Vito about crime, and he's forced to join the Army in lieu of jail time. After sustaining wounds in the war, Vito returns home and quickly finds trouble as he again partners with his childhood friend and accomplice Joe Barbaro. Vito and Joe combine their passion for fame and riches to take on the city, and work their way to the top in Mafia II.

Mafia II is a DirectX-9/10/11 compatible PC video game built on 2K Czech's proprietary Illusion game engine, which succeeds the LS3D game engine used in Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. In our Mafia-II Video Game Performance article, Benchmark Reviews explored characters and gameplay while illustrating how well this game delivers APEX PhysX features on both ATI and NVIDIA products. Thanks to DirectX-11 APEX PhysX extensions that can be processed by the system's CPU, Mafia II offers gamers equal access to high-detail physics regardless of video card manufacturer.

PhysX Disabled

Cost Analysis: Mafia II (1680x1050)

Medium PhysX

Cost Analysis: Mafia II (1680x1050)

Test Summary: The Mafia II benchmark offers a great opportunity to compare the effects of GPU-based and CPU-based PhysX. In the first benchmark, with PhysX disabled, the HD5770 manages a small, but observable lead over the GTS 450's. With medium PhysX enabled, however, that lead quickly and dramatically disappears as the HD5770 system cannot run the PhysX calculations on the GPU. I won't get into the open-vs-propriety physics debate here, but suffice it to say that GTS 450 will have a significant advantage over the HD5770 when PhysX is utilized.

<< Previous Page - Next Page >>