Joining the Mafia
As we draw closer and closer to the holidays, I keep catching myself walking the snow covered, smog filled streets of Empire Bay. It’s beautiful this time of year. The streets are covered in a thick layer of mud drenched snow, and it gets dark early so the whole city is lit up like…well…a Christmas tree.
The city sings along to the Ames Brothers, Les Baxter, Buddy Holly and The Ink Spots as music pours out of every shop, restaurant, and police station in the city. The snow is great, don’t get me wrong, but it does get a little wearing after a while, you know? Constantly having to scrape the snow off your car or, when it gets really cold, having to heat it up before you can get the thing to start.
This brings me to the bad of Empire Bay. It’s dying. Not all of it, but most anything East of Giuseppe’s or the Falcon is pretty much no man’s land. The city’s not run like it used to be. My Dad doesn’t remember it ever being like this. When he was a kid, yeah, there were a couple hits here or there but for the most part the Falcones kept things quiet. There was a system in place. You could live a simple life, you know? You get a job at Freddy’s or down at the docks. You keep your head down, you pay your dues, you feed your family and, if you find yourself in need of some more work, the Falcones are always hiring. Well, that’s how it was according to my old man. It ain’t like that any more, now you’ve got the Clementes and the Vincis running riot, turning this city…my city, into a jungle.
You know, you can say a lot about the Falcones, they weren’t perfect, but they kept things quiet, and quiet is good. But the Falcones ain’t what they used to be, hell, the city ain’t what it used to be. Things are changing. Fast. There’s a fire storm brewing in Empire Bay, and it’ll take rain from heaven to put out the inferno once Empire Bay’s set alight.
I’ve been away from Empire Bay for a good while, almost a year now, but I’m looking forward to booting up Mafia II over the Christmas Break.