Mafia

by Gathering

Product Features

• Start out as a hitman, enforcer or getaway driver -- you'll have to complete missions to earn the respect of other mobsters, plus Don Salieri himself
• Deal with rival Morello family while controlling your rackets -- see if you can run all the gambling, extortion, smuggling and prostitution in the city of Lost Heaven
• You'll need patience, skill and accuracy with a Tommy Gun as you fight your way through 20 dangerous missions
• High-speed car chases, bootlegging, assassinations, bank robberies and more -- you'll have to do it all and avoid getting caught by John Law
• Just remember, your actions have consequences -- don't hit any innocent people unless you want heat from the cops, and don't cross Don Salieri unless you want to wear cement shoes!

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0000A03AG
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: January 27, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,346 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Game Informer Review

There are two kinds of games: those that stand the test of time, and those that don't. I'm sad to report that Mafia is most definitely in the latter category. I was eager to play this PS2 port, as I remembered having quite enjoyed the PC version two years ago.

On one level, this is a very solid port. It certainly does a good job of translating the PC visuals to the PS2, especially in the cutscenes, which are rendered here is startling fidelity – an extremely impressive technical accomplishment.

So, while the plot and Depression-era ambience still held me rapt, the gameplay itself was, quite frankly, pretty dull at times. Most of this is due to the dreary driving sequences. Although they have raised the maximum speed limit to 60, tooling around on "pizza delivery" missions in an old jalopy just isn't that fun. There's still some good gunplay to be had, but games can't get by on the free-roaming city environment concept anymore. It's not enough to just create a living, breathing virtual world – you've got to give me something interesting to do in it. While I can still appreciate this game for its strengths, its flaws have become much more noticeable than they were when it launched on PC.

Concept:
Port the old PC hit to PS2, while adding a lackluster racing mode

Graphics:
Technically, this is very sound, especially considering the difference between the systems' power

Sound:
I love the music; it's reminiscent of Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (Now, there's a selling point!)

Playability:
Boy, this is pretty poor by today's standards

Entertainment:
A great PC game in its day, but time has not been kind

Replay:
Moderate

Rated: 7.75 out of 10
Editor: Matt Helgeson
Issue: March 2004

2nd Opinion:
For all of the skill evident in the authentic ambience and faithfully recreated 1930s cars and firearms, Mafia fails to deliver in the all-important gameplay department. A headache-inducing bouncy driving camera, bad on-foot controls, and some of the worst load times I've ever seen make this is a title only mob enthusiasts should consider.

Rated: 7 out of 10
Editor: Adam Biessener


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Product Description

Mafia is a 3D action crime epic set in the seeedy underworld in the 1930's,

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great plot line makes up for long load times, February 18, 2004

By 

Lisa Shea "medieval swordfighting enthusiast" - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mafia (Video Game)

In Mafia, you play a lowly taxi driver who slowly moves up through the ranks of the local mob. It's a blend of Vice City with 30s era Chicago.

First, your environment. The maps of this city are HUGE and are sort of a mish-mash of all Italian cliches you can imagine. You've got bits of areas from New York City, from New Jersey (home of the Sopranos), from Chicago, and a few other cities thrown in as well. The resulting fictional city seems exceedingly authentic.

The maps are huge, detailed, and you can go down every back alley and around every corner. The downside to all of this is that the load times to move from area to area are simply AMAZINGLY long. I don't think I've played a game in years that has had such tedious load times. This is DEFINITELY a game that you play with a glass of wine (Chianti, of course) and plate of cheese in front of you, so you can snack and drink while you wait. It's a lesson in patience.

The graphics are quite nice, although not stellar. The cars in particular are a bit "shiny" most of the time and objects really appear to have painted-on skins rather than having textures. Still, you quickly learn to adapt to the look of the game and get drawn in by the plot.

The plot is where MAFIA shines. Other similar games have plots that often feel very contrived. You're being dragged along into missions just to achieve a cool stunt or go through a series of obstacles. In Mafia, you really get to understand the main character, his choices, his dilemmas. He doesn't always do what he's told. He's not an angel, but he tries to stay true to what he believes in. The maps' being large helps with the feeling that you are a real person making real decisions. There isn't any "Go directly left then go 2 steps forward" - you can take whatever route you want and if you take the wrong one, you have to figure out how to get yourself out of it.

This also makes replayability fun, because there are 80 different ways to handle each situation and you never know which one might be the most ideal.

There are a good collection of era-appropriate weapons (tommy guns, sawed off shotguns, etc) and a large number of cars for you to learn how to break into. The starting ones are, as in any game, the typical low-milage, low-speed clunkers. As you learn more about cars, you get your hands on better and better models for your garage.

The AI is reasonably good. If you're perched in a window, the enemy will figure out how to get behind you and shoot you from there. They will cover each other while approaching you. We did hit a few glitches where you aimed directly at someone from point blank range and the system jumped so it "missed". There were a few clipping issues too with the graphics, but that happens in just about any game.

Overall, the game is reasonably long, and can easily take a few weeks to play through if you go for quality over race-though-and-miss-everything. The free roam mode helps keep the game interesting for even longer. This is a game that is fun to blast away in, but also gives you things to think about and characters to relate to.

Recommended!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GTA - Italian Style, December 1, 2003

By 

Lenny - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mafia (Video Game)

I have this game for the PC and it is a lot of fun. I have beaten it completely and, i gotta say, going through each mission and cutscene was like controlling a classic mob movie. The gameplay was great with hard, but not impossible missions. The graphics ran smoothly and the layout of the city was amazing. If you've ever wanted to ride through New York City in the 1930's while being gunned at by a group of mobsters, this is the game for you. The only flaw brought up is that the 1930's cars drive like 1930's cars. I think that by the time you get used to the driving controls, this won't even matter. Free ride is exceptionally fun, running or driving carelessly through the city, earning money for killing gangsters. So, in conclusion, this is a well-made game with a 5-star movie-like plot that will have you shaken up buy the end of the game. The only thing left is for you to buy it...

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This Game Should Sleep With the Fishes., February 26, 2004

By 

sporkdude "sporkdude" (San Jose, Ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mafia (Video Game)

I never seen this game on the PC, but when it came out a few years ago, it got rave reviews. So, I decided to check it out on the PS2. Uhm, I shouldn't have. It's one of the GTA 3 clones, and the worst one yet.

First off, the graphics are great for a console. The city resembles a little of Chicago of the 1930s. The gameplay is decent, the navigation is easy. There are no random search for items, backtracking, or impossible missions. The constant save points tend to limit replaying the same part of the level over and over again. The cutscenes, though sometimes are really dull and cliched, are decent enough to be watched.

Though it tried to be like GTA3, It's unlike GTA3 in that the city and the missions are not seamlessly integrated. It's basically drive to one place, and cut to the third person perspective. Not that immersive.

The driving is horrendous. Definitely not as bad as the Getaway, but really slow and dull. The police will sometimes stop you for speeding. It's really more irritating than realistic. The cars themselves are pretty clunky, though they improve somewhat later. Finally, there really is nothing fun to do while driving. They made it as dull as, well, driving across town in a station wagon. Mostly all the missions require you to drive from a bar to some other part of town, and it's really mostly the same road. There is no fun in exploring. The music is some 1930s slow classical jazz that either annoys you or puts you to sleep.

The third person perspective is fine, except for a couple of glaring glitches. When an enemy comes up close to you, the firing mechanism just entirely fails. They just ignore your shots and punch you to death or kill you with one shot. Another bug is the fact that shooting at someone is completely random. It might take one shot to kill a guy, but if you repeat the mission, it might take six head shots the next time. Vice Versa the other way. You might get blown away in one shot, while other times you'll traverse a huge mission while only losing ten percent of your health.

Finally, the continuity of the game is just wrong. Almost every mission starts off with a load time and a cutscene, and another load time. Then you have to get a gun right down the alley, this entails another cutscene. Then a car right down the stairs, which has another cutscene. Then you leave the head quarters, which triggers some more load time. Usually you have to drive to the other side of the town. The worst part is, while driving, the other half of the city triggers another load time. It takes about ten to twenty minutes to actually start the mission. About one third of my playing time was devoted to this stupidity. Really, they couldn't just have given me the car, weapon, and start me off at the correct building and saved my sanity? Really? Also, in other parts of the missions, the automatic save points and other loading times lull me into sleep. Some of the hardest parts of some missions was staying awake.

Pros:
Good graphics
Easy Navigation
Cutscenes are good
No walkthrough needed
Automatic save helps

Cons:
Dull driving
Loading time
Useless driving
Missions contain useless parts
Close range firing bugs
Uneven combat
Lack of continuity
Cannot save at any point
Bad music

Time to complete: 15 hours

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Frustration Level: Medium to High