Customer Reviews

Mafia

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My sister's boyfriend recommended me to buy this game, and as soon as I launched the Czech PC version of the game - which is the version that I started with - I found it totally amazing. I am proud of my fellow Czechs who were able to construct this game - a game chosen as the best game of the year 2002 (at least in many European countries). The amount of data (contained on 3 CD's) that the creators had to put together is shocking, and initially it seemed to me that a team of 20 people would need several centuries to finish this task. Well, fortunately they have used a lot of modern technology, for example a system to scan the motion of the real actors which is subsequently translated to the motion of the artificial humans, and therefore the task was doable. There are many hours of "movies" in between the different scenes, and there is a lot of audiovisual effects everywhere. The individuals in the game have pretty good artificial intelligence, and you will be impressed how realistic all these objects and their motion are (unlike the cartoonish style of GTA, for example).
The Lost Heaven City is a completely realistic city, designed according to the actual buildings in the New York City and Chicago of the 1930s. Everything seems to work perfectly in this city - including the gas stations, public transportation, banks, car races, ships, small airport, and so on. Imagine more than twenty squared miles of the urban architecture where everything responds in a realistic fashion, including many things that are unnecessary to fulfil the game's twenty main missions (e.g. you decide jump from the bridge in order to see the ship from another side). There are 60 different models of the cars - that you can steal on the street if you learned how - that were carefully copied from the real cars in the 1930s (but they were renamed). All these cars respect all the laws of physics and they are described by 100 physical parameters each. If you shoot at the car (or use some explosives), it's getting destroyed in a very realistic way.

Moreover, there are about 30 fan web sites dedicated to the game, and the people who understand computers well enough can have a lot of additional fun with modding the PC version of the game - changing the cars, textures on the buildings, music, sounds, and so on. The Xbox version does not allow you to do it, I guess, but it has other advantages over the PC version - it seems that the graphics is even smoother.

The game has a tutorial where you learn how to control Tommy (which is you). On the PC version, the arrow keys and other keys on the keyboard are used for motion (and changing the weapons, jumping, and so on) while the mouse allows you to change the direction where you look (or shoot), and this combination is very natural. You can practice as the taxi driver - you will learn geography of the Lost Heaven City after some time (the map is recommended). The main game has 20 main missions with 106 checkpoints or so where the game is saved, and afterwards you may continue with the "free ride extreme". Nevertheless, I needed about 50 hours to complete the main missions.

The story seems as a good piece of literature - you are a taxi driver who accidentally becomes a member of Mafia, and you are getting increasingly difficult tasks. Well, you will have to shoot a lot of people, but from a moral perspective, I am sure that at the end you will agree that being a mafioso is not the best (and easiest) option for your life - especially because your friend will betray you, and you will have to kill him. After the war, they will kill you anyway.

The game was banned in Italy for some time in 2002 because the authorities viewed it as a perfect textbook to become a criminal. The most natural audience for this game are almost definitely Americans like you, but the publisher company of the PC version did a bad job when they promoted this game in the U.S. and the success in the U.S. was much weaker than the game's achievements in Europe. Therefore you are sort of lucky to read this review. Mafia might be the best game ever (so far, as of January 2004), and it is much less known in the U.S. than it should be (so far). Don't get manipulated by the advertisements of less perfect games. Buy Mafia, and you will be impressed.

This review is based on the PC version, but it's identical for all versions.

The game's graphics are nice, flows smoothly, and is colorful. There's a lot of cars moving around, and pedestrians too.

The game is a lot similar to GTA 3 and Vice City, only better. The gameplay is fun and hard. It's realistic (you run out of gas and need to refill), and has excellent sounds, voice acting, and intense gunfights too.

The sounds and voice acting is great and the story's excellent. You'll keep playing to see what happens next.

The only bad thing is that the cars are a bit slow--they're from the 1930s and move like so. They lose speed when going up hills, and there not fast overall. These cars are not sports cars.

Lastly, a realistic feature is that you can't just steal cars so easily. You need to learn how to do it (the game gives you the ability to do so) and you can't just steal a car in 1 second--there's a meter and it's your progress of picking the car's lock. People actually lock their cars, and you're picking the lock! Realistic!

This game is long and challenging. One of the best games ever made. Enjoy it!

I have not played this game on PC2 but it sounds like what I am about to say for Xbox is even worse in PlayStation2 mode. Mafia The Game for PC is my favorite game of all time. I spent a year of my life all day and night playing this game. I was going through a divorce and this was a GREAT escape and I loved it. I spent 6 months just on Free Ride and never got tired of it. Then the missions, the shootouts, the wild chases, criminals and police all coming after me, not even GTA could match this. Then my new computer had some sort of video glitch and even after trying 2 video cards, my processor kept burning up (so no matter games on the PC. I recently got an XBox and thought I would take my favorite game for a spin. I would have to say honestly this isnt even the same game. The graphics are not good, very fuzzy and not clear looking at all. Worse, on Free Ride, suddenly all the police have vanished from the streets. The police were an intregate part of the game before and made things exciting. You didnt just have to worry about speeding, or the criminals, but the police were always watching you and on your tail. Part of the fun was trying to get away with 4-5 cars full of police and 4-5 Mafia cars chasing you, in and when you get out of the car and try to run, shoot, hide, etc. Also, I noticed it was very easy to run over the bad guys dressed in black. They seem to go down like a sitting duck. And to shoot them was the same, even a bullet somewhat close they were dead. Also the pedestrians act differently, and whole groups of them get into same positions (almost overlapping one another) and you cannot accuratly fight with them, shoot them, or whatever. The accuracy of the game is not even close to the original Mafia PC game. I also noticed as I started some missions, the police are barely noticable even if you speed around the whole city at 100 mph. The game has to reset EVERYTIME you go over the bridge and if you finally did get the police to chase you, the XBox will crash right at that moment. Also, the characters repeat the same lines over and over again endlessly. There are a few new lines they read, but they repeat the same ones sometimes 3,4,5, times in a row. The accuracy, innovation, realism, and precision of the PC game is not evident here. I can understand now why this company decided not to make a Mafia 2 and decided to shelf the whole Mafia francise plans. You have to make a great game GREAT on all flatforms. The other games I have tried on XBox are awesome (even better then the PC) because my screen is bigger, on a grander scale, and better looking then when you view it on a 15 or 17 inch monitor. But with Mafia, this game looks like a copy of the original. Even their new RACE mode has spectators clapping that look phony as a $3 bill. That sums it all up, I doubt the same people who made the PC game were even involved with this project. if you have ever played Mafia on the console and wondered what all the hype was about, you are right. But get a PC version and play it on a good computer with a good graphics card and you will see why this game ranks RIGHT UP THEIR with GTA and actually as far as accuracy, animations, action, and AI it can't be beat. Again that goes for the PC version, XBox, dont waste your money.

I just finished this game yesterday and I loved it. It took me about a week off and on to beat it so it's not too bad. Getting to play a gangster and driving the old timey cars and hearing the 30s music and seeing 30s settings was definitely a nice change from the everyday game. The cinematic cutscenes were wonderful and the facial animations and graphics were very welld one. The rest of the graphics in the game could have been better though so I was slightly disappointed in that area. But the sheer fun of the game more than makes up for it. This was my first gangster game to play and needless to say I will be looking for more of that type in the future with Godfather out now and Scarface coming in the future towards the end of the year. This game is pretty violent and the language is pretty bad though...but after all, this IS a MAFIA game. There was only one real letdown in the game though, but I will let you find that out for yourself. Those things aside, I highly recommend this game to those of a mature audience. You will definitely enjoy it. Before I forget, there is an added plus to the game. There is a race mode where you can race old timey cars! Coolness indeed! There is also a free roam mode too. Neat! Go out, buy it, enjoy!

missions in this game are fun but the graphics lack a bit. the cars are realistic and the music is great to listen to in free ride.

After playing through Mafia on the PC, this Xbox port is an unexpected disappointment. In hindsight the game never should have been ported to PS2 or Xbox. All of the things that made Mafia so visually arresting on the PC were stripped or deleted from the console version. The draw distance is awful: a hazy fog obscures the beauty of Lost Heaven. The lines on the street barely paint in as the front bumper of your car passes them. The landscape is stripped of detail, leaving only the muddy textures of building surfaces that were forgiveable in the PC game. Many of the customizeable in-game options have been deleted (like the ability to manually shift your car), just adding to the dullness.

I suppose if I hadnt played the PC version first, I could have seen this as acceptable. But knowing how the city of Lost Heaven *should* look and sound leaves me with the impression of a dead, barren world on the Xbox. Get a decent computer and play that version of Mafia; it's a world of difference.

I am all for people expressing their opinions, but I will say that this game is much better than some of the negative reviews would have you believe. The missions are fun and challenging enough to keep you interested, not frustrated, and the settings/environments are nice.
In response to some of the reviews, I would like to point out that the driving in Mafia is not difficult. It is different because it uses the triggers for acceleration and reverse as opposed to the more common button method, but it is not difficult. You will pick up on the controls and handling in no time at all.
Also, Mafia is not Grand Theft Auto, and it is not meant to be. I don't know why people continue to rate every game based on how it compares to GTA.
The only aspects of the game that may take some getting use to are the reloading and aiming techniques. It is actually a bit more realistic than other titles, but the timing will frustrate you at first. A trick that I have learned is to keep your backup weapons loaded so that you can switch to them for a quick shot when one piece is empty/reloading.

Bottom line: Whether you rent or buy, you won't be disappointed with Mafia, as it is a fun game.

I rented this and played it for 4 days straight. The game is long and the sound production is one of the best Ive ever heard with the surround on. Not as gruesome or realistic as the Getaway, but the controls are way better. A few missions are kinda pointless like drive from point a to b, but the rest of the missions are very well thought out and impressive. Then theres the cars. If your tired of the same old vehicles you'll be quite intrigued by these oldies.

This game is great. The graphics could be better, although, not real bad. It is a lot like [edited], but the A.I. in this game are much smarter, more realistic, and challenging.
In this game, you're playing the story that your character has to tell to the detective. It's very interesting, great story line, and there are many different types of missions to go through. The game takes you through blowing up cars, a car chase, collecting protection money, and up to my point in the game, RACING! I honestly can't say if this game was worth the [edited] or not. I think it'll depend on how the story broadens and what other missions the Don sends ya on. I think it's a very promising game though. It was slow at first, and the graphics kinda chased me away, but I gave it an honest chance, and it really is growing on me. Great game!

First off, unlike some reviews state, this game's controls are not as bad as they seem. I actually have not had any issues with controlling the player nor the cars.

True, the cars seem to handle poorly and they take awhile to get moving and to stop, but that's how they worked back then. The cars were heavy and this adds more realism to the game itself. They didn't have Porsche's and other sports cars that handled turns effectively. Cars were made of heavy-duty materials, not fiberglass and such. I think it compliments the era that you are playing in, which is the 1930's gangster era.

The graphics are not top-notch, but they are better than the GTA series. The acting is not bad and the story unfolds in a connected, linear fashion, but it's an engaging story.

Basically, you are Tommy Angelo, taxi cab driver who gets pulled into the seedy underground of the mob. The story itself is told from Tommy's perspective as he reports his history with the Salieri family to a policeman. I haven't completed the game yet, but I'm interested in seeing how it all plays out.

The first couple of missions will get you introduced to driving around the city. Here is where the game might stick in some peoples craw because there is a lot of driving from one mission to the next and the driving can be somewhat slow at times due to the era the game takes place in. The cars, as I stated, cannot go from zero to sixty in 6 seconds. But, that adds to the realism. Also, when you switch from one section of the city to the next, the game pauses for about 5 seconds as it loads. It's not bad and I hear it's worse on a competing console. On PCs, it's non-existent, but I've never played the PC game so I cannot say for sure. The driving is more of a "cut scene" to the actual mission. Luckily, from what I've read, the XBox version has made this go faster than the PC version, so you spend less time driving in the XBox version so you can get to the actual mission itself.

Once you make it to the destination, the real mission begins and so does the fun. There are different missions to do: drive people to where they need to be to make a pickup, shootouts and even a car chase. I've only just joined the family, and already, that is what I've experienced.

Overall, the gameplay itself, along with the story, definitely overshadow any graphical shortcomings in this game. Of course, with the Godfather already out on the market and Scarface on the horizon, Mafia might be something you would never decide to pickup. However, with current bargain-bin prices this game is worth getting, especially if you love games that allow you to play as a mafia member.

My only other gripe with the game is how linear it is. It's not free-form like GTA. When you finish one mission, you immediately move onto the next. There are areas where you can choose to roam free if you wish, but there aren't any hidden "packages" to find, so in many respects, it's not really worth it unless you just want to take break and sight see.

There is a free driving game that you can play outside of the actual story from the main menu. I haven't played it yet, but from what I hear, it's not that exciting and isn't really worth playing.

One thing I do like is when you reload your clips. In Mafia, unlike other games, if you throw a clip away with some rounds remaining in it, you will NOT get those carried over to your new clip. Just as in real life, throwing away a half-spent ammo clip results in those rounds being lost! So, you better be sure whether it's worth reloading now and throwing away some rounds, or emptying the clip completely and then reloading. MUCH more realistic and forces you to strategize how you spend your rounds in a gun fight.

Overall, the story is what engages you with this game. The GTA series had a story as well, but it felt disconnected at times and didn't flow completely due to the free-form nature of the game. With Mafia, the story continues to unfold uninterrupted and makes for a compelling story to watch.