Mafia

Rating:
Summary: The Best Game Ever!
Review: This game is the best ever. It takes the real 1930s and combines it what a real mafia life would be. It really lets you feel what it nearly would have been like. The assortment of cars are amazing and wait until you see the weapons. This game just has it all and I think it might be one of the best of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Enormously Entertaining
Review: Like Grand Theft Auto III, this game takes place in an "open-ended" world, meaning you can travel to various places in an immense map, and that there is more than one solution to each mission. The plot is more linear than GTAIII- you can't really pick your missions in random order- but it also has a more interesting storyline. The graphics are amazing- nearly cinematic in quality. This game does take place in the 1930s, so the cars aren't as fast and the guns aren't quite as loud. Some of the settings are beautifully rendered- the cathedral and the art museum in particular standout to me. Once you finish the game, you've have access to the entire map in "Freeride" mode, as well as numerous silly and over-the-top missions in "Freeride Extreme". Between Mafia and GTAIII, you'll have two games with a lot of replayability, and I'm certain that both will rank as video game classics. Buy this game!

Rating:
Summary: GRAND THEFT AUTO III meets MAXIMILLIAN PAYNE
Review: I think that's a good way to describe this wonder of a game. MAFIA takes the best of both worlds. The developers cribbed the sprawling city map and insane number of cars from GTA III and added the more linear storytelling of MAX PAYNE. And voila! It works! Think of this as a more grown-up GTA III. The penalties for erm, reckless driving are harsher. You can even get ticketed for running a red light. And woe unto you who wishes to decorate their bumper with pedestrian corpses! MAFIA is GTA III with a more fleshed out player character. You step into the shoes of Tommy Angelo, lowly cab driver who's had a run-in with the Salieri crime family. Playing a Mafioso errand boy has never been so much fun.
I might be in the minority here but I really digged the cut-scenes. I thought the texture on the faces was the best I've ever seen. The voice acting is above average for a video game. Well, you know voice acting in games is still pretty bad. Aside from Sir R. Lee Herme voicing that drill instructor in HALF-LIFE OP FORCE, there hasn't been that many high-profile voice jobs for games. Ah, but they do a good job with what they've got. The acting is less hammy than in MAX PAYNE.
I felt the most frustrating part about this game was the driving. It's a bit too...real. It actually takes a good 10 minutes to drive from one end of Lost Haven to the other without running red lights or getting pulled over by the coppers. And sometimes, you just want to get to the next mission. I wish there was some kind of way to move from one part of the map to the other.
Strangely enough, this minor quibble is the only one that seems to come up in reviews of MAFIA. That means...buy this game now! It never got as much hype as GTA III but you'll love to have this in your collection. A real classic.

Rating:
Summary: Definitley Amazing
Review: I was transported in time to another world. Great action, story, and graphics to die for. An even greater game than is already known. Take a look at the top 10 game list on gamespot.com. This list gauges visitor interest. Mafia keeps on climbing back on this list several months after its release.

Rating:
Summary: Mafia well deserves my 5 stars.
Review: This game, in a nutshell, is one of the greatest things I have ever seen developed for the PC. Being a huge GTA fan, I even have to admit defeat - Mafia schools GTA big time. Mafia is the ultimate mobster game ever made. The story is very strong indeed. It is basicly a mini-movie rolled into a game format which makes playing it very very fun. The only downside to it is that it needs a big rig to run on. Also, the Freeride options are limited and not that much fun after the 4th hour of play. Hardly anybugs were found while playing this star of a game, and the only thing that I could see which could be improved is having a little more direction during the campaign game.

One thing though, you need some patience to play this game. Don't be surprised if you have to drive your a$$ all over town too and from each mission. Its alot like GTA that way except your always working for the Mafia and the cars are slow as hell. But hey, its the 1930's, what do you expect.

This game grows on you fast, and before you know it, you'll be hooked on the story...

SOW_Scarface

Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: I am enjoying this game so far. The cut scene animations are neat but take up a lot of room on your hard drive. Many gamers have compared this to Max Payne and GTA 3, although there are differences. You'll spend a lot of time driving around Lost Haven. Music is by old 30s jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. The gun battles are good, better than in GTA 3. Your aim goes slightly off center if you use a powerful gun like the Tommy Gun, and you must stop to reload every so often. One immeasurable help to driving is a neat in-game game map feature that lets you bring up in a flash where you and which direction you are heading in. The old 1930s cars are shiny and well detailed but don't have the speed of the ultra modern cars in GTA 3 - remember the game takes place in the 1930s, not 2002! The game takes a lot of time, since you do a lot of driving, often between far away points in the city. This game was a pleasant surprised - it was not hyped before release like others. It's also very bloody with lots of foul language, although you can tone down the blood through the controls option.

You must have a powerful system to run this game, esp at higher resolutions. Don't even think about it unless you have less than about 1.2 gig pentium and a top graphics card.

Rating:
Summary: Grand Theft Auto - but more class
Review: If you like Grand Theft Auto, you will like this game. The two games certainly follow a similar approach, although there are quite significant differences (aside from the time this game is set in).

Personally, I like the graphics in Mafia better. Overall,t he whole story is told in more style, and is much more immersive IMO.

However, GTA offers more freedom while playing the game. Mafia offers a lot of freedom too, but in order to fulfill missions, one usually sticks to one path. Some people told me they don't like that as much. Personally, I like the Mafia gameplay at least as good as the GTA gameplay. Sure, GTA gives you a mission such as "destroy this car", and you have a million ways to accomplish that. Mafia gives you a mission such as "have this race car manipulated", and naturally, there is one place to pick it up, and one place to bring it to have the work done.

While you play the game however, that difference doesn't matter very much. In fact, Mafia provides a somewhat tighter storyline to provide a more detailed, intriguing story. I personally prefer that.

Mafia also seems to have a bit more variety in the missions. They have everything from missions on foot where you shoot 1st person style, to driving missions, to even races.

I like the controls in Mafia much better than GTA. In GTA, things never seem quite right. The controls used don't work truely well when you are an foot, and they don't work very well in the cars either. But they kinda work for both. In Mafia, you use the regular FPS-style keyboard and mouse combination when you walk, and a whole different set of controls when you drive. In fact, a (force feedback) steering wheel works very well in Mafia, while I found it to work not too well at all in GTA.

Rating:
Summary: Best game yet!
Review: This is by far the BEST computer game I have ever played. Other notable shooter games like "Max Payne" and "Castle Wolfenstein" do not hold a candle! Lets see: to begin with, there is a good story line exhibited through frequent cut scenes which keep you interested in the characters long after the novelty of a new game wares off. The graphics are outstanding and the overal visual palette has such style. The opening introduction scene blew me away when I first viewed it. I realised immediately that this was the beginning of a new generation of games. The game comes to a crescendo with absolutely stunning visuals in the last mission.The sound is also as good as it gets. The variaty of missions and the distribution between driving and shooting missions break up the monotony of any shooting game and complement eachother. What can I say; I LOVED THIS GAME and was sorry to see it come to an end. I would love a sequel.

Rating:
Summary: 4.5 Stars - Well crafted game - Not for everyone
Review: This is a really beautifully crafted game if you have the PC horse-power to run it (I use a P4 2.53 with Nvidia 4600. Lower powered PC may force you to cut back on sound and visuals.)

Runs on XP and 2000 even though not mentioned in Amazon platform listing.

If you are considering purchasing this for your kids, be aware that violence is similar to a Godfather movie (the originals, not the edited for TV versions :) ). Oh, and your kids will be role-playing the shootings, assasinations, hit and runs, bootlegging, speeding, etc. - not just watching.

The game generally uses third-person view (you see your character from the back) but the camera will automatically change to almost 1st person if the surroundings are cramped. I have to say that the automatic view/camera change is one of the best I have experienced in a game of this type. I don't think I once felt I was "fighting" the camera view as I have in some other games.

If you are looking for a pure shooter then this game is probably not for you since it is likely you will find the driving and storyline cutscenes boring. I personally found the change refreshing and the storyline interesting. The driving is much slower paced than a racing sim (except for maybe the racing level) but I never really got bored of driving around in the excellently rendered scenery. For me, the drives also enhanced the spacial awareness and mood of the story setting.
Tip: Your possible frustration with the driving will be greatly reduced by the use of a joystick. I used one along with the mouse for the shooting.

One thing that surprised me is that there is apparently no way to adjust difficulty. I'm not sure if the game does some kind of automatic difficulty adjusting or not. I can say that my impression was of a typical shooter set to the "normal" difficulty level.

The most difficult parts of the game for me were the racing level (can't imagine doing it with the keyboard) and a few places where I wasn't sure what I needed to do.
Tip: Keep your eye out for the white exclamation point in the red circle at the bottom left of the screen. It lets you know when you can perform an action (right-click) on an object. Using F1 to check your objectives is also helpful.

In general, this game is a must for fans of mafia movies (Godfather, Goodfellas, etc.) and vintage cars (the cars have fictitious make and model but are reportedly based on real cars from the time period). A pleasant change if you are getting a little tired of a traditional shooter and enjoy a racing sim once in a while.
Not going to be your cup of tea if you're looking for an Unreal Tournament clone.

Rating:
Summary: DONT MESS WITH THE FAMILY
Review: What a GREAT Game! This is one of the most entertaining games I have played in a long time. Set in the 30's this game gives you the "feel" of living in a Chicago like setting. Instead you are in the city Lost Heaven. This game plays like Grand Theft Auto III but is much larger in scale and much more detailed. The automobiles drive just as they should through the game and there are alot of vehicles to drive. Through the extensive storyline (20+ missions) you will travel through the adventures of Tommy, a cab driver unknowingly thrust into the mafia, and once their finds he fits right in and quickly becomes one of the Dons right hand men. You will be in the middle of a mafia war and have to undertake shooting, driving, and even stealth missions to accomplish your goals. You will have access to all the weapons made popular in this era from a baseball bat to the tommy gun. The biggest plus though is the games replay value. You can experience the "Free Ride" aspects of the game where you just ride Lost Heaven causing trouble or the Extreme Free Ride where you undertake various tasks to unlock many different types for automobiles not seen in the game itself. A wonderful game you will enjoy for a long time. Just remember dont cross the family.