Mafia

Rating:
Summary: Mafia is good but glitchy
Review: Mafia is a good fps, but it is somewhat glitchy, slow, and rigid. As i have seen it compared to GTA 3, i think people are crazy! GTA3 is better. But for 10 bucks Mafia is worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: BEST MONEY YOU'LL EVER SPEND!
Review: This game is first class on virtually every level right down to the music. The only tight spot is learning to drive a car with the arrow keys. After some practice, a piece of cake. Every aspect of this game is played in a movie atmosphere very similar to Max Payne and just as brilliant. Unlike some games, this game is not linear and you can think your way through the episodes. This game can be purchased for about
$10.00 in most stores and should be valued at 50!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful game, frustrating gameplay (2.5 stars)
Review: I really hate to say that this game is thoroughly mediocre since it does have a few things going for it, such as the gorgeous graphics and somewhat interesting storyline. However, I cannot recommend Mafia to anyone who has already played a truly great driving/gangster game such as Grand Theft Auto 3, or who doesn't like attempting a single mission 30+ times. Overall, the idea of letting you play a Mafia don in the 1930s is a good one; however, it's just poorly implemented in this game.

Gameplay: Your character is a taxi driver who is forced into a career of crime. By completing missions (driving, killings, vandalism, more driving, etc.), you rise in the ranks of the Salieri crime family. Much of the gameplay, from the controls (mouse, keyboard, and optionally a gamepad) to mission design, is easy to pick up and much like GTA3. Nonetheless, the big problem with Mafia is that the gameplay is tedious and at some points down right boring. While the city you do your dirt in is very beautifully rendered, it's rather dead and does not have the bustle and liveliness of GTA3's Liberty City or Vice City. There's no reason to ever get out of your car as you are driving between missions, since there are no ammo shops to visit, mini-missions to unlock, or other things to do. You can literally spend 20 minutes driving from Salieri's bar to the next mission site, and there is absolutely no feeling of accomplishment once you finally arrive.

On the good side, the developers of the game have tried to make it realistic, which is both the strength but also many of the weaknesses of the game. The cars look fantastic, though they handle poorly. Also, unlike GTA3, you can't commit outrageous traffic violations without drawing the police, and you can't just jump in and steal any parked car. The animation of the character models look realistic and scenary feels authentic. Also, though it has the automatic save system that GTA3 has, Mafia saves the game at more points, so that you don't have to do too much backtracking if (I mean when) you fail a mission.

Now, for the bad side. The cars are just a chore to drive. Bad handling, low horsepower, slippery tires, you name it. And given that there is so much driving required by the game, the developers should have allowed you to skip some of the non-eventful driving scenes. To make matters worse, many of the missions are timed and the in-game map is useless. You'll lose a number of missions just searching for the bridges that connect the city together (no roads or bridges appear on the in-game map). It is hard to imagine why the developers of this game thought that beginning and ending missions with such annoyingly long and tedious driving sequences would be fun to players.

And now, for the ugly. Yes, the racing mission (#6) is as awful as many people have said. Even though I have the patched version of the game that includes a difficulty slider for the race, it was still too hard on the "very easy" setting. The race is way too long, the track has way too many sharp turns, the race car is way to prone to spin-outs and roll-overs, and the controls (gamepad or keyboard) just don't cut it for what is required. I tried this mission over 30 times and never won the race and thus never finished the game (which is rare for me). The race was the worst instance of the frustrations of gameplay, but there were plenty more.

Graphics: The real shame is that Mafia, as tedious and poorly designed as it is, is a beautiful game. The cutscenes, though a bit too long sometimes, are well done and even the lip-syncing is better than most games I've played. The cars are shiny and sleek and show damage when they are abused. The city itself is well rendered and driving in the countryside is just heavenly. It's just too bad that some of the energy that was expended on creating such realistic graphics was not used to make a truly exciting game.

Sound: Everything is cool in this department. The voice acting is well done; cars, weapons, and other things sound as they should; and the music is fine.

Replay/value: Since I only paid $10 for this game, it's hard to feel cheated, even though I was able to complete only 5 of the 20 missions. My disappointment is largely about what this game could have been with just a bit more effort and testing. If you are a very patient player and don't mind long stretches of repetitive gameplay (such as all of the dull driving that you'll be doing) and can find a way to beat the racing mission, then this might be worth your while. However, if you are expecting a game with a lot of exciting car action, very original missions, and anything approaching GTA3's funny, openended mayhem, definitely look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: great and not so great
Review: mafia is hard to review because i have such mixed and strong feelings about it. in the end i do recommend it and i do understand some of the intense passion it has elicited among some of its fans, but there were some serious limitations and problems for me with the game as well. some of those limitations have to do with my general disatisfactions with gaming in general (i think games are fascinating for the most part but they are also consistantly a little disappointing). anyway, thats alot of preamble. to get specific i prefer to go into the discussion of categories that are important to me, as follows;


Story: B-, story is extremely important to me. in games, sadly, i find it takes too long a time to go too little a way into the story (if they even bother to put together a decent story at all). mafia is no exception- countless hours of play (20? 30? 40?) to cover maybe a half hour, or 45 minutes of story. and that is actually quite a bit better than most games like this. on the plus side the story here is actually pretty good. it's told mainly in backstory about a fairly decent guy and how he gets involved in the mob in the 30s and about his career in the mob. in the specifics of some of the gameplay it is of course ridiculous (no one killed that many people!) but the general arc of the story is good, the cutscenes are good, excellent voice acting too. it's suprisingly quiet and personal as a story in its funny way. i liked that. it had a little dignity. it was not great and -well- didn't quite hold together to the end, but it was good mostly, and it was respectful to its time, to what it was, and to it's subject and inspirations. there were some ridiculous holes in the story (tiny spoiler warning), like, i can't see the consigliare doing what he did, things that just made no sense and were more in service to gameplay, and that did take some toll on the game. compared to a decent book or movie, it's grade would be maybe a "d", compared to most games, probably an "A", maybe, or "A-".

Characters: B, maybe even B+, also very well done and related to the virtues in the story. your character is actually not a thug! he's a pretty decent guy for what he is, i mean, enough so to keep your sympathy, enough to have the feeling of being real. his "family" really seems like the better of the two rivals and gets some of your sympathy- i mean helps keep the game a little grounded. they bother to put things in context and try to flesh out the characters a bit. and it's here that it parts hugely from gta, which is its relative of sorts, you can play it a little on the level of being this character, not just an empty shooter, but sort of playing the part of someone else, someone possible in a way- it's not just purely a joke, which, seriously, is the only way to play gta, love it or not, kind of as a mean joke.

Gameplay: C+, starts to get very complicated here. some of it was really really good, most of it, alot of the shooting, good mix of driving, a diverse feel to alot of the different scenes you go through. had a crisp honest feel to the stuff that worked, both in level design and in the feel of shooting and driving. some things didn't work so well and seemed absurd, a fighting scene (run away- hit, run away- hit), a notoriously difficult racing scene (though a patch helps that). some of the stuff with allies was frustrating because they could be criminally stupid. i can't remember all the problems now and they wouldn't have been such severe problems if it weren't for some of the other issues below.

Graphics: A-, don't know if there are even new games out there now that are much better than this. technically sure, not that this game slouches too much on that score yet, i just mean they got the feel of the era dead on and take you through things that makes the world they've created have some real life. it's very impressive.

Dreariness factor: B, i mean this in terms of darkness, dank characters and killing things, all of which can grind on me. this game is certainly not lighthearted, or full of good times, but it has its moments of sweetness and relief, and with the big open city, the story, the little touch of humbleness, well, it really keeps that dread level down. the one that so easily overcomes computer games, especially shooters and action adventure games.

Learning factor: C, not too bad an in game tutorial but could have been a little more detailed- still, i appreciated it. it took me a long time to learn to drive decently as it was my first driving game. but it was all mostly simple and clear. it wasnt notably "fun" to learn though, and there was not too much that was like "wow, i can do that!"

Product materials: B?, cant remember how helpful the book was, fairly good i think, though more complete info would be nice. i don't need a guide to the characters as i actually meet them, in cutscenes that i watch passively. i found the map modestly essential and would be afraid to buy the jewel case version as i figure it doesnt have it (but don't actually know).

Chore factor: well, F+ maybe, be prepared! there is, 1, alot of driving, and i just mean, you put your speedlimiter on (so you don't have to worry about cops) and you drive and drive. it is somewhat effective in immersing you in the world and even the mundaneness of it, but, it is also very dreary. b, there are huge scenes or levels or whatever you want to call it where if you fail you start again. from the beginning- wherever the last autosave point was. sometimes it is not much and sometimes it is way way back at the start of the scene. i am talking about like, i drove 10 minutes, saw a cutscene maybe, found someone, killed fifteen people, guy pops out from out of nowhere (whoops), he shoots me down and the game is over. i have to go back to doing the drive again, see the cut scene, kill the people... i am decidedly not a fan of no in game saves to begin with, indeed, yes, i hate them! but this is the worst of them all. this game is sometimes quite difficult (i like easier games and maybe am not great at games, but i am not horrible either) and so i found myself repeating many long things many many times. i hated this. they could've fixed this a few ways, but failed on all accounts!

Technical issues: this is always tricky because computers are different- so no grade, but i had some ugly problems with this game- namely one problem, and it was the worst. the game would sometimes crash while saving and going to the next scene. so all my complaints about playing through some long thing 18 times and finally making it through only to have the game crash and have to try again, well, let's just say it made it feel ornery.

Difficulty: D-, yes, i know, everyone is always going on in reviews about things being too easy and so on (though not in this game so much that i've seen). fine. but i am not like that. for one thing i like meaningful difficulty levels (i.e. easy is actually easy, then maybe a slightly challenging level, challenging, and brutal). this game has no difficulty settings and it is hard. i made it (though i used a glitch for the car race thing) but with the no in game saves it was kind of cruel. it is a testament to the good parts of the game that i did make it, but with an easier setting or in game saves i'd probably be singing the praises of this game alot more.

Game saves: F, as noted above. none. the automatic ones are sometimes close together and sometimes far apart.

Other: C, the game is strongly story oriented, but when you're finished it has the freeride extreme thing which is a little more gta like. i tried it a little. if anything it was a bit harder and it wasn't terribly interesting to me as i'd had enough.


Rating:
Summary: Cool game
Review: Mafia is one of those games that allow you to explore every inch of the environment you're in. It is a 3rd person perspective player and the city you're in has virtually no limits. You can go anywhere you would like, pick up any car you would like.
The story takes place back in the twenties if I remember correctly. You are a simple man, a cab driver that is trying to make ends meet when suddenly, one day opportunity knocks at your door. You help a mafia figure escape a shooting by a rival mob family and in return, you're offered a chance to do a few favors here and there.
From there on, the story unravels. You become increasingly more trusted within the mob family, are being given more important and confidential missions and goals to complete.
Great gameplay, great action, great storytelling and overall plot.

By today's standards the game doesn't require much computing power, however, if your system is not relatively new, I would encourage you to read the system requirements on the box before you pick up this title. I remember last year when I played it it was a bit heavy on my then-6-months-old system.
Also keep in mind this game has no multiplayer.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best...
Review: Not much words... Mafia is one of the best games, I have ever played. Maybe the best of all.
It is fascinating to cruise through the City Lost Heaven, such living place and share a great story with unexpected turns.
From poverty to wealth and what comes after... I dont want to say too much... ;-)
Try it yourself! Maybe you will love it like me too.

Peter from Germany

Rating:
Summary: Frustratingly good fun.
Review: Don't get me wrong. This game is fun, however, the frustration factor is about to make me go on my own killing spree. First of all, there's no in-game save. The game saves after every level so if you screw up you have to start over and over and over and over... The vehicles are fun to drive, however, the control is difficult. I seem to slide on invisible patches of ice. Why is it that when I'm chasing someone, no matter how fast my vehicle is, they get away? and why is it that when I'm being pursued, no matter how fast my vehicle is, they're always riding my tail? I found the race to be most challenging and you'll use a few colorful words before you win. I would have won sooner, but again, al I did was skid at after turn and spin out to end up facing the wrong direction. The story-line is entertaining but the game is just too frustrating for me to just sit here and play the same level over and over and over and over. Two hours of the same level is not worth my time. I have a life.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing game
Review: Mafia has to be one of the best games that I have ever played, and I am an avid gamer. Graphics and character animations are incredible. Gameplay is suberb. Story is incredible and replayability is very, very high. What else can you ask for? And to top everything off, its only $10. Just go and buy it. You won't regret it.