Mafia

"Old School Gangsters"

INTRO
The roaring 20 's, the great depression, Al Capone, those were the good old days. This is exactly where this game brings you back too. I have seen new movies trying to relive and bring back the old days to your TV set, but not on a video game. This was kind of strange at first, then it makes you wonder, why not. Not too many companies have thought about making a video game about the good old days. The question is could they pull if off? In some ways they did, and others they didn't.

GAME PLAY
To all those experienced gamers who have played Grand Theft Auto, or know about it, this is pretty much similar game style. The basics are the same only the atmosphere is different. You can call it a GTA clone I guess. Once GTA set the table with this unique style of game playing, lots of other companies try to copy it, but it's not the original. Instead of being a gangster in Miami, and in today's era, you do the same stuff but only back in the 20 's, instead of the 90 's. It's your usual, drive to a certain place, do a mission and go back to home base and do another one. The format is pretty common in this style of game playing. The only bad thing about this game is the load time; it takes a real long time. When you go to different parts of the neighborhoods in the city, it has to reload, over and over, so that could get kind of annoying after awhile.

APPEARANCE
This is where this game really tries to put you in the 20 's. And they did a very good job of it too. From the clothing, to the trolley carts, subway systems, vehicles, tommy guns, bridges, nightclubs, etc. It's really nice. They did a terrific job of it. You can't argue with the graphics or the detail of the objects. Even the voice's sound like gangsters talk. The car's movement are hard to control, so it really tries to put you in the driver's seat and lets you get a feel of what it was like to drive one of these old fashion cars. Really well done and well-thought idea.

OVERALL
Not really much more to say, this is your basic drive around and shoot game. Then go get another mission and do some more driving around and shoot different things. The replay value I must say is low, once you clear it, pretty much doubt you would want to play it again. It's fun the first time around and enjoyable to a point, but nothing that's going to blow your mind away.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/07