Mafia

"Great Game Plagued by PS2 Limitations"

Mafia came out on the PC back in the year 2002. It recieved rave reviews back when it was released, for good reasons too. The game had some very impressive graphics, great sound and music, and some great gameplay that put a twist on the GTA formula. However, Mafia on the Playstation 2 has some of the worst technical problems that I have ever encountered in a game. For one, the graphics have been dumbed down so much that the game looks like a PS1 game and the game suffers from the most annoying pop-up ever. There are other things, but I want to get this review over with.

STORY:8
The game has a great story. It hasn't been changed from the PC counterpart. It seems that Illusion Software, the developers of the game, downdgraded almost everything about the game except for the story and sound. The game is about a guy who wants to get out of the Mafia so his family can live a better life and he needs this cops help to do so. He gives the cop information about the Mafia and the cop agrees to help him out. It is a great story once you get into it, but the crappy graphics take you out of the experience some.

GRAPHICS:2
I though this was going to be a port of the PC version. This can't be a port of Mafia. That game had amazing graphics. This surely doesn't. All of the first generation games for the Playstation 2 look better than this. The cut scenes are the same, but the in-game stuff is just ugly. The game also suffers from the worst pop-up ever. All you see in front of you is a big black background. No buildings. At least not until you get within a couple feet. The game looks atrocious.

SOUND:8
The voice acting in Mafia is done very well. The game sounds like it could have been a movie. The same thing goes for the music. When I first saw the opening cinema it felt like I was watching a movie. The sound is that good. All of the sound effects also sound great. Thank god Illusion Software didn't downgrade the sound. I don't know what the game would have been like.

GAMEPLAY:5
This was a great game on the PC. The driving was done well. The shooting was done well, but in this everything feels wrong. For one, the handling on the cars is jacked up. It feels like it is arcadey and like a simulation at the same time which confuses you on how to drive and makes the cop chases in the game boring. There is also a lack of a sense of speed. Going 70 MPH feels like going 15 MPH. The shooting still feels pretty cool, but overall the game is just plagued by so many technical errors that it makes the game way less fun and enjoyable.

CONTROL:6
I really did not like the controls. On PC the controls are fine, but here they are a mess. For one, the handling and driving controls are horrible. THe actual button layouts aren't the best ever either. Don't get me wrong here. The game is playable, but the game just feels like it was rushed out. Everything has been dumbed down. There was no effort put into this game.

OVERALL:5
This is one of the worst ports of a game I have ever played in my life. Mafia won tons of praise and won many awards, but this game surely won't. The game just has too many problems to overlook. The biggest problem is that the game just isn't fun. It doesn't give you a sense that you are in the 30's with the Mob. I guess that is because of the horrible graphics. Who knows?

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 03/22/04