Mafia

"Not bad...Could be better though"

Mafia was the sleeper hit on the PC a couple of years ago, with it's mix of driving and shooting missions, realistic graphics and a engaging storyline that had people raving about it. A couple of years later, and it's now out on PS2. So how does the PS2 version compare to the much rated PC version? Not very well, I'm afraid.

You play the game as Tommy Angelo, and as soon as you play the first mission, the problems of this game become clear. Admittedly cars in the 1930's, where the game is set, probably didn't handle very well, but the slightest touch of the controls will have you flying into a lamppost quicker than you can say "What the…?" Cornering is impossible at high speeds, and you will have to slow down quite a lot to even make it round them, and other cars will crash into you for no reason. You must also obey the traffic laws, otherwise you will get done by the many traffic cops that seem to inhabit Lost Heaven, the fictional city which is the setting for this historical crime caper, which is fine for realism, but does tend to slow down the pace of the driving sections, making it feel jumpy, and is just plain annoying on timed missions.

And the news isn't much better for on foot either, thanks a dodgy control system. Let's be honest here, the controls are a complete mess. Using R2 and L2 to toggle in between targets is great especially if manual aiming isn't your strong point, but why not replace it with a simple one button auto aim instead? And the manual aiming can be a nightmare too, especially since the simplest of touches with R3 (The aiming control) will send the camera rocketing up to the sky, while you enemies will quite cheerfully pump you full of lead! The same problem occurs while walking and can prove to be a mini nightmare, especially in Mission 3.

Missions can also range from the simple (Mission 16) to the frustrating (Mission 17). Indeed the difficulty rating can be from one end of the scale, to another, it's hard to know what is coming next! It can be frustrating at times, especially on the harder missions, where it can take you 10 attempts to complete them! Also, occasionally the screen will go blank when trying to load up the next section of a mission, leaving you to have to reset it. Loading times that suddenly appear (Especially while driving over bridges) might only take between 40 – 60 seconds before going again, but it can irk the irritation faction up that little more, leaving the player with a feeling of mounting anger, or one of dismay.

The graphics in this can be a bit mixed. I am fully aware that a PS2 can't clearly define graphics as well as a PC, but that is no excuse for cars to suddenly pop up in front of you and buildings to have to come up in three sections before finally merging together to create one huge one. This is as especially noticeable when you are driving at high speed around the city of Lost Heaven.

However, after naming some of the flaws in this game, it would be unfair for me not to mention the high points, and the most obvious one would be the cut scenes. These are beautifully done, and the voice acting is excellent. The writing is strong, and you get a clear sense of what is going on. You start off at the end (a la Pulp Fiction) and in a series of flashback, you are told Tommy's life, and what he did. In fact, if we were only talking cut scenes, this game would be getting an 8 or even 9 out of ten. But we aren't and all the good work in the cut scenes can be quickly undone by the blocky and foggy graphics in the main game.

The music is also good, especially the first two scores in the intro trailer and the Jazz music that accompanies you while driving. In fact, after hearing them for a couple of times, I can guarantee that you won't be able to get them out of your head for the next couple of hours!

It would be more fair to compare Mafia to The Getaway than the GTA series, as both are more mission based, and are storyline guided, as a opposed to having a free open city that you can do anything in. Also, in both you drive for A to B, sometimes via C to get to D, and then shoot everybody in sight, before driving back to A, or sometimes going off to E. The difference with The Getaway however, is that the controls, while still flawed are slightly easier to handle than in Mafia.

Overall this is a good game, but it could have been great if it wasn't for some issues with the controls and some graphic problems, these might seem like little things, but can really affect your enjoyment of this game, which is why I am only going to give this a 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/05