Mafia

"The first thing or the second thing?"

Introduction:

Mafia first debuted on PC in August of 2002 to stellar reviews. Touted as “Max Payne meets GTA,” I eagerly anticipated trying it out. While my PC cannot run it, I did play the PC demo and was awed by every aspect. A year and a half later, it is finally ported to PS2 and XBOX. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst PC to XBOX conversions out there.

Story:

Nothing to say here, cuz I don’t know nothin, y’here! I only have respect for the Don.

Score: 9/10 (Incredible, let’s eave it at that, not overly complex, but done with more polish than most games out there)

Graphics:

Let’s get this out of the way right now: Mafia was ported to PS2 and XBOX simultaneously, and henceforth, Mafia for XBOX looks like an early generation PS2 Game. The city feels very dead, and the textures used on the buildings are as flat as can be and remind me of Driver for Playstation 1 at a higher resolution. The car models are much better, but unfortunately, the “jaggies” are unbelievable. All in all, the cars are pretty sleek, and while the damage model is pretty poor (just a bunch of texture swapping), they do the job. The character models, like the whole game, are a mixed bag. While in game, the bodies are poor, but the faces are pretty well done. The ingame cutscenes are ripped straight from the PC version, so the cars, streets and models are all top notch. One major problem is the draw distance. Just as bad (if not worse), than GTA3/Vice City; however, the game has a very slow driving pace, so the pop ins never interfere with your driving. Lastly, the loading is pretty good, booting up the city takes less than 10 seconds, and restarts only a handful.

Overall score: 6/10

Gameplay:

Due to the nature of Mafia, I have split this up into “on foot” and “driving sections.”

Driving:
There are dozens of cars that you will drive throughout the game. As you progress, you unlock the skills to pick the locks of certain cars, and also carry them in your garage. Since this is the 1930s, they all feel very slow and sluggish. Some may hate this, but I love it. The max speed allowed by law is 60 mph, if you exceed 60 and are seen by the police, you will be asked to get out of your vehicle and receive a ticket. This ticket, which is given to misdemeanors such as speeding and breaking traffic lights (there are very few lights, so this is hardly an issue) is really a warning. Do it again, and cops will try and arrest you. At this point, it is best to just flee. If you choose to shoot at an officer, they will fire back and at this point, you need to eliminate every police officer firing you before a warrant is issued for your arrest. Getting back to driving, the physics aren’t forgiving, and turning isn’t easy. You can use a handbreak, but this causes you to lose control. Crashing also can also cause the po-po to get on your tail, so careful driving i.e. driving within the speed limit is a good recommendation. Luckily, with the press of the “black” button, your speed will be regulated to never go above 60, so you don’t have to worry about speeding.

Driving score: 7/10

On foot Gameplay:

While you start out as a driver, and most of your time will be driving, the on foot parts are what make you truly feel like a mafia mobster. Controls are set up like a 3rd person shooter, and most of it works well. The melee weapons such as fists or baseball bats can be swung using the right trigger, or you can power up a hit by holding the right trigger. The guns are a hit and miss (pun intended). Mostly the miss. Mafia has, perhaps the worst shooting physics I have ever seen. The crosshairs can be right on someone standing a foot away and you will fire off a whole round before you can get a shot off. Somehow, this problem is most apparent at close range, but medium to long range shots handle pretty well, even with the poor PC-XBOX translation of the sensitivity. It’s even harder to know if you hit someone due to the absence of blood. When you’re not wrestling with the controls, the shooting mechanics are very fun and realistic. Your arsenal includes a selection of pistols, standard shotgun, tommy gun, fists, bats, Molotov cocktails and a few other little surprises. The mechanics suffer from PC-XBOX porting but due to the stellar mission design, you’ll be willing to suffer from some technical problems to enjoy a very fun and tense shootout.

On foot score: 8/10

Mission Design:

This is quite simply, what makes the game. If ever there were an example of a game that surpasses the sum of its parts, mafia would be it. There are 20 missions in all, and each of them FEELS like you’re in the mafia. Unlike GTA, which sees you taking on the world, Mafia is much more closed. All of the missions are complex and have multiple objectives. Some are almost all driving but most are a solid mix of the 2 elements. From missions that have you “teach people a lesson” by introducing a baseball bat and Molotov cocktails to their car, to picking up money owed to the Don, everything flows beautifully. From shootouts to car chases to escorting a girl on her way home, it feels ripped straight from old mafia movies. Sometimes, the driving gets to be a little too much and with the slower pace, definitely drags some parts of the game on for too long.

Mission Design: 9/10

Overall Gameplay Score: 8/10

Sound:

The voice acting is probably the best part of the sound. The car and gun effects are extremely generic, but get the job done. The 1930s music is a great backdrop that makes you feel more involved in the game world.

Overall Score: 7/10

Value:

The Game end’s after 10-15 hours. You can replay any mission the minute you beat it. There’s a racing mode, which set’s up checkpoint races throughout the city. There’s a free roam mode where you can choose any car and ride around, or you can get out and cause mayhem. Unfortunately, there’s no police in free roam, rendering it pretty useless.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Conclusion:

Mafia is not GTA, it’s not Max Payne. What it is, is an Organized Crime Simulator. With a great story and incredible mission design, you’ll soon forget about the shoddy graphics and become immersed in the world of Thomas Angelo. There’s no doubt the PC version is superior, but if you only have access to the XBOX version, it would be a shame to miss Mafia.

Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/04