the grunter

Back in the day when the original Xbox was trying to knock PS2 off its throne of being the most popular console (and eventually failed), an internal competition within several titles of the then-new sandbox genre was heating up as well. Grand Theft Auto III by Rockstar Games was the champion and Mafia from Illusion Softworks(Now 2K Czech) was one of the challengers. Others include True Crime: Streets of LA and Simpsons: Hit and Run.

It has been a while since I finished Mafia, but I do remember it being quite an entertaining game. Strangely my instincts for picking games have always been steering me away from a lot of the mainstream titles, as a result I have never finished some of the classics such as GTA III, Kill Zone 2, God of War and much more. Mafia might have caused less damage to the undefeated GTA III than it desired, but I can say with confidence that if it wasn’t for Mafia, we wouldn’t be seeing other mob-themed sandbox genre games such as The Godfather and Scarface. I cannot comment on whether this was good news or not, unfortunately.

Mafia was original, it puts players in the time where the mob power was the largest in the city so it was a big deal, and the game definitely offered me something that GTA III didn’t (I didn’t finish the game, but I did get far enough to know this much).

The Good

• You feel truly blended in – This is something GTA III cannot give. In the GTA III world even if you don’t act like a complete psycho, you still feel like the odd one in the city, I was not convinced that I was living and breathing in this city. In Mafia, as long as you’re obeying all rules, meaning not speeding when driving, no ramming your car into other cars, knocking them off the bridges, and no mowing down old ladies when parallel parking on the streets. You feel that this is your city, and you are a citizen just like anyone you see on the streets

(If you can manage to refrain yourself from stealing that car and ram into the tram, you’ll be just fine)

• Beautifully designed city with very distinguishable locales so you rarely feel bored or get lost, I did feel that I was roaming in a 1950′s town
• Engaging story – Yes, it is predictable, but the amount of participation player has during the process makes it feel less linear

The Bad

• Targeting system is inefficient and needs work, it is clumsy and often inaccurate so it is not even a matter of getting accustomed to it. It’s just pain in the ass. Naturally this limitation has made me an artist when using a baseball bat or any other melee weapons
• The Xbox version is superior to the PS2 version, but noticeably bad compared to the 2002 original PC version according to other reviews. For example the drawing distance, texture detail and overall frame rate (For some reason PS2 and even Xbox got a crazy amount of badly ported PC titles at the time)
• To be honest, none of the things pointed out on the Xbox version of Mafia being a terrible port really bothered me. A little slow-down here and there when there are too many characters on the screen, no biggie

The ???

• Beating the crap out of someone (or anything for that matter) with a baseball bat NEVER gets old

(Oh yes)

• Patience is definitely needed if you wish to be a good law-behaving citizen in the Mafia town. I’m talking about a speed limit of 30mph, and trust me when I say the game makes sure your driving experience stays authentic to the time
• Not sure if it’s a graphics/rendering issue, but the opening sequence and the first mission look soooo dark
• Feels strangely satisfying when I received the indestructible metal car for completing the game, after spending almost my entire game career driving very carefully to avoid a violation or any type of crash
• Classy 50′s music that suits the era, I’m sick of that damn radio in GTA III

Lastly

It was unfortunate that the sandbox genre got a bit abused due to the explosive success of GTA III, but it wouldn’t be fair to label Mafia as another re-skinned copycats. Mafia has a lot of original elements, both in gameplay and level design, there were a lot of thoughts and research done when designing the game, and it absolutely shows when you play it. Give it a chance, even if you have recently played Mafia II, because this deserves some recognition.

(Review 7 of 52, 2011)