Genre: Action
Developer: Illusion Softworks
Publisher: Gathering
# of Players: 1
ERSB: Mature
Released On: March 8th 2004
Supports: 480p
MSRP: $49.99
Also On: PC, PlayStation 2
Website: http://www.mafia-game.com
Money, Guns, and Alcohol
In the 1930s, the United States of America had been experiencing a Great Depression. Times were difficult and many of the nation’s people lived back alleys and other not-so-great areas which were dubbed “Hoovervilles,” in spite of the nation’s President at the time. In addition to this time of economic depression, prohibition had been forced upon the nation’s people, prohibiting the sale of alcohol to each and every person. However with prohibition in session, there still existed a great demand for booze and these demands were answered thanks to organized crime, which came in the form of the Mafia.
Thanks to smuggled shipments from bootleggers, the Mafia acquired incredible amounts of alcohol and distributed it amongst the people through the many speakeasies which existed in abundance throughout the nation’s cities, social gathering places where men, women, politicians, and even local authorities illegally spent their nights getting shit-faced, listening to new waves of music, such as Jazz and the Blues. And as if this review couldn’t become any more like a brief history lesson, an earlier technological boom introduced new forms of entertainment such as the radio and cinema, and of course new forms of transit such as the automobile; technologies which became essential to American life in the 30s.
The 1930s was another era which helped change the face of the United States of America, the 1930s is the era in which Illusion Softworks’ Mafia takes place, and an era which the game does an excellent job of recreating.
Mafia recreates the atmosphere of the 1930s like no other game before it. The attire characters wear, the way people speak, the near-authentic recreations of the game’s automobiles, the game’s music, EVERYTHING in the game is true to the time period which it is based on. From this perspective, a few of the game’s “flaws” can be forgiven. For instance, earlier in the game when driving around the city, the automobiles which you first have available for use are slow heaps of trash which even have difficulties going up not-so-steep hills. As a result, the player may become frustrated and possibly be tempted to drop the game that very moment. However as the years in the game’s timeline passes, newer, more powerful, stronger autos become available, quickening the pace of the game and drastically increasing the overall enjoyment.
Another example of a “flaw” which comes as a result of the game’s time period is Mafia’s soundtrack. Many of the musical tracks featured in the game are from the actual time period, including classics such as “Belleville” and “Moanin’ for You.” The problem with the inclusion of these tracks is that most modern game players will hold certain distaste towards these tunes, as I have. Simply, they aren’t something I want to be listening to while playing Mafia. With all this said, it can be seen that the game’s strong point is its presentation. Definitely, this statement also holds truth when describing the game’s story.
As you will see later in this review, the gameplay portion of Mafia isn’t too great. If the game were stripped away of its style and its story, Mafia wouldn’t be the slightest bit entertaining. Thanks to Illusion Softworks’ great storytelling, gamers are pulled into the world of Mafia with cinematics that begin and follow each one of the game’s chapters. Featuring great dialogue, beautifully orchestrated musical pieces conducted by Adam Klemens, excellent character development, and the always entertaining plot twist, Mafia’s FMVs keeps players coming back for more and more until it’s all over. If you’re a fan of mobster movies like The Godfather, Casino, and Goodfellas, you’ll definitely appreciate what Mafia has to offer. However, what you won’t appreciate are the game’s visuals. Games have come and gone on the Xbox that humiliate Mafia in ever which way. The game’s framerate is shaky in-game during heavy traffic, the textures are dull, and the draw distance is poor by standards set in Nintendo 64 games. Not the worst looking of games, but compared to today’s best looking Xbox games, Mafia surely cannot compete.
Overdone? Yes…
Out of Style? No...
Does Mafia Pull it Off? Sort of…
Taking place in the city of Lost Heaven (a city meant to mimic early New York and New Jersey), in Mafia gamers play as Tommy Angelo, a common city taxi driver whose world gets turned upside down thanks to an unfortunate run in with the mob. From the taxi driver that he once was, Tommy becomes a right hand man to mobster Don Salieri, earning himself a reputation as a tough enforcer, daring getaway driver, and of course a deadly hitman…
A major part of Mafia is driving around Lost Heaven to various locations spread across the city. You’ll have to make pickups, drop offs, get into car chases, avoid local authorities, and of course steal other vehicles from unsuspecting civilians. If you’re a fan of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto games, than none of this should appear to be too unusual, except for the car chases. In Mafia, car chases play a key role in a handful of the game’s missions. You can either be chased, or be the chaser, and in order to liquidate your target, you must equip a weapon and pull the trigger until their vehicle becomes engulfed by flames. Often, you’ll have a buddy in the passenger seat of your vehicle, and they’ll do most of the damage, simply due to the fact that aiming your firearm during these car chases is terrible, if not just ineffective entirely. In fact, a better strategy would simply be to ram the other vehicle towards buildings, pedestrian autos, or simply off the road. Also, the local authorities play a much more threatening role in Mafia than any other game like it. In order to avoid the police, players will have to obey the law in nearly every respect. You must stop at red lights, avoid collisions, stay under the speed limit, and conceal any firearm that Tommy may be carrying. If by chance you commit a minor infraction, like going over the speed limit, the authorities will chase you down, ask you to pull over, and write up a ticket, which in essence simply acts as warning, unless you’ve done it many times during a single mission. If not a minor infraction, such as pulling out a weapon in public, the police will begin chasing after you, using force if necessary. If captured, then it’s game over. However, they can be avoided by switching vehicles, or simply ditching them in the massiveness of the city; a city which will take some time to become familiar with. More than likely, players will often be pressing the “Back” button on their Xbox gamepad fifteen to twenty times during a single mission in order to get a good look at the full-sized city map, figuring out where they must turn next, etc…
The other major part of Mafia is the on-foot portion of the game. Like most PC to console ports, when playing the game in the Third Person perspective, Mafia features a dual analog control scheme reminiscent to your modern console First Person Shooter. With the transition from PC to console, often Third Person Shooters don’t translate all too smoothly. As a result, an assisted auto-aim function is often implemented, as it is included in Mafia. However, let it be known that there IS some type of flaw with Mafia’s control scheme... Although it doesn’t have much to do with this auto-aim feature (which locks onto enemies appropriately), the control stick sensitivity in the game is the source of a few control issues. Luckily, the sensitivity can be adjusted in attempt to correct any discomfort players may run into, but there still exists some sort of difficulty when attempting to lock onto enemies. In addition to this, climbing onto the top of crates, or simply jumping in general, is flawed, always feeling clumsy.
As for the on-foot mission objectives, if not paired up with some sort of delivery, car-jacking, escape, chase, or one of the driving scenarios found in the game, they often revolve around some sort of gun fighting. At first, due to the game’s sometimes unforgiving difficulty, gun fights are a hassle… The enemy AI has this inhuman accuracy with small arms from great distances. Add that to a lack of health replenishments found throughout each of the game’s missions, and the ineffectiveness of weapons as the shotgun compared to a simple handgun, and you easily have a game that requires players to mold near flawless strategies through the process of trial and error. Obviously, this results in a great deal of frustration, but of course there exist individuals, such as myself, who get a kick out of dying time and time again in videogames. We fall down, get back to our feet, and try and try over and over until we’ve succeeded.
Despite the gameplay flaws, as mentioned earlier, Mafia’s story keeps players coming back for more until the game’s end. With that said, Mafia’s Story Mode should take some ten to fifteen hours to complete, and most likely players won’t ever attempt to play through it again. So in order to fix that Illusion included additional gameplay modes such as Free Ride and Race. But unfortunately these gameplay modes will barely draw any attention, mostly because all the problems in Story Mode carry over to these somewhat trivial modes ten fold greater. Especially, in Race since the game’s driving engine would not work well at all as a standalone racer.
In the end…
Mafia is one of the games that isn’t too polished, yet at the same time manages to deliver a gaming experience that none will regret. I will not suggest going off and buying the title, but if you happen to come across it, take into consideration that an enjoyable experience awaits you.
