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Don't believe the hype

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: March 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As a diehard GTA3/Vice City fan, this game is not anywhere close to being as good as GTA3. Actually, it's not even as good as the severely-flawed-but-good The Getaway. Since I don't have time and I want to educate people who are interested in it but want to know the REAL DEAL, here's the breakdown:

PROS:
* Animation
* Voice acting
* Storyline
* Some of the shootouts are REALLY good

CONS:
* The cars are just awful (FYI-I am not a car fanatic) -- they don't handle well and the back end has this irritating habit of sliding as if it's on ice -- INFURIATING! Even the fast cars have the same bad handling problem (I mean, did the developers forget that we use a keyboard and mouse?)
* any mission using fists or melee weapons (ie. bats, knives) -- the developers obviously spent more time recreating a lifelike city versus making sure that the gameplay was good -- honestly? LAUGHABLY BAD!
* any mission where you have to bring along Paulie -- personally, I'm surprised this guy has survived this long without the main character -- he's an idiot! The developers should have notched up his AI because making sure that he doesn't die is frustrating
* this game is just plain boring -- all you do is drive to the beginning of the mission and then you drive to the end of the mission (too few interesting shootouts and too much driving) -- MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GO OVER 40 MPH! (YAWN!)
* not to forget, the police are awful in this game! Case in point, say you speed or run a red light, and if you can't shake the cops, then every single cop in the game comes after you! FOR SPEEDING! Not just that, even cops walking a beat can recognize you while you're inside a moving vehicle! Whassup?! Cops in the 1930s have GPS and cell phones so that they are instantly notified of your misdoings? COMMONE! Also, the cops can recognize you (not only from 3 blocks away) if you switch ten different cars to lose them, they still know where you are. Well, I know the answer, the developers spent more time recreating the city than improving the behavior of the police.
* there is absolutely nothing to do in this city except for the missions -- no side missions, no hidden packages, nada, zip.
* the weapons in this game are standard weapons in a shooter -- on top of the fact that this game looks stupid when you're in a shootout and both people in the shootout have to spend forty seconds reloading -- that's all you see, two dimwits reloading (exciting stuff developers) saying "As soon as I do this, you are a dead man"

Wish somebody would've told me this stuff before I bought it.

If you like Counter-Strike or GFAII read this

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are great. The cut scenes are great. The story is great.

So what's wrong with it, well you spend 75% or more of your time driving through the city from place to place. This would be fine, but driving isn't at all hard or challanging. Other cars will stop if you cut them off, you rarely get in accidents and the police are easy to get away from.

The people in their cars don't even say anything cool if you cut them off or run into them.

The fps part of the game is okay. It's definately not counter-strike materials, but overall from a guy who plays counter-strike every day, it's good.

There is one bad part which is a race you have to do about 25% into the game. It is so hard that I've heard MANY people are downloading the save game after the race from the Internet. I've played a zillion games and it took me forever to finish the race. So if you buy this game get ready for some major frustaration.

If you don't like driving games DONT BUY THIS GAME.

The TRUTH about MAFIA

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: October 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you LIKE driving games - Mafia is for you!!!
If you DON'T like driving around & around & around & around (HoHum) & around some more then pick something else.
Mafia could be a real good game if it weren't for a few things.
1) You don't have the option to QUICK SAVE or SAVE when you choose. The game auto-saves at certain points during the missions for you. Most missions are TIMED and most have to be played more than once or twice or more to beat the clock - this can get repetitive and oh so boring. 2) Most (if not all) the missions involve DRIVING from one end of the map to the other - nothing takes place close to where you already are - again more endless driving. 3) If you have a joy stick you MIGHT be OK driving - forget about using the keyboard - it's not easy.
4) The mouse pointer is "FLOATY" it's not stable. Using the settings and controls I tried to fine tune the floatiness but nothing helped. If you get sea sick easy I would pass on this game. I felt like I had very little control and it's hard to aim
a gun, etc.
If you've played EVERYTHING else - then give this a try
otherwise ....... I would PASS and get that other game you have your eye on.

One of the Best games I've ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: November 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have never played GTA3, but I've determined that Mafia is better. I know it's unfair, but judging by other reviews, this is better by comparrison. Mafia has all the features of a great game: a great storyline. The need for big, strategic, moves. And a VERY impressive gameplay enviorment.

I don't know what police are like in GTA3, and I don't know if it even has police at all. But caution, that when you play Mafia, if you're going to kill someone, look before you do so. The game has a simulated patrol system of police, and they will arrest you if you have a weapon and they see it. They'll also fine you for speeding, running red lights, and colliding with other cars. And don't run away. They'll catch you sooner or later, unless you can manage to hide out until they're tired of looking for you. It's never happened to me, but maybe you can.

The fun part about Mafia is, this was the 1930's. I'm not the greatest player in the shooter genre, but no grenades or land mines here. So you won't suddenly blow up. But if you thought early weapons such as the Tommy Gun, Louisville Sluggers, and brass knuckles were useless, you were wrong. These weapons are key to winning the singleplayer. One feature I enjoyed was, if the police are out for you, you can just pull out your gun, ang gun them down. I Thought it was so much fun to kill the boys in blue!

BOTTOM LINE: Mafia, with one of the most theatrical storylines ever, and a very impressive gameplay, with so many other features that I can't tell you in this review, make Mafia one of the best video games of 2002. It's very entertaining and fun, as well as challenging. DON'T JUST SIT THERE! BUY IT! YOU WON"T BE DISSAPOINTED! And if you are at the start, give it time. This game is awesome.

One of the best games I've ever played!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 16, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is breathtaking! I don't think that there is anything that could make it better. Yes you do drive a lot in this game, but you have to drive to go anywhere you want to go. You don't just teleport to the bar when you need to destroy the cars (it's realistic!)!... Recommend to anyone who is interested in the mafia. One word of warning: In some levels, you have to kill dogs.:(

Cool game..download demoe first...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I downloaded the demo and bought the game. I am impressed with the great graphics and textures this game has. Simply AMAZING. The game is set in the 1930's chicago italian mafia. You start up as a rookie and your mission is to go up the mafia laddre until you are a "good fella", you know "one of ours". You can drive vehicles and use several weapons. Now, you need a powerful computer to run this game. As a reference , I have a athlon 1.33ghz, Sounblaster audigy and a geforce4 ti4200 54mb ddr, 512mb sdram, my OS is windows XP pro , and I really haven't played it because it is toooooooo slow. Anyway if you have a powerful computer you should not have any troubles running this game. If you don't, don't bother until your next upgrade.

GRAND THEFT AUTO III meets MAXIMILLIAN PAYNE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I think that's a good way to describe this wonder of a game. MAFIA takes the best of both worlds. The developers cribbed the sprawling city map and insane number of cars from GTA III and added the more linear storytelling of MAX PAYNE. And voila! It works! Think of this as a more grown-up GTA III. The penalties for erm, reckless driving are harsher. You can even get ticketed for running a red light. And woe unto you who wishes to decorate their bumper with pedestrian corpses! MAFIA is GTA III with a more fleshed out player character. You step into the shoes of Tommy Angelo, lowly cab driver who's had a run-in with the Salieri crime family. Playing a Mafioso errand boy has never been so much fun.
I might be in the minority here but I really digged the cut-scenes. I thought the texture on the faces was the best I've ever seen. The voice acting is above average for a video game. Well, you know voice acting in games is still pretty bad. Aside from Sir R. Lee Herme voicing that drill instructor in HALF-LIFE OP FORCE, there hasn't been that many high-profile voice jobs for games. Ah, but they do a good job with what they've got. The acting is less hammy than in MAX PAYNE.
I felt the most frustrating part about this game was the driving. It's a bit too...real. It actually takes a good 10 minutes to drive from one end of Lost Haven to the other without running red lights or getting pulled over by the coppers. And sometimes, you just want to get to the next mission. I wish there was some kind of way to move from one part of the map to the other.
Strangely enough, this minor quibble is the only one that seems to come up in reviews of MAFIA. That means...buy this game now! It never got as much hype as GTA III but you'll love to have this in your collection. A real classic.

An absolute masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: July 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This could perhaps be one of the best games ever created. The story is a mafioso masterpiece, it makes gta games like they aren't even about the mob in comparsion. The endking makes it worth playing through some of the incredibly hard sequencdes (which there are) and the game is hyper realistic (speed get a speeding ticket, run redlight ticket, you can't walk around the street with your gun out, you can only take a few hits and your dead.) I would highly reccomend this game to anyone who liked the gta games, anyone who likes any mafia oriented movies, or just someone looking for a new game.
Highly recommnded to anyone but a gamer that gives up easily.

GTA 3 ish...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It's good that it's a lot like GTA 3. It also distinguishes itself from GTA 3 by its' slightly awkward controls. However, the driving dynamics are extreme. Powerful cars that feel powerful. Tiny cars that feel tiny. Outstanding design on the autos' as well. Plotline cascades throughout the game and offers up enough cutscenes and storyline updates to keep most happy. Reasonable graphics. BAD POINT : If you have a hard drive 30 gig or under, don't get this. This game is set up on a ridiculous number of disks and takes up a large amount of hard drive space. I also recommend a 12x cd-rom or faster. I ran this on an old 8x and it went into a seizure more often than my cousin after he was run over by a pickup truck. On the 12x it ran perfectly smooth. Voice over acting leaves a little to be desired. But, stil engaging enough that you wont dismiss it. Fun game with great length. Many MANY hours of fun here. Just get used to the controls.

A prototype of a 21th century game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: January 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My sister's boyfriend recommended me to buy this game, and as soon as I launched the Czech version of the game - which is the version that I started with - I found it totally amazing. I am proud of my fellow Czechs who were able to construct this game - a game chosen as the best game of the year 2002 (at least in many European countries). The amount of data (contained on 3 CD's) that the creators had to put together is shocking, and initially it seemed to me that a team of 20 people would need several centuries to finish this task. Well, they used a lot of modern technology, for example a system to scan the motion of the real actors which is subsequently translated to the motion of the artificial humans, and therefore the task was doable. There are many hours of "movies" in between the different scenes, and there is a lot of audiovisual effects everywhere. The individuals in the game have pretty good artificial intelligence, and you will be impressed how realistic all these things are (unlike the cartoonish style of GTA, for example).

The Lost Heaven City is a completely realistic city, designed according to the actual buildings in the New York City and Chicago of the 1930s. Everything seems to work perfectly in this city - including the gas stations, public transportation, banks, car races, ships, small airport, and so on. Imagine more than twenty squared miles of the urban architecture where everything responds in a realistic fashion, including many things that are unnecessary to fulfil the game's twenty main missions (e.g. you decide jump from the bridge in order to see the ship from another side). There are 60 different models of the cars that were carefully copied from the real cars in the 1930s (but they were renamed). All these cars respect all the laws of physics and they are described by 100 physical parameters each. If you shoot at the car (or use some explosives), it's getting destroyed in a very realistic fashion.

Moreover, there are about 30 fan web sites dedicated to the game, and the people who understand computers well enough can have a lot of additional fun with modding the game - changing the cars, textures on the buildings, music, sounds, and so on.

The game has a tutorial where you learn how to control Tommy (which is you). The arrow keys and other keys on the keyboard are used for motion while the mouse allows you to change the direction where you look, and this combination is very natural. You can practice as the taxi driver - you will learn geography of the Lost Heaven City after some time (the map is recommended). The main game has 20 main missions with 106 checkpoints or so where the game is saved, and afterwards you may continue with the "free ride extreme". Nevertheless, I needed about 50 hours to complete the main missions. The story seems as a good piece of literature - you are a taxi driver who accidentally becomes a member of Mafia, and you are getting increasingly difficult tasks. Well, you will have to shoot a lot of people, but from a moral perspective, I am sure that at the end you will agree that being a mafioso is not the best (and easiest) option for your life - especially because your friend will betray you, and you will have to kill him. After the war, they will kill you anyway.

The game was banned in Italy for some time in 2002 because the authorities viewed it as a perfect textbook to become a criminal. The most natural audience for this game are almost definitely Americans, but the publisher company did a bad job when they promoted this game in the U.S. and the success in the U.S. was much weaker than the game's achievements in Europe. Therefore you are sort of lucky to read this review. Mafia might be the best game ever, and it is much less known in the U.S. than it should be. Don't get manipulated by advertisements of less perfect games. Buy Mafia, and you will be impressed.

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