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Grand Theft Auto - but more class

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 24
Date: January 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you like Grand Theft Auto, you will like this game. The two games certainly follow a similar approach, although there are quite significant differences (aside from the time this game is set in).

Personally, I like the graphics in Mafia better. Overall,t he whole story is told in more style, and is much more immersive IMO.

However, GTA offers more freedom while playing the game. Mafia offers a lot of freedom too, but in order to fulfill missions, one usually sticks to one path. Some people told me they don't like that as much. Personally, I like the Mafia gameplay at least as good as the GTA gameplay. Sure, GTA gives you a mission such as "destroy this car", and you have a million ways to accomplish that. Mafia gives you a mission such as "have this race car manipulated", and naturally, there is one place to pick it up, and one place to bring it to have the work done.

While you play the game however, that difference doesn't matter very much. In fact, Mafia provides a somewhat tighter storyline to provide a more detailed, intriguing story. I personally prefer that.

Mafia also seems to have a bit more variety in the missions. They have everything from missions on foot where you shoot 1st person style, to driving missions, to even races.

I like the controls in Mafia much better than GTA. In GTA, things never seem quite right. The controls used don't work truely well when you are an foot, and they don't work very well in the cars either. But they kinda work for both. In Mafia, you use the regular FPS-style keyboard and mouse combination when you walk, and a whole different set of controls when you drive. In fact, a (force feedback) steering wheel works very well in Mafia, while I found it to work not too well at all in GTA.

One Amazing Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: September 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a definite purchase for anyone that liked the idea of the massive interactive environment in Grand Theft Auto III. It sucks you into the 1930s where you play a cab driver that, after a run in with several mob members, earns a position under one of the two major dons in the city of Lost Heaven. The major difference between this title and Grand Theft Auto III, aside from the obvious settings in time, is the realism. While GTA 3 was a sort of cartoonish looking game, Mafia has a very realistic environment, from the buildings to the people to the cars of the era.

There are two modes in the game, free ride and story mode. Story mode is amazing. This is where the bulk of this game can be found. I don't want to give too much away, but I would compare story mode to Grand Theft Auto III with a story and not just random tasks. Expect to find everything you would find in a mob movie: beatings, gunfights, hits, backstabbing, and even a small love story. As you complete missions, you will learn how to jimmy the locks on new cars, which can be used in missions or just for fun in free ride mode. Free Ride mode is just that. You pick a car, which you've earned in the story mode and tool around the city. You earn money for killing mobsters, blowing up cars, or earning fares as a taxi driver. With the money, you can purchase new weapons, fix your car or heal yourself. Pretty basic, but can lead to great fun.

Of course there is always something that could be improved and while they are few in this game, I think they should be mentioned. One thing that bothered me was the fact that all missions start and end at the don's restaurant, which translates to a lot of driving when a mission takes place on the other side of the city. On the other hand, with such a beautiful environment, this gives you a chance to get a better look at some areas that you may not have to visit during a mission. The only other annoyance that I can think of is the frustrating difficulty of some of the missions. Again, I don't want to give to much away, but sometimes the AI is just too good. Otherwise the AI is very fun to deal with. Guys hide and duck behind objects, they run when they know they're in trouble, they whistle for help when they need it. The AI is overall fantastic.

Overall this is an amazing game. It is very addictive and engrossing and will keep you entertained for hours.

PROS:
Very realistic and massive environment
Great Artificial Intelligence
Engrossing story
Tons of cars and weapons

CONS:
Frustrating at times

Might Be One of the Best Games In the Last Decade for the PC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 20
Date: January 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

You've seen it before, right? Every game has its own hardcore fan community that swears up and down their game is the best on the market. So when I swear up and down that Mafia is one of the best games EVER on the PC, you probably don't believe me. All I can say is it's your loss if you don't try this game. Mafia is one of those games that people play years after its release and kick themselves for not picking it up earlier. The game takes place in the days of abolition and Al Capone gangsters. The engine is a 3rd person shooter and while the game is action oriented, it has one heck of a story to go with it. The game is historically authentic with the gamer being allowed to drive a variety of classic cars as well as wield classic weapons from the days of the 1920's gangsters. There were a few missions in this game that I played at least five times just to enjoy them again. If I could compare this game to anything on the market, it would be a vastly improved Grand Theft Auto 3. Mafia is about as close as you'll ever get to playing a role as a gangster fighting against the Untouchables and you'll never forget the story and the final conclusion of this classic. If you own a console, Mafia is finally being brought to some of them but I recommend you try the PC version instead because obviously it's cheaper, but the graphics are fantastic with a good video card and the shooting mechanics are easier to control with a mouse and keyboard.

grab the tommy gun and get on your way

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 34
Date: July 26, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Mafia, like the title hints at just a little bit, is about the seedier side of society. In this particular romp into the crimeworld, you will take control of a grunt in the mafia around the 30's. The game is set in a city that is a mixture of Chicago and New York called Lost Heaven. You will need to rise from your stature as lowly foot soldier into a feared made man. You will play through 20 missions where you will need to perform tasks that Don Salieri asks you to complete. During these missions you will be able to drive over 60 specific cars from the 30s and weapons like the infamous Tommy gun. The game is currently under construction, but should be released some time in November '00.

One word....

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: October 06, 2002
Author: Amazon User

AMAZING!!!

Mafia is probably one of the most revolutionary games of this genre. Mafia is a 3rd person adventure game, which takes place in the 30s. You are a taxi driver, and save a few under atack mafia members and then accept a job opening from the don of the mafia.

The story line in this game, is, well, extremely good! After you are in the mafia, you raise from the ranks to become a feared mafia leader. You start up driving people and, once you go high enough up the ranks, you start stealing cars, eliminating enemy mafias, blowing up cars, and kill gang members.

There is a cinematic in the beginning and end of EVERY mission. These cinematics describe the story line that is not shown during gameplay, such as the private lives of the main characters, feelings they have, and the such.

The graphics in this game are unbelievable! The game takes on an advanced graphics engine, the freedom to go everywhere and do whatever you want, and even generate random scenes of theft, robbery, and destruction within the world of the character. This brings me to my first downside to the game. BECAUSE the graphics are so good, and BECAUSE the world is so interactive, this game requires a heavy PC. The game recommends 733mhz CPU and 32mb video card, 256mb of ram. I have an 1.1ghz athlon, radeon 8500 64mb, and 256 sdram, and it barely cuts it. I am running at 800X600 and it skips, begins to be choppy, and will even just pause for a matter of minutes until the game revives again. Make sure you have the rig to run the game!

The sounds are INCREDIBLE as well. Not so much the sound effects, but the music is excellent. The music wants to keep you going, and makes missions more exciting. For example, the mission I am currently on requires you to run away from the police in a banged-up car. It has swift and fast music, with very high notes, to show danger and excitement. There are some strange transisions from song to song, but besides that, the music and the sound effects are excellent.

The replay value is nice, but then again, there are no alternative endings or paths to take.

Another problem is that the game is DIFFICULT. You should expect to be on this game for a long time, for this game has one of the most respectively long and detailed single player games ever, and the missions are hard, and require skill, thinking, and trying over and over again!

There will be a patch for multiplayer soon, and that should bring excitement as well! There will be deathmatch, capture the flag, and all sorts of unique games like racing, and other games requiring cars. Expect to see many families (aka CLANS) against one another, and to see real virtual mafia action just like the 30s!

This game looks promising. Not only for the single player game, but also the multiplayer addon, and the other great mods and single player addons that will be graced infront of Mafia's shoes. Expect to be playing this game into 2006!

A Beautiful Game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: January 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is loosely based on 2001's miracle of a game, GTA III. But if you thought that Mafia was just another GTA clone, you would be pathetically mistaken.
Mafia takes place during the Prohibition Era in the 1930s. You are merely a citizen cab driver, until you are held at gunpoint by two mafia members and drug into the underworld of corruption and death. You begin working for the mafia as just an alternative to get some more cash, but before you know it, you evolve into one of the most notorious mafia members in history. The game provides a campaign that will take you at least a week to complete, but that's not the reason to buy Mafia. There are extra quests to unlock, cars to be bought, and the most beautiful virtual city ever created to explore. The city is based on Chicago, but with three expansive islands connected by bridges, and also a mind-boggingly large countryside to explore, these new free roam modes never wear out their welcome.
With a beautiful mafia story, beautiful music and graphics, and the most fun game since GTA III, this game is definitely one of the best game that you can own.

A work of art.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: September 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Mafia is a 3rd person mission-based driving/action game set in a fictitious 1930's-era city. You control the main character, Tommy, though various missions as you ascend through the ranks of the local mafioso. The game also includes a "free-ride" mode, seperate from the main storyline, that allows you to explore the vast city and countryside of Lost Heaven at your leisure. Aside from the main storyline, Tommy also has the opportunity to complete minor missions during the game, whose main goal is to add more drivable cars to your collection. Upon completion of the main game, a free-ride extreme mode is opened up that offers 19 more missions which center around (surprise) driving.
So is this just a cheesy 1930's copy of Grand Theft Auto 3? No.
The free-roaming style of the game may have been borrowed from GTA3, but I found the feel of the game to be quite different.

The main difference I'd say is that Mafia goes for REALISM. The creators really tried to make the feel and handling of the cars and weapons match the era. Some reviewers have complained that the cars go too slow and don't corner well, but that's exactly how those old cars with tiny tires handled. Actually, as the game progresses to the late 30's, your choice of vehicles does improve with more powerful and better handling cars available. The weapons, too, are designed to be realistic. No, you don't get any rocket launchers because L.A.W. rockets hadn't been invented yet. I was VERY impressed with the accurate choice of weapons and the realism of their effects - recoil, sounds, and muzzle flashes are all right on the money. Come on, folks, some of the weapons in GTA3 are downright silly.

As far as the main storyline goes, the acting and characters are very well done and very believable. With great plot twists and an ending that actually surprised me, I felt that I had just lived through a great mob movie. The missions have a good deal of variety, too, with intense car chases, parking lot shoot-outs, a bank robbery, a rooftop escape, a heart-pounding auto race in an authentic period race car, and a nerve-racking game of cat and mouse at a deserted farm on a stormy night. Mafia is not just another linear shooter. There is a good deal of driving to and fro in this game, though. I enjoyed and felt it added to the realism, but some might find it a bit tedious.

The overall environment in Mafia is breathtaking. The city is huge and encompasses 3 islands with industrial areas, skyscrapers, slums, suburbs, and heuty-teuty neighborhoods. Unlike GTA3, Mafia also has added some absolutely gorgeous countryside to explore. The graphics and sounds are simply stunning and, unfortunately, do push a system's limits. I have a P4 1.9ghz with 512mb rambus and a TI4600 geforce 4 card and two of the missions tax my system. Of course, I play with all sliders maxed and 4x antialiasing enabled. Slower systems beware.

Mafia is violent and deserves its "M" rating, though blood effects can be toned down. Even so, I would not say that Mafia is an immoral game. Follow the story to its conclusion and you'll see what I mean.

The only major flaws I found with Mafia concern the A.I. and the manner in which you learn to steal cars. In GTA3, if you shot up someone's car while they were in it, they would speed off in a panic. Here, you can empty a 50-round Tommy gun magazine into someone's car and they won't budge. (Until their car blows up of course.) Also, Tommy has to learn how to unlock particular cars from the local grease monkey before he can steal one on the street. This premise is fine by me except when I've just killed two thugs while they were getting out of their car, the doors are open and the engine is running, and Tommy is telling me he doesn't know how to get into this model. What a dope.

All in all, Mafia is a superb production with incredible graphics, fantastic realism and detail, and movie-like gameplay that deserves to be tried. Will it replace your GTA3? No, and I don't think the creators were trying to. I own and love both games and I find they compliment each other nicely.

All my life I wanted to be the soldier and not the commander

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 20
Date: June 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Well in this game you are the soldier. You are the one thats on the streets taking the orders. You are the one shooting at the targets. You can go whatever/do whatever you want in this game without interference. You can hit someone in the face, shoot up a whole street, take a subway, or hijack a car. Anything is possible in this game. That is why I give it 5 stars.

A Totally New Experience

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: October 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This is a phenomenal game. Set amongst the backdrop of USA in the 1930's, you play a mafioso involved with the notorious crime family, the Salieri's. As a henchman for 'Don Salieri' you must assassinate politicians and rival gangsters, escape the police, take out many a henchman Max Payne style, drive in a motor rally... the list goes on. That's why Mafia gets 4-and-a-half stars from this reviewer: each mission is totally different and unique, and all of the missions integrate into a unifying plot structure.

Essentially the game is split into two different play modes, those being on foot and behind the wheel of an old-style motorcar. When on foot you're usually firing a weapon of some description at a gangster or a union 'Heavy'. The firefights in Mafia are very exciting. You have to juggle multiple bad guys who work together (by flanking or coming at you at the same time for example), and make sure you compensate for the reload time for your weapons. Thompson machine guns have a hampering kickback you have to adjust for, but they're great for causing cars to explode that enemies hide behind.

The driving is slightly annoying. First of all the cars aren't too flash (we're not talking GTA3 Corvettes here) - but if it's always been your dream to drive around in Model-T Ford style cars on the speed limit, you're in luck! At various intervals you'll have to chase after escaping cars, avoid the police and deliver passengers on time. Ultimately the driving is quite exciting, but it gets annoying having to drive across town to a rendezvous point. Still it serves to break up the action quite nicely.

Mafia is a truly unique gaming experience that plays and feels smooth and stylish. The gunfights flow beautifully and the operation of vehicles is realistic and credible. There's plenty of cutscenes and suspense, and even a little romance. Essentially it plays like a B-grade Mafia picture (in the cutscenes) but feels like an A-grade computer game.

DONT MESS WITH THE FAMILY

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

What a GREAT Game! This is one of the most entertaining games I have played in a long time. Set in the 30's this game gives you the "feel" of living in a Chicago like setting. Instead you are in the city Lost Heaven. This game plays like Grand Theft Auto III but is much larger in scale and much more detailed. The automobiles drive just as they should through the game and there are alot of vehicles to drive. Through the extensive storyline (20+ missions) you will travel through the adventures of Tommy, a cab driver unknowingly thrust into the mafia, and once their finds he fits right in and quickly becomes one of the Dons right hand men. You will be in the middle of a mafia war and have to undertake shooting, driving, and even stealth missions to accomplish your goals. You will have access to all the weapons made popular in this era from a baseball bat to the tommy gun. The biggest plus though is the games replay value. You can experience the "Free Ride" aspects of the game where you just ride Lost Heaven causing trouble or the Extreme Free Ride where you undertake various tasks to unlock many different types for automobiles not seen in the game itself. A wonderful game you will enjoy for a long time. Just remember dont cross the family.

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