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One word: Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: December 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This review is based on the PC version, but it's identical for all versions.

The game's graphics are nice, flows smoothly, and is colorful. There's a lot of cars moving around, and pedestrians too.

The game is a lot similar to GTA 3 and Vice City, only better. The gameplay is fun and hard. It's realistic (you run out of gas and need to refill), and has excellent sounds, voice acting, and intense gunfights too.

The sounds and voice acting is great and the story's excellent. You'll keep playing to see what happens next.

The only bad thing is that the cars are a bit slow--they're from the 1930s and move like so. They lose speed when going up hills, and there not fast overall. These cars are not sports cars.

Lastly, a realistic feature is that you can't just steal cars so easily. You need to learn how to do it (the game gives you the ability to do so) and you can't just steal a car in 1 second--there's a meter and it's your progress of picking the car's lock. People actually lock their cars, and you're picking the lock! Realistic!

This game is long and challenging. One of the best games ever made. Enjoy it!

The best game of 2002 enters the Xbox world

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: January 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

My sister's boyfriend recommended me to buy this game, and as soon as I launched the Czech PC 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, fortunately they have 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 objects and their motion 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 you can steal on the street if you learned how - 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 way.

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 PC version of the game - changing the cars, textures on the buildings, music, sounds, and so on. The Xbox version does not allow you to do it, I guess, but it has other advantages over the PC version - it seems that the graphics is even smoother.

The game has a tutorial where you learn how to control Tommy (which is you). On the PC version, the arrow keys and other keys on the keyboard are used for motion (and changing the weapons, jumping, and so on) while the mouse allows you to change the direction where you look (or shoot), 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 like you, but the publisher company of the PC version 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 (so far, as of January 2004), and it is much less known in the U.S. than it should be (so far). Don't get manipulated by the advertisements of less perfect games. Buy Mafia, and you will be impressed.

:0)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: June 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I first played this on PC and i enjoy it, then i played it for XBOX not much the same expereince but still liked playing it...GOOD PLAY

An offer you can refuse

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 28
Date: January 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. It has great graphics, and good game-play.
It is a lot like GTA III & Vice city, but that's not a bad thing.
What I did not like was that it is plagued with bugs. None that really affects the game-play, none that I've encountered. They're not going to ruin your game-play experience unless you're really anal. One I saw is sometimes when your watching cut- scenes you will see all of a persons eyeball, and the other is when I was in a level I shot this guy and he flew up in the air and was stuck. That was about it. The character models are something to write home about though, better than in the GTA series (except the eyeball thing)
I had fun, and am still having fun with it.
Oh yeah there are no codes so you have to rely on your skills to get you through it.
I love the game but proceed with caution.
If you like GTA then check it out because Mafia expands on some things but is not as diverse in gameplay.

Oh man

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: May 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have not played this game on PC2 but it sounds like what I am about to say for Xbox is even worse in PlayStation2 mode. Mafia The Game for PC is my favorite game of all time. I spent a year of my life all day and night playing this game. I was going through a divorce and this was a GREAT escape and I loved it. I spent 6 months just on Free Ride and never got tired of it. Then the missions, the shootouts, the wild chases, criminals and police all coming after me, not even GTA could match this. Then my new computer had some sort of video glitch and even after trying 2 video cards, my processor kept burning up (so no matter games on the PC. I recently got an XBox and thought I would take my favorite game for a spin. I would have to say honestly this isnt even the same game. The graphics are not good, very fuzzy and not clear looking at all. Worse, on Free Ride, suddenly all the police have vanished from the streets. The police were an intregate part of the game before and made things exciting. You didnt just have to worry about speeding, or the criminals, but the police were always watching you and on your tail. Part of the fun was trying to get away with 4-5 cars full of police and 4-5 Mafia cars chasing you, in and when you get out of the car and try to run, shoot, hide, etc. Also, I noticed it was very easy to run over the bad guys dressed in black. They seem to go down like a sitting duck. And to shoot them was the same, even a bullet somewhat close they were dead. Also the pedestrians act differently, and whole groups of them get into same positions (almost overlapping one another) and you cannot accuratly fight with them, shoot them, or whatever. The accuracy of the game is not even close to the original Mafia PC game. I also noticed as I started some missions, the police are barely noticable even if you speed around the whole city at 100 mph. The game has to reset EVERYTIME you go over the bridge and if you finally did get the police to chase you, the XBox will crash right at that moment. Also, the characters repeat the same lines over and over again endlessly. There are a few new lines they read, but they repeat the same ones sometimes 3,4,5, times in a row. The accuracy, innovation, realism, and precision of the PC game is not evident here. I can understand now why this company decided not to make a Mafia 2 and decided to shelf the whole Mafia francise plans. You have to make a great game GREAT on all flatforms. The other games I have tried on XBox are awesome (even better then the PC) because my screen is bigger, on a grander scale, and better looking then when you view it on a 15 or 17 inch monitor. But with Mafia, this game looks like a copy of the original. Even their new RACE mode has spectators clapping that look phony as a $3 bill. That sums it all up, I doubt the same people who made the PC game were even involved with this project. if you have ever played Mafia on the console and wondered what all the hype was about, you are right. But get a PC version and play it on a good computer with a good graphics card and you will see why this game ranks RIGHT UP THEIR with GTA and actually as far as accuracy, animations, action, and AI it can't be beat. Again that goes for the PC version, XBox, dont waste your money.

A Mafia Masterpiece!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: March 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Mafia the [edited] of the 1930's. Great deep story about a Mafia family. The Xbox version is alot more better than the PS2 version. The load times are very fast. It's fast like [edited] on Xbox. Graphics look 1,000 times better than PS2 version. Everything looks alot more cleaned up, and the details in everthing look a ton better. The levels are alot more clear than the PS2 version. When it's night time in the game you can see where your driving. In the PS2 version it was hard to see cause it was so dark. I haven't seen any draw distance so far. PS2 version had a big problem with that, where things would just pop up out of no where and you'd crash into something. Controls Works great with the Xbox Controller S. The game dosen't freeze either, the PS2 version froze alot for me. I think it was worth the wait, it's a whole lot better than the PS2 version. If your a fan of [edited] , or Mafia action check out Mafia for xbox or PC.
Don't waste your time on the PS2 version.

Pretty good!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just finished this game yesterday and I loved it. It took me about a week off and on to beat it so it's not too bad. Getting to play a gangster and driving the old timey cars and hearing the 30s music and seeing 30s settings was definitely a nice change from the everyday game. The cinematic cutscenes were wonderful and the facial animations and graphics were very welld one. The rest of the graphics in the game could have been better though so I was slightly disappointed in that area. But the sheer fun of the game more than makes up for it. This was my first gangster game to play and needless to say I will be looking for more of that type in the future with Godfather out now and Scarface coming in the future towards the end of the year. This game is pretty violent and the language is pretty bad though...but after all, this IS a MAFIA game. There was only one real letdown in the game though, but I will let you find that out for yourself. Those things aside, I highly recommend this game to those of a mature audience. You will definitely enjoy it. Before I forget, there is an added plus to the game. There is a race mode where you can race old timey cars! Coolness indeed! There is also a free roam mode too. Neat! Go out, buy it, enjoy!

Not the Sopranos, but not bad, either

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: April 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you prefer your organized-crime drama with a Godfather flavor, check out Mafia for ... Xbox.
Despite being a nearly exact remake of a 2002 PC title, Mafia is a game you can't refuse.
Mafia begins in 1930 in a fictitious city that loosely resembles New York. The game traces the crime career of Tommy Angelo, a taxi driver turned hoodlum.
After a chance encounter in which he helps two associates of mob boss Don Salieri, Tommy returns to life as a hack. Fate intervenes, however, and he is forced to seek Salieri's protection. He learns his new trade quickly, and progresses from vandalizing cars to murder in record time.
Players need to do a lot of driving in Mafia, which is slightly reminiscent of the [edited] games. Skill behind the wheel is crucial. Some missions require evasive moves, while in others it's important not to draw the attention of the police. A map included with the manual helps players find their way.
Mafia won't win any awards for graphics, and load times between levels are annoyingly long. Still, this is a compelling game for fans of shoot-'em-ups.

Despite the flaws, Mafia is an excellent game.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 19, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Firstly, the bad points. Graphically, there is a lot of pop-up and the frame rate can be slow. There are (sometimes) camera issues. However these flaws (once you get used to them) really do not detract from what is an otherwise excellent game. Mafia is one of the most immersive games I've played - you really do feel as though you are living and working in the 1930's Mafia. Outstanding cut scenes bookend the missions.

Despite the formentioned flaws, Mafia is one amazing, detailed and immersive game that will keep you at your xbox for hours on end.

appreciate Mafia's for what it is, not what it isn't

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

ok here's the thing: the cars are slow, the guns handle strangely. But that's the point. You are suppose to feel like you are in the 1930s. Cars were slow, guns handled differently, etc. The plot is well thought out and I, for one, felt completely drawn in. If you are a gamer who is focused on "I want the biggest gun with the biggest explosion and a lot of blood and gore"--and, don't get me wrong, I can be in that place sometimes....this game isn't for you. But would you play [edited] and then complain that it isn't like the [edited]? No. This is an immersive adventure....it puts you in a time and place. Enjoy it for that and you are in for a ride.

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