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Mafia: baseball bat to the face
Basticle
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
this was just brought up in the Max Payne thread and my nostalgia went haywire so I made a thread.
Mafia: great 3rd person PC action game where you play an enforcer for the mob or worst game ever released for the PS2 and Xbox? uh both probably..
the following is a review of it I wrote back in 2004 for my friends in my clan. My writing is amatuerish at best and incredibly cheesy at worst (especially the captions) but it gets the point accross.
Intro
I never really paid much attention to Mafia when it was released nearly a year and a half ago. It received little hype and I don't even remember reading a review anywhere. However several weeks ago there was a discussion on Vice City on a game-related forum I frequent and several people mentioned Mafia (specifically the police being more attentive). The next day I happened to see the jewelcase version of Mafia for $9.99 at Wal-Mart. I thought "what the hell" and picked it up. Boy am I sure glad I did .
Mafia is inevitably going to draw comparisons to Grand Theft Auto 3 and VC. And while the games do have some similarities, there are some major differences. In GTA, while there are plenty of missions to complete, you don't have to play any of them and can just drive around doing your own thing if you so wish. In Mafia you must complete each mission in a row, the game is centered around the missions, like a traditional action game. While you can drive around doing nothing, it can only be done in 'Free Ride' mode on the main menu and is separate from the main game. So while you may feel restricted in Mafia, the reality is you can pretty much drive anywhere, although many missions have a time limit to complete certain tasks.
The cut scenes are amazing and yet the rest of the game looks much the same.
GRAPHICS AND PRESENTATION
From the moment you're first swept into the intro cut scene, you can feel the living, breathing city of Lost Heaven. Pedestrians roam about, automobile drivers honk their horns, birds sing, the sun shines, ah what a beautiful day! The cut scenes in this game are done directly in the in-game engine, and apart from the scripted camera-work, look just like the main game would. The world of Mafia is very vibrant with great looking and colorful textures everywhere. And even with the graphics settings turned up to the maximum, I never had any slowdown. Then again I have a gig of RAM . Everything is as detailed as you would expect. Blood flows, tire marks, shattered glass, its all there.
Lovely weather this evening.
The only complaint I have is the horrible viewing distance. It's almost like Ghost Recon in that beyond a certain point (I don't know, something like a mile away) everything just disappears. This doesn't really detract from the game, its just pretty disappointing.
You start out as a Cab Driver. Note the pop-up in the distance.
STORY AND GAMEPLAY
The game starts off with the character you play as, Tommy Angelo, offering information about the mob to a detective. As Tommy tells his story, the game flashbacks 10 years to 1938 where you play out his life. Mission one starts out with you, Tommy, as a lowly cab driver caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before you know it you're one of the Don's lieutenants. The game takes place over 21 missions. That may not seem like a lot but many of them are very lengthy. One even has something like 9 parts to it! Your tasks in these missions range from chauffeuring your boss around, to transporting illegal liqueur, to assassinations. You work for Don Salieri. His right-hand man is Frank. Your two main companions are Paulie and Sam. They're the Don's other Lieutenants.
One of your first tasks is to go open up a can of whup-ass on the cars of some enemy gangsters who ruined your cab.
Driving through the tunnel.
The driving sequences in the game usually revolve around getting to different locations, although a few chases and pursuits occur. To facilitate you in your reckless behavior is the Don's stuttering mechanic, Ralphie, who "maybe a complete idiot, but knows everything about cars". Ralphie will usually give you a car and teach you how to steal particular models. Speaking of models, all the cars in the game are all authentic vintage models, albeit with fake names. Behind the Don's restaurant (your base of operations) You have a spacious garage to keep your collection of wheels in. Another gearhead is Lucas Bertone, who's garage you can visit at certain times in the game. Lucas will give you a small job to do in return for showing you how to steal some of the more exotic vehicles (i.e. bad-ass sports cars). One of the most enjoyable parts of the game was where you take a vintage race car flying down dark city streets at insane speeds (at least compared to anything else on the road).
The Racecar.
Powersliding one of the better cars in the game.
The driving is pretty fun but it gets boring after a while. Good thing most of the game centers on the action. As a Mafioso you have access to a variety of weapons. The Don's weapons expert is Vincenzo. You'll visit him often. Weapons in the game include baseball bats, colt 45s, sawed-offs and tommyguns. And you're sure gonna need em! You'll be up against everything from two-bit thugs to competing Dons. This is where the game really shines. These are some of the greatest shooting missions in any action game I've played in several years. I just can't describe it with words.
Not everyone wants to shake your hand.
Boss, next time lets just order delivery.
MUSIC
While wandering the city you'l hear authentic old-timey jazz music which gets repetative but its subdued enough not to get annoying. Where the Audio really shines however is in the cut scenes. They really outdid themselves with this stuff. You can download an MP3 of the Main Theme here.
Lost Heaven's Finest have a habit of medling in matters that do not concern them.
AI
The people of Lost Heaven are, well they're not rocket scientists but they're not stupid. Sometimes the pedestrians will accidentally jump in front of you when your driving 80mph down a crowded street though. The enemies you square off against are your standard faire. They're not doom-like and just run at you, they take cover a lot. They're not geniuses, but they're not as stupid as some game's AI. And then there's your friends. The only time I ever got frustrated in this game was when I had Sam and/or Paulie with me. They have decent pathfinding skills (only a couple times did they ever get stuck trying to get to me), but I that when they're working with you, someone took their common sense and threw in front of one of the streetcars in the game. On several occasions (mainly the parking garage mission) they will go charging ahead right into their own doom. At one point I was on like my 20th try on the parking garage mission (an awesome mission at that) because Paulie was such a dumbass I wanted to go break something. The one people that are, if not smart, but attentive are the police. In Grand Theft Auto, for example, the police pretty much ignore you unless you run into their cars, or attack someone when your around a cop. In Mafia they'll pull you over for running a red light and speeding! Usually if you pull over immediately they'll just write you a ticket and you can go on your way. But if they see a weapon or you run then they'll arrest you. And if they see you fire a weapon or attack someone then they'll shoot you on sight. Like the rest of the AI their pathfinding skills aren't the best but they're pretty smart.
Hey laaaaaydee!.
Tommygun action.
EXTRAS
From the main menu there is a "Free Ride" mode where you slowly unlock options such as amount of pedestrians, traffic, police etc. You earn money by doing things like speeding, killing gangsters (in Free Ride they roam about like the gangs in Grand Theft Auto), etc.
Must have been something he ate.
When you beat the game you unlock "Free Ride Extreme" which is a mode where there are no cops and you take little fun jobs from guys standing on the side of the street waving their arms at you. For example the first mission requires you to run down a man in his underwear who is on fire and runs at 80mph! Unfortunately actually finding the men giving you the missions was next to impossible for me so I pretty much gave up.
This game definately earns its M rating.
OVERALL CONCLUSIONS
While not as deep as Grand Theft Auto, Mafia is a huge game with a lot to do and some just plain awesome shooting sequences. However dodgy AI keeps this from getting a better score.
I give it 4 out of 5 Stars.
ok, discuss
Mafia: great 3rd person PC action game where you play an enforcer for the mob or worst game ever released for the PS2 and Xbox? uh both probably..
the following is a review of it I wrote back in 2004 for my friends in my clan. My writing is amatuerish at best and incredibly cheesy at worst (especially the captions) but it gets the point accross.
Intro
I never really paid much attention to Mafia when it was released nearly a year and a half ago. It received little hype and I don't even remember reading a review anywhere. However several weeks ago there was a discussion on Vice City on a game-related forum I frequent and several people mentioned Mafia (specifically the police being more attentive). The next day I happened to see the jewelcase version of Mafia for $9.99 at Wal-Mart. I thought "what the hell" and picked it up. Boy am I sure glad I did .
Mafia is inevitably going to draw comparisons to Grand Theft Auto 3 and VC. And while the games do have some similarities, there are some major differences. In GTA, while there are plenty of missions to complete, you don't have to play any of them and can just drive around doing your own thing if you so wish. In Mafia you must complete each mission in a row, the game is centered around the missions, like a traditional action game. While you can drive around doing nothing, it can only be done in 'Free Ride' mode on the main menu and is separate from the main game. So while you may feel restricted in Mafia, the reality is you can pretty much drive anywhere, although many missions have a time limit to complete certain tasks.
The cut scenes are amazing and yet the rest of the game looks much the same.
GRAPHICS AND PRESENTATION
From the moment you're first swept into the intro cut scene, you can feel the living, breathing city of Lost Heaven. Pedestrians roam about, automobile drivers honk their horns, birds sing, the sun shines, ah what a beautiful day! The cut scenes in this game are done directly in the in-game engine, and apart from the scripted camera-work, look just like the main game would. The world of Mafia is very vibrant with great looking and colorful textures everywhere. And even with the graphics settings turned up to the maximum, I never had any slowdown. Then again I have a gig of RAM . Everything is as detailed as you would expect. Blood flows, tire marks, shattered glass, its all there.
Lovely weather this evening.
The only complaint I have is the horrible viewing distance. It's almost like Ghost Recon in that beyond a certain point (I don't know, something like a mile away) everything just disappears. This doesn't really detract from the game, its just pretty disappointing.
You start out as a Cab Driver. Note the pop-up in the distance.
STORY AND GAMEPLAY
The game starts off with the character you play as, Tommy Angelo, offering information about the mob to a detective. As Tommy tells his story, the game flashbacks 10 years to 1938 where you play out his life. Mission one starts out with you, Tommy, as a lowly cab driver caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before you know it you're one of the Don's lieutenants. The game takes place over 21 missions. That may not seem like a lot but many of them are very lengthy. One even has something like 9 parts to it! Your tasks in these missions range from chauffeuring your boss around, to transporting illegal liqueur, to assassinations. You work for Don Salieri. His right-hand man is Frank. Your two main companions are Paulie and Sam. They're the Don's other Lieutenants.
One of your first tasks is to go open up a can of whup-ass on the cars of some enemy gangsters who ruined your cab.
Driving through the tunnel.
The driving sequences in the game usually revolve around getting to different locations, although a few chases and pursuits occur. To facilitate you in your reckless behavior is the Don's stuttering mechanic, Ralphie, who "maybe a complete idiot, but knows everything about cars". Ralphie will usually give you a car and teach you how to steal particular models. Speaking of models, all the cars in the game are all authentic vintage models, albeit with fake names. Behind the Don's restaurant (your base of operations) You have a spacious garage to keep your collection of wheels in. Another gearhead is Lucas Bertone, who's garage you can visit at certain times in the game. Lucas will give you a small job to do in return for showing you how to steal some of the more exotic vehicles (i.e. bad-ass sports cars). One of the most enjoyable parts of the game was where you take a vintage race car flying down dark city streets at insane speeds (at least compared to anything else on the road).
The Racecar.
Powersliding one of the better cars in the game.
The driving is pretty fun but it gets boring after a while. Good thing most of the game centers on the action. As a Mafioso you have access to a variety of weapons. The Don's weapons expert is Vincenzo. You'll visit him often. Weapons in the game include baseball bats, colt 45s, sawed-offs and tommyguns. And you're sure gonna need em! You'll be up against everything from two-bit thugs to competing Dons. This is where the game really shines. These are some of the greatest shooting missions in any action game I've played in several years. I just can't describe it with words.
Not everyone wants to shake your hand.
Boss, next time lets just order delivery.
MUSIC
While wandering the city you'l hear authentic old-timey jazz music which gets repetative but its subdued enough not to get annoying. Where the Audio really shines however is in the cut scenes. They really outdid themselves with this stuff. You can download an MP3 of the Main Theme here.
Lost Heaven's Finest have a habit of medling in matters that do not concern them.
AI
The people of Lost Heaven are, well they're not rocket scientists but they're not stupid. Sometimes the pedestrians will accidentally jump in front of you when your driving 80mph down a crowded street though. The enemies you square off against are your standard faire. They're not doom-like and just run at you, they take cover a lot. They're not geniuses, but they're not as stupid as some game's AI. And then there's your friends. The only time I ever got frustrated in this game was when I had Sam and/or Paulie with me. They have decent pathfinding skills (only a couple times did they ever get stuck trying to get to me), but I that when they're working with you, someone took their common sense and threw in front of one of the streetcars in the game. On several occasions (mainly the parking garage mission) they will go charging ahead right into their own doom. At one point I was on like my 20th try on the parking garage mission (an awesome mission at that) because Paulie was such a dumbass I wanted to go break something. The one people that are, if not smart, but attentive are the police. In Grand Theft Auto, for example, the police pretty much ignore you unless you run into their cars, or attack someone when your around a cop. In Mafia they'll pull you over for running a red light and speeding! Usually if you pull over immediately they'll just write you a ticket and you can go on your way. But if they see a weapon or you run then they'll arrest you. And if they see you fire a weapon or attack someone then they'll shoot you on sight. Like the rest of the AI their pathfinding skills aren't the best but they're pretty smart.
Hey laaaaaydee!.
Tommygun action.
EXTRAS
From the main menu there is a "Free Ride" mode where you slowly unlock options such as amount of pedestrians, traffic, police etc. You earn money by doing things like speeding, killing gangsters (in Free Ride they roam about like the gangs in Grand Theft Auto), etc.
Must have been something he ate.
When you beat the game you unlock "Free Ride Extreme" which is a mode where there are no cops and you take little fun jobs from guys standing on the side of the street waving their arms at you. For example the first mission requires you to run down a man in his underwear who is on fire and runs at 80mph! Unfortunately actually finding the men giving you the missions was next to impossible for me so I pretty much gave up.
This game definately earns its M rating.
OVERALL CONCLUSIONS
While not as deep as Grand Theft Auto, Mafia is a huge game with a lot to do and some just plain awesome shooting sequences. However dodgy AI keeps this from getting a better score.
I give it 4 out of 5 Stars.
ok, discuss
Basticle on
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Posts
The majority of the music is by Django Reinhardt and the game had pretty much made me buy a ton of CDs of his music.
Still, great little game. I hear the console versions were poorly ported, though.
This game is probably the best gang/mafia game ever. It had the best story line in a game and honesty made me feel like I was mafioso lol.
And for the time the gameplay was awesome, the race was hard as hell but I beat that before that patch made it easier.
I played up until the mission where you had to drive the racecar through the city avoiding the cops, because I could never get past it and I almost did once, but I couldn't find where the garage was until the very last second and it was too late. Ugh
I'm really hoping a sequel comes out soon because this is one of my Top 10 favorite games of all time.
Not a direct sequel, but definitely a Mafia 2.
I'd love to see a sequel/prequel. Or heck, it doesn't even have to have anything to do with the first game, just give me more 20s/30s era games. Where I can shoot people with a tommy gun.
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
i wish i could pick it up again, but my pc has died
http://www.mafia-game.com/indexnews.htm
EDIT: Downloading now, Hopefully it works with a 7-series GPU.
I havent actually played it but to answer your question: everything. horrible horrible graphics and frame rate being one of the biggest things
The only thing about this game that really irks me, other than the Running Man and race missions, is the voice acting. How it seems to me is like the actors are good at it, but they were just given their lines rather than a script, so they had no idea what was actually happening when their characters spoke the lines. Could have been better in that respect.
Also, my PC runs it perfectly with everything I'm able to crank cranked, but the draw distance doesn't go high enough. There needs to be a hack.
It's good. Damn good, and very immersive. I haven't every had big problems with NPC path finding or any other big gliches in the game myself. I beat the race on my third try and haven't lost it since.
Favorite level:
The farm. First time I played it my PC monitor was too dark so the back ground was washed out, all you saw was the buildings, the ground around them and of course the wind and rain. Fucking creeped me OUT. Still does.
I can't take cheesy scenes though and I admit that I've never, ever watched the scene after you escort the bartenders daughter home. Just can't do it man.
Any way it's easy my top five favorites of all time, might be number one.
As to sequels:
Yes, there is a sequel in the works, been ongoing for a couple of years now but the company is very tight lipped about it. The only information I have is that it may, and I stress may, take place in the 60's and 70's. O_O
If you have the game by the way, the music is very easy to extract. Something along the lines of just opening the folder. I listen to it on my itunes on occasion.
caffron said: "and cat pee is not a laughing matter"
I screw around in free ride, loved the hell out of the atmosphere, and watched the (epic) last level + final cutscene as a friend completed them.
I must get around to getting the soundtrack and the musician's other music sometime. I love me some oboe.
Old PA forum lookalike style for the new forums | My ko-fi donation thing.
Unfortunately, I never made it past the stealth level. I really should go back some day...
Weren´t they so tight lipped to the point that it is now considered vapourware?
And I love Mafia to no end, it is one of my top 3 games ever. I just hate when people dismiss it as being a GTA clone, being that Mafia was announced and in production before GTA 3 just was released later. I seriously encourage the people who said that played the game but never finish to get around and do it, it probably is still the most immersive game out there...
To those who had trouble with the race - were you trying to drive with the keyboard? I failed the race about 10 times in a row before I dug a Sidewinder gamepad out of my drawer. After that I won the race easily.
Too easy (apart from the odd horrible difficulty spike caused by poorly thought out game mechanics), badly paced, the story was just a long string of homages to this or that movie strung together by nothing very much...
...but God damn it looked gorgeous, it was a beautifully designed city even if most of it served no actual purpose, and even if it was derivative of everything from The Godfather to The Untouchables it did it so fucking well in terms of sheer cinematic atmosphere it was difficult not to be won over. Oh, yes, and one of the best soundtracks to a videogame ever released (Django, yes, but the score wasn't too bad either).
So yeah. Not as amazing as some make out, heavily flawed, but a whole lot of fun to play for such an old title. Worth picking up cheap, that's for sure.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)
Um, why exactly wouldn't that be accurate? I've never shot a tommygun, or any automatic weapon for that matter, but I would imagine if you did single shots, it would be fairly accurate as it's still a rifle. Just curious.
I never know if you're joking or not, but I'm going to agree with you. It had it's problems, but I had a lot of fun with it. If you plan on 100%-ing it, for the love of God get all your executions before you take out the last family. There's 2 you can't get through the thugs in the tunnels (no scenery to do it with), and I didn't find that out until it was too late.
...what
Sorry, not a fan of the whole "well, you don't have to exploit the developers' laziness" argument. If it shouldn't be in there, don't put it in there. Don't use some people's love of banging their heads against a brick wall as an excuse to save yourself some work.
...although in this instance, seriously, do correct me if I'm wrong; I just always thought the Thompson was extremely short-ranged and wildly inaccurate. It was the mission down at the docks, with all those guards up on the towers - I'd just stand way out of their detection range and slowly shoot them, one bullet at a time, pretty much never missing. It just seemed so horribly unlike anything anyone would ever be able to do in real life I couldn't quite get it out of my head.
Read my book. (It has a robot in it.)