Mafia (video game)

Mafia is set in the 1930s, during the Prohibition era, in a fictitious large city, Lost Heaven: a city which is probably a representation of New York City, New Jersey and Chicago in the same era. The player is set in the role of cabbie Tommy Angelo. He soon begins his career in organized crime as a driver for the crime sindicate of Don Salieri. He continues to rise in the ranks of the mob, battling the competing family of Don Morello. Eventually, he becomes disillusioned with the life of crime he has chosen.

The game's plot has been inspired by movies such as Goodfellas, The Godfather and Mobsters.

Though the game is rich in graphic violence and blood, at no time is the player required or urged to harm innocent characters. But, just as in real life, players can do as they feel inclined.

The game was well received by critics and gamers upon release as a more realistic and serious GTA style game. Police would book you for minor offenses such as speeding or running a red light, car accidents caused physical harm (indeed, so much that unless a mission was timed, many found that actually obeying the road rules proved to be faster than speeding, as the latter would almost always result in an accident). Whilst Vice City users were aweing at the size of the city, Mafia had a much bigger city to explore with more forms of transport available (such as trams and monorails) plus even a countryside road.

All those who played the game will surely remember the infamous racing level, one of the hardest missions encountered early on, which indeed turned many off the game. Many fan websites even offer saved games with this level completed for download.

The PC version was noted to have a very much 'Alive' city. Unlike in GTA3 or Vice city where there would only ever be a few cars or pedestrians on screen, short view distances and 'disappearing' cars, and very short term street damage (knock over a lamppost and leave the area only to return 10 seconds later to find it fixed), Mafia featured many cars and pedestrians on screen at once, along with collateral damage lasting the length of a mission no matter how far away from the damage you were. The console ports on the other hand were noted to be very poor, suffering from control problems and severely reduced city activity.

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