As many of you (and by that i mean two and a half people who care about those reviews in the slightest) know, in last of my irregular articles i have promised to review Mafia: The City Of Lost Heaven next. I have enthusiastially jumped into the game, only to discover that it... isn't as good as it was cracked up to be. The story is superb, mind you - but the gameplay is sort of lacking.
Mafia was made in 2002 by a Czech company Illusion Softworks (which is now called 2K Czech and is working on a sequel). It was published by Gathering Of Developers, which since then has gone under. It was ported to PS2 and Xbox in 2004, but i have heard those were porting disasters. So get it on PC, if you must.
Those of you who actually read my reviews, please note that there's going to be a change of structure this time, and it'll possibly mutate further in the following reviews. So, here we go.
[HEADING=3]The good[/HEADING]
First, i have to say that Mafia nails the atmosphere quite, quite well. The mission that stood out for me was the one where i had to make a trip to the countryside to get some Canadian whiskey. The mission starts as they always do, in the backyard of Salieri's bar - but this time around it's a dark and stormy night. Very dark, and extremely stormy. The protagonist stands there in a classic fedora and a black raincoat as thunder roars in the skies above. Rainwater floods the streets, on which no-one is to be found. This scene perfectly captures the essence of what a good noir film should be.
You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find half-decent Mafia screenshots through Google Image Search now that Mafia 2 is on the horizon.
The storyline itself is also pretty good, a classic gangster story in which everyman Thomas Angelo gets dragged into a conflict of two mafia families - Salieri and Morello - escalating into a full-out war, yet never reaching into the territory of the truly ridiculous like Grand Theft Auto tends to do (except maybe for that one time when you try to kill the enemy Don). It is framed as Tommy spilling the beans to a local detective in exchange for protection for him and his family. Of course, i was stupid enough to read a walkthrough before i've actually played the game, so all the plot twists were lost on me.
Another thing famous about that game is an AI of it's police. Unlike GTA, you can't just drive through when red light is on, drive faster than allowed, or bump into other cars - if policemen see you, they'll order you to stop and fine you. If you try to run from them, run someone over, start a fight, or something like that, they'll try to arrest you (which means gameover). If they notice you shooting, they'll just shoot back - and that means you have to run away and hide. If they lose you, they issue a warning - you have to wait untill it runs out. You can change cars to confuse policemen.
Speaking of cars - the autopark in this game is quite diverse and well-made, progressing from "shoebox sedans" of 1929 to sleek, aerodynamic cars of 1935 and up, and topped off with a few shiny speedsters capable of reaching 140 KPH. Cars all steer pretty well, i can't say much on that. Damage model is different to GTA - parts rarely fall off, but dentures appear much more eagerly.
The local "Legitimate Businessmen Social Club" (translation: "mafia-run whorehouse"), proudly called Hotel Corleone.
[HEADING=3]The bad[/HEADING]
Now to the bad things. The main failure of that game is the combat system. You see, Mafia was created long before cover systems became ubiquitous in games, which means that you'll have to stand with your nose to the wall in order to avoid enemy fire, and carefully strafe out so you can fire back. The health is a big, big problem - health regeneration wasn't common in those times either, so you heal by using drug cabinets on the walls. Those are few and far between, plus they are hard to spot. This fact leads to loads and loads of loading last saved game in an attempt to finally handle the mission right.
Weapons, meanwhile, are completely out of whack (if it even means what i think it means). Pistols don't do a good job of killing people - they may be accurate, but their damage is far too low, so you have to waste two clips on a single enemy. On the other side of a fence, there are Tommy Guns and shotguns, offering one-shot kills while still retaining deadly accuracy. Add the fact that you are usually outnumbered ten-to-one, and your situation starts to look really unpleasant. Tommy's not a Lombax, after all.
[small]Mandatory reference to Lombaxes: check.[/small]
Then there's the fistfighting. Like the shooting, it's pretty dorky and unelegant. You lose your precious health almost as quickly as from gunfire, and in brawls you also tend to get mobbed by five dudes at once. Trying to use baseball bat's one-hit knockout from behind by circle-strafing is not exactly a good tactic either. But the worst part is that when you get hit, you lose control for a few seconds, which allows your enemies to land more and more hits - if you get initiative stolen from you, it's hard to get it back.
Mobster's rule number one: when in doubt, use Tommy Gun. Rule number two: when Tommy Gun fails, flee!
And who could forget the stupid, stupid fifth mission? I certainly couldn't.
[HEADING=3]The "meh"[/HEADING]
Now, rather large cathegory here are things which made me go "meh". The graphics are okay for 2002, but dated by today's standards. The driving is well-realized, but takes too much time. The stealth/"social stealth" sections where you have to keep a low profile are playable, but not exactly worthy of their own game.
There's also the fact that Mafia is way more linear than GTA games - it is strictly divided in missions, and you can't really do anything in Lost Heaven but follow the plot. Time of day and weather also depends on mission. But that dosen't make the game bad - just more inclined to "plot-driven" side than to "wide open sandbox" side.
There are also two other modes independent of main storyline: Freeride, which is sort of like classic GTA, and Freeride Extreme, which has you doing ridiculous errands to get similarly ridiculous cars. In Freeride you can earn money by such ways as speeding and killing enemy gangsters, while hospital, auto repair, and weapon shop are your money sinks. You also have a good chance of exploring the countryside. Freeride Extreme, meanwhile, offers you 17 missions (such as driving a truck which has Speed-style bomb attached or chasing down Speedy Gonzales, a guy in underwear running at 60 KPH and leaving flaming trails behind) for which you earn unique vehicles - such as hippy van and a hot-rod. In 1930s. Riiiiight.
Both of those modes failed to amuse me all that much. As i've already said - Mafia has stronger story than GTA III, but worse sandbox.
I have failed to think up any witty caption for that picture, so imagine parachuting armoured war-bears instead.
Recommendation: Mafia turned out to be worse than expected for me, but it's still playable and even enjoyable. If you like story-driven games, you could try to find it. If you don't, then don't bother.
Website of 2k Czech, formerly Illusion Softworks, can be found here. Too bad i've remembered about putting that link here only 2 weeks after finishing this review.
The boxart of this game is quite... minimalistic.
Mafia was made in 2002 by a Czech company Illusion Softworks (which is now called 2K Czech and is working on a sequel). It was published by Gathering Of Developers, which since then has gone under. It was ported to PS2 and Xbox in 2004, but i have heard those were porting disasters. So get it on PC, if you must.
Those of you who actually read my reviews, please note that there's going to be a change of structure this time, and it'll possibly mutate further in the following reviews. So, here we go.
[HEADING=3]The good[/HEADING]
First, i have to say that Mafia nails the atmosphere quite, quite well. The mission that stood out for me was the one where i had to make a trip to the countryside to get some Canadian whiskey. The mission starts as they always do, in the backyard of Salieri's bar - but this time around it's a dark and stormy night. Very dark, and extremely stormy. The protagonist stands there in a classic fedora and a black raincoat as thunder roars in the skies above. Rainwater floods the streets, on which no-one is to be found. This scene perfectly captures the essence of what a good noir film should be.
You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find half-decent Mafia screenshots through Google Image Search now that Mafia 2 is on the horizon.
The storyline itself is also pretty good, a classic gangster story in which everyman Thomas Angelo gets dragged into a conflict of two mafia families - Salieri and Morello - escalating into a full-out war, yet never reaching into the territory of the truly ridiculous like Grand Theft Auto tends to do (except maybe for that one time when you try to kill the enemy Don). It is framed as Tommy spilling the beans to a local detective in exchange for protection for him and his family. Of course, i was stupid enough to read a walkthrough before i've actually played the game, so all the plot twists were lost on me.
Another thing famous about that game is an AI of it's police. Unlike GTA, you can't just drive through when red light is on, drive faster than allowed, or bump into other cars - if policemen see you, they'll order you to stop and fine you. If you try to run from them, run someone over, start a fight, or something like that, they'll try to arrest you (which means gameover). If they notice you shooting, they'll just shoot back - and that means you have to run away and hide. If they lose you, they issue a warning - you have to wait untill it runs out. You can change cars to confuse policemen.
Speaking of cars - the autopark in this game is quite diverse and well-made, progressing from "shoebox sedans" of 1929 to sleek, aerodynamic cars of 1935 and up, and topped off with a few shiny speedsters capable of reaching 140 KPH. Cars all steer pretty well, i can't say much on that. Damage model is different to GTA - parts rarely fall off, but dentures appear much more eagerly.
The local "Legitimate Businessmen Social Club" (translation: "mafia-run whorehouse"), proudly called Hotel Corleone.
[HEADING=3]The bad[/HEADING]
Now to the bad things. The main failure of that game is the combat system. You see, Mafia was created long before cover systems became ubiquitous in games, which means that you'll have to stand with your nose to the wall in order to avoid enemy fire, and carefully strafe out so you can fire back. The health is a big, big problem - health regeneration wasn't common in those times either, so you heal by using drug cabinets on the walls. Those are few and far between, plus they are hard to spot. This fact leads to loads and loads of loading last saved game in an attempt to finally handle the mission right.
Weapons, meanwhile, are completely out of whack (if it even means what i think it means). Pistols don't do a good job of killing people - they may be accurate, but their damage is far too low, so you have to waste two clips on a single enemy. On the other side of a fence, there are Tommy Guns and shotguns, offering one-shot kills while still retaining deadly accuracy. Add the fact that you are usually outnumbered ten-to-one, and your situation starts to look really unpleasant. Tommy's not a Lombax, after all.
[small]Mandatory reference to Lombaxes: check.[/small]
Then there's the fistfighting. Like the shooting, it's pretty dorky and unelegant. You lose your precious health almost as quickly as from gunfire, and in brawls you also tend to get mobbed by five dudes at once. Trying to use baseball bat's one-hit knockout from behind by circle-strafing is not exactly a good tactic either. But the worst part is that when you get hit, you lose control for a few seconds, which allows your enemies to land more and more hits - if you get initiative stolen from you, it's hard to get it back.
Mobster's rule number one: when in doubt, use Tommy Gun. Rule number two: when Tommy Gun fails, flee!
And who could forget the stupid, stupid fifth mission? I certainly couldn't.
So, in that mission, rather ironically called "Fair Play", you have to sabotage one of the cars to take part in the upcoming race. Enemy strikes back with their own act of "evening out the playing field", and so you have to replace the driver in that race. It's actually really hard to win in vanilla version - you have to steer rather carefully, block enemy racers when they catch up with you, and remember about the brake pedal for once. Thankfully, a patch has been issued that lowers the difficulty by making opponents' cars slower.
[HEADING=3]The "meh"[/HEADING]
Now, rather large cathegory here are things which made me go "meh". The graphics are okay for 2002, but dated by today's standards. The driving is well-realized, but takes too much time. The stealth/"social stealth" sections where you have to keep a low profile are playable, but not exactly worthy of their own game.
There's also the fact that Mafia is way more linear than GTA games - it is strictly divided in missions, and you can't really do anything in Lost Heaven but follow the plot. Time of day and weather also depends on mission. But that dosen't make the game bad - just more inclined to "plot-driven" side than to "wide open sandbox" side.
There are also two other modes independent of main storyline: Freeride, which is sort of like classic GTA, and Freeride Extreme, which has you doing ridiculous errands to get similarly ridiculous cars. In Freeride you can earn money by such ways as speeding and killing enemy gangsters, while hospital, auto repair, and weapon shop are your money sinks. You also have a good chance of exploring the countryside. Freeride Extreme, meanwhile, offers you 17 missions (such as driving a truck which has Speed-style bomb attached or chasing down Speedy Gonzales, a guy in underwear running at 60 KPH and leaving flaming trails behind) for which you earn unique vehicles - such as hippy van and a hot-rod. In 1930s. Riiiiight.
Both of those modes failed to amuse me all that much. As i've already said - Mafia has stronger story than GTA III, but worse sandbox.
I have failed to think up any witty caption for that picture, so imagine parachuting armoured war-bears instead.
Recommendation: Mafia turned out to be worse than expected for me, but it's still playable and even enjoyable. If you like story-driven games, you could try to find it. If you don't, then don't bother.
Website of 2k Czech, formerly Illusion Softworks, can be found here. Too bad i've remembered about putting that link here only 2 weeks after finishing this review.
[small]Mafia's story is all well and good - bootlegging, car chases, arson, vandalism, mass murder, rAcketeering, rOcketeering, theft of nuclear weapons, flooding Arkansas with raw sewage, taking Hitler's place via temporal coup, instigating a Battle Royale With Cheese, jaywalking, cheating at "Monopoly" and Counter-Strike, all the good "gangster" stuff - but i would rather have it be about talking cats, too.[/small]
