Mafia

In the first half of the last century, America was swept by a wave of mafia. Italian immigrants, who quickly "rose" during the Great Depression and conquered entire cities, became almost the only form of power. Corrupt police turned a blind eye to "showdowns", shootings and wars between mafia clans.

This is exactly what - the showdown of mafia clans and other criminal life - and the game is dedicated to Mafia. Thanks to a well-developed, interesting plot, it does not "slide" into a linear shooter, being an interesting story about Italian clans.

You seem like a very good bad guy

Thomas Angelo worked as a simple taxi driver. On one autumn evening in 1930, he met two mafiosi from the Salieri clan, who very effectively convinced him to help them escape from the pursuit.

Several days passed, and Thomas's taxi was found by mobsters from the Morello clan. They crashed a car and crippled the protagonist himself a little. Then he turned to the Salieri clan for help - and received an offer that he could not refuse. So Thomas Angelo himself became a mafioso. He joined the Salieri clan and started working for this criminal organization.

While working for the mafia, Thomas Angelo has to perform a variety of tasks. This is not only different executions of criminals from rival clans - also car races, tracking traitors, robberies and much more.

The plot is divided into several chapters. Each of them begins with a video insert shot by a professional director. It is thanks to this that a deep immersion in the world of the game, the atmosphere of mafia showdowns and the experiences of the protagonist is achieved, who, in the process of serving the Salieri clan, understands a lot - and realizes the fragility of human life, doubts his own choice, and ultimately decides to give up and start doing something much more legal. This is not a spoiler - Mafia itself begins with Thomas Angelo meeting the investigator in a cafe and telling him his whole story.

Mafia Gameplay

Mafia's gameplay is pretty straightforward. Most of the missions are built on the same storyline - drive through half of the city in an old car, find opponents there and “say hello to them.”

Sometimes the developers still understand that the player is not too interested in just running around and shooting enemies. Then they dilute the gameplay - for example, you need to steal cars and replace them with others or win races.

The game has a high level of difficulty. But not because she really is, no. It's just that Mafia is based on an old engine with peculiar physics and behavior of the surrounding world. Cars literally skid at every turn, which is why they are able to literally fly away and leave the map through the window in the house. At the same time, it is still the 1930s outside the window, so cars drive at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

The world in which Mafia takes place is partially open. That is, you can still turn the corner and admire the American town. But this will cause the mission timer to expire and this will result in a sad Game Over screen. Therefore, you should still go through the plot tasks - all the more, they cover almost the entire map, so there are no areas left uncovered.

If you really, really want to travel around Lost Haven (the city in which Mafia takes place), then you can go through the game completely and get to the final credits. After that, the freeride will start. Then you can go for a drive around the city.

Mafia: Definitive Edition Reissue

The original Mafia was released back in 2002. Moreover, it was based on its own engine, which was not very much supported by the developers. Therefore, it will not work to run Mafia on a modern computer (more precisely, you can try with difficulty and through virtual machines).

But in 2020, a re-release was announced, which was called Mafia: Definitive Edition. It will be released at the end of the summer. The developers have promised to transfer the game to a new, more modern engine.

Thanks to the engine update, Mafia: Definitive Edition will receive support for modern graphics technologies such as HDR and 4K resolution, an expanded game world, and a little more plot interestingness. Thanks to them, you can get more information about some members of the Salieri family, visit new places in Lost Haven, and even ride a vintage motorcycle around the city.

But most importantly, Mafia: Definitive Edition is an opportunity to get acquainted with a plot that demonstrates the mafia as it was: powerful, dangerous, criminal and rotten from top to bottom, without criminal romance (or with it, right there like see).