Interesting take on the underground Mafia life

"Mafia" is an excellent title for the PC, it seems to have it all - graphics, storyline, excellent voice acting, a VERY involved plot, fun cutscenes, and a satisfying difficulty level.

***The install:
This is perhaps the most annoying aspect of the game - the install takes a LONG time, long meaning at least a half hour or more (and I'm using a Pentium 4, with a 7200 RPM hard drive...). You'll want to get a mid to top of the line 3D graphics card before buying this game, since it works heavily off that technology. My old Nvidia 2 card barely cuts it, and the game even blinks out after an hour or so of gameplay.

***The beginning:
You will start off with a tutorial, teaching you how to move about in the game. It starts off with basic walking, running, climbing, swinging a baseball bat (not for playing baseball, or course!) and firing a gun, and then moves on to hijacking a car and driving it. Personally, I've never played games like Grand Theft Auto III or Vice City, but supposedly this game handles exactly the same way. In this PC version, you will use the arrow keys to walk forwards, back, strafe left and strafe right, and the mouse to turn 360-degrees, as well as look up and down. Driving a car solely involves the arrow keys, however, you can point a gun out the window and aim with the mouse. As for attacking, the mouse buttons control pulling your weapon and firing.

***The gameplay:
I don't want to give too much away, but your character, Tommy, is a taxi driver, and the beginning of the game starts off slow, as you pick up and drop off passengers (Crazy Taxi style, for you Dreamcast owners), within a time limit. You'll struggle with driving in the beginning, since the cars have awful handling around curves unless you're taking it nice and easy. Watch out for the cops -- go over 40 MPH and you'll get pulled over.

When you get more "involved," you'll be hired and ordered to do many different Mafia chores, including pickup/dropoffs, hit and runs, theft, etc. Most (if not all) tasks are timed, and you will most likely have to do these tasks over and over, since dying is a very consistant thing in this game. Your first experience with an involved gunfight takes place not too far off after the game's beginning, and will take patience and intuition (ok...and, a mastery of the sometimes frustrating targeting system).

One of the most difficult aspects of the game requires being a getaway driver - while your enemies are driving after you with their machine guns blazing, and trying to curb your car State Trooper style (which is a horribly difficult situation to get yourself out of if they succeed).

The "world" you play in is a gigantic fictional area, all accessable by bridges and tunnels, closely resembling the areas of New York City, Hoboken New Jersey, and Newark New Jersey. The city is terribly frustrating to drive through for awhile, as you will never remember the shortest way to get to the main bridges and shortcuts, especially when your time is running out. You'll have a radar pointing to the direction you have to get to - however, sometimes when you're stuck at a dead end, or a corner with no sidestreets, this becomes increasingly frustrating.

Your main base of operations is the Salieri restaurant, your mob hideout. This is where you'll get your orders, and where your stolen cars will be held by hired guards. Also, a mob ammunitions expert is there to give you certain weapons needed to complete missions.

***The missions:
Sadly, you must follow each mission as it comes about. You don't have any time to freely explore the city - since many of your missions are timed, or are perilous (destroy your rival family's property, and they'll bust out of the woodworks, and chase you on foot and in cars). All foot-based missions have "demiliterized zones" (you know, those invisible barriers you can't walk through) so that you don't leave an area by accident. Most missions are trial and error - thankfully, every time you die, you start off at the same place you left off, instead of having to do the entire chapter over again. Also, note that you cannot save your game yourself - the game does this on its own, every time you clear a "level." You can start up where you left off day after day.

Never forget, even though the Mafia has a big influential control over the cops, you still can't go around running red lights, running over/attacking bystanders, or speeding. A few minor violations will get you tickets...major ones will get you the cuffs. Get arrested, and it's game over!

***Graphics and Sound
The graphics are truly stunning - I was amazed by the level of detail on each and every single character - real skin textures (oh man, you can even see pockmarks and wrinkles on some guys' faces, and combed hair that looks real). Very, very impressive job on the graphics. Voice acting is fantastic - there was a great deal put into the graphics of this game - even the storefronts, vehicles, and bystanders look fantastic. Sound effects are excellent and very accurate to the times - the sounds of the guns, the old 1930's car engines, the car crashes, glass breaking, enemy curses, you name it! As for the background music - classic 1930's tracks that take you back in the day.