There have been many Grand Theft Auto esque games available to gamers for quite awhile now.  Many are cheap clones, and horrible attempts to recreate the magic that GTA had left its fans.  But Mafia, a game set in the depths of the great depression, leaves you with the same enjoyment, but also proves to you that these clones and rip-offs are not all that bad.  

Now I’m not saying that Mafia is a rip-off or clone of GTA, because it certainly has its differences.  For one, mafia takes place all throughout the 1930’s as you take control of Tommy Angelo, a city cab driver.  One day on your break, two mobsters force you to drive for them as they are being chased by enemy gunmen.  Once you escape, the two Mafiosos promise you that their boss, Don Salieri, will help you if any trouble arises, as well as reassurance that you are paid for the damages to your car.  Soon, you are attacked by two men looking for revenge.  Having no other choice but to join the Mafia for protection, you begin working for the mob.  

As you may have noticed, the story is spectacular and will leave you speechless as you play through mission after mission of intense story developing scenes.  Not all of the missions are based on drive-by shootings and bootlegging (although there are a few.)  One scene has you walk a bartender’s daughter home one night because she had been roughed up the day before.  Another has you drive around the city collecting protection money to appease your power hungry boss.  These are just a few things that make Mafia a totally different game from GTA.  

The graphics are good for an action game, certainly not worse then the GTA engine.  The faces and modeling of the characters look real, and surprisingly, the models mouths actually move in synch with what they are supposed to be saying.  It gives the true feeling like your watching a movie, not just seeing a bunch of characters moving their heads while they speak.  The facial expressions for the models are extremely detailed, which also adds to the effect.   

The sound in mafia is very authentic for the time period.  Instead of having a radio only in the car, music inspired by the 1930’s plays constantly while walking down the street or running from the cops.  I suppose this could get annoying if you hate the oldies.  The weaponry is also a large plus.  You get many varieties of firearms, projectiles, and melee weapons such as the classic drum-clip Tommy gun and the colt 1911 pistol.  You get the must have Molotov cocktail as well as knives, baseball bats, and brass knuckles.  The fluid movements that the characters make when shooting, and moving are extremely realistic due to the fact that the Mafia team has hired actors to model after.  This makes the actions you make the characters execute extremely life like.  

Mafia also has a “Free Ride” feature which allows you to drive around and kill, work as a taxi driver, get money, and jack cars just like what made GTA so magical.  But as with all games, this adventure has its flaws.  The Game makes it hard to heal in missions, and very rarely will you find a med pack.  Since it is in the 1930’s there isn’t any types of body armor, so playing in heated gunfights can be difficult. Glitchy graphics sometimes plague the game and can be a slight problem to some.  The free ride mode is excellent, but in order to receive new cars and maps, you need to unlock them in the single player game mode, which can be difficult.  Another problem that mafia’s free ride mode has is its “one death” idea.  You could be playing for hours, making cash, and killing for fun, but once you die, it all goes down the big toilet of frustration, as you see all you cash drop to zero, and all of your weapons disappear.   

Mafia has its ups and downs, but in the end, it stands above all of the Grand Theft Auto failures.  Mafia and GTA have many differences and should never be put in the same sentence together unless you’re describing how different they are.  Despite the sometimes flickering graphics and slightly difficult free ride mode, Mafia has its deep storyline an amazing graphics to look forward to.  Mafia truly is a gem and should be cherished by anyone who owns a PC or PS2, and soon, the Xbox.