Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

I originally got Mafia for my PC but it wasn't powerful enough to run it properly, now in 2004 I've got it for the PS2 and I just finished it today. I miss it already, it's been there ready to tell the next chapter of Tommy Angelo's story for the past 5 days. There are a lot of missions, but like chapters in a good book, I wish there were more. There's a lot of good games coming out of Europe lately, first Hitman (Denmark), then Max Payne (Finland), and now Mafia out of the Czech Republic. Lets hope there are more.

Mafia almost literally transports you to 30's prohibition-era Chicago (the city the town depicted in Mafia is based on) with slow cars, hats, and tommy guns. It's a little bit like Grand Theft Auto in the style of play, and like "It Came from the Desert" in its historical richness.

If you have a PS2 or high-spec PC it would be a crime to pass up this game.

When they say that games are not just graphics, I usually remember this game. Games like this make me wonder how games can entertain as much as movie masterpieces. With a very, very good plot Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven is probably The Godfather of video games, talking about its sequels Mafia II and Mafia III, although much more modern, don't get to the plot of this one.

Full of outstanding characters, difficult missions, memorable dialogues, not to mention the gameplay, radio, features, plot twists, in short, a complete game that delivers a lot to the player.

This got to be one of the best games i've played in several years. It is made up of mafia movies clichés, but these seem to work splendid.

The story is truly magnificent, and i had problems putting this game down at night.. it makes you want to stay up forever and ever, until you have completed it.

The game features a nice 3d world that looks very 30's'ish, and cars with physics, that according to the developers, surpasses Gran Turissimo. All weapons and dialogue are realistic to the ones used at the time.

The level of difficulty is also wonderfully balanced, ensuring that it never gets tedious.. Missions vary from mob hits, robbing banks, stealing cars to walking your girlfriend home and so on; all blended into the great story.

Synopsis; The taxi driver Thomas Angelo gets mixed up in a car chase between the Morello gang and the Salieri gang, and after helping the Salieri's out, he is offered work for them. As the days go by, Tommy is soon their prime hit-man, together with Sam and Paulie (who is a clear Joe Pesci parody). But mobster life can be treacherous..

I'll give this 9/10, no doubt.

When i first got it, i thought the first few missions were somewhat boring. I put the game aside for a little bit. After maybe a few days, i had nothing better to do so i said, "why not?". After that i was hooked to the game. I only left the computer to eat, sleep, and do homework. The graphics in the game are so realistic and the gameplay is too. Games such as StarCraft and Spider-Man (the movie game) have great cutscene graphics, but decent gameplay graphics. Mafia's gameplay graphics are just as good as their cutscene graphics. There are a few missions i was discouraged with and found impossible to beat, but i beat the game. The storyline is a storyline that i say rivals some gangster movies.

The only problems are that sometimes you have to drive all the way across a vast, detailed city to get to your mission while obeying traffic laws. This does make the game more realistic, but its somewhat annoying at times. Another thing that after you beat the game, there is Free Ride and Free Ride Extreme. Neither of those options come anywhere close to being as good as the actual game.

The game is so realistic and lifelike. This is one of my favorite games along with Grand Theft Auto 3 and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

this game is a lot like 'the godfather'. it might be cool to say you like it, even if you don't 'get' it.

i think that reviewing video games on the IMDB is kind of odd, but this game expands the boundaries. it really truly is almost like a movie in which you take a part in. the voice acting is great, the graphis are of course amazing. the city of lost heaven lives and breathes, the car models change as the years go on. the story develops nicely. some people complain about the driving being slow. i think its nice to cruise around the beautiful city, enjoying the lazy old music. its a nice contrast to the intense gunfights and car chases!

yes, there will be bugs. guess what? this isn't PC gamer. i dont think people should be complaining about technical issues or difficulty here. that's like saying 'i hate reservoir dogs because i can't get the disc into my DVD player'. grow a brain!

this game gets my highest rating... 4 stars, 10 out of 10, 2 thumbs up, whatever!