   Mafia
  This has to be one of the greatest games of all time. When I played it with just the keyboard, I hated the driving sequences, but I have since hooked up a simple USB controller, and it has made a world of difference, the driving sequences are stellar.The inside jokes during the game are hillarious. At one point, you are supposed to meet a man from Kentucky named William Gates to buy some booze from him. As it turns out, he is not actually from Kentucky, but is a thief that stole the booze from your rival. And then he dies! When he tries to sell the booze to you, the guys he stole it from come and kill him! Bill Gates!So, anyway, the graphics are amazing, I think, especially the faces of the characters. A lot of work went into them. You can even see the eyelids wrapping around the eyeballs. There have been points where I have forgotten that I was watching a game. Too bad the hands look like blocks, and most of the clothes are painted on, except the collars (some people wear jackets that you can see the edges of.The car models are great, very nostalgic. The city detail is amazing. Just as large as GTAIII, only more detail and a lot more style. In GTAIII, everything looked like a cartoon to me, in Mafia, everything looks real.The main game of Mafia is very linear compared to GTAIII, however this is, to me, welcome, as I don''t have to learn the city before I can do anything. The free roaming aspect isn''t lost, however, as there is a free ride mode in which you gain money for speeding, blowing up cars, and killing mafiosos.Speeding, that''s another thing. The roads have laws! If a cop sees you in excess of 40MPH, he''ll fine you. If he''s on foot, you  can usually get away, but if he is in a car, you are probably in for some trouble, especially early in the game. You can''t let a cop see you run a red light, or crash into another car, or hit a person, or run around brandishing a gun. In GTAIII, it was like the cops were there to give you trouble if you hit them, and that was pretty much it.Also, this provides incentive to drive like a normal person, or not drive at all, you could take the trolley or train, which is integrated seamlessly, no loading time ANYWHERE when travelling in the city, even between islands. Not only that, but if you wreck the car, it will be much harder to drive, unlike GTAIII that would let you drive at full speed until the car was on fire.There are no stupid "Kill 100 Cubans" missions, no "torch 1,000 cars" missions, no stupid game gimmicks. Everything you do ties into the story. The story itself is amazing, I just wish the timing on the voice acting was a little better.The music is great. The cinematic music during heavy action is really great, really pumps up the intensity. The radio music while driving the cars is good, and very true-to-period (1930''s). Unfortunately, the only way to change the song you are currently listening to is to drive to another district.GTAIII gave us organized crime action like we had never seen, but it lacked polish, as well as style, with no lack of mundane tasks. Mafia, to me, is GTAIII to perfection. 
  apparently, no one shares my enthusiasm. ;  Mafia, to me, is GTAIII without any of the fun. I have found a truly remarkable proof for this, but this message''s space is too small to contain it. ;quote:Original post by civguy  Mafia, to me, is GTAIII without any of the fun. I have found a truly remarkable proof for this, but this message''s space is too small to contain it.   You can''t get away that easy. DEFEND YOURSELF!!! Seriously though, I bet I know what the problem is. You miss all the chances to mow down crowds of innocent civilians, because it''s not rewarded in Mafia. Atleast Mafia''s main character can talk, GTAIII''s doesn''t even have a voicebox. ;  Actually, I preferred GTA 3's mute character to GTA VC's character which speaks. Imagination could fill in the blanks.And yes, mowing down innocent people is just one of the things I like.. And those damn Haitians, there's just not enoughof them to satisfy my taste for blood. (wait, I'm just confusing the two newest GTAs here. whatever)I'm sure some sane person will come to agree with you.    [edited by - civguy on February 3, 2004 2:32:12 PM];  Mafia, I havent heard that name in a while.  I bought it when I was at EBGames looking for bf1942, wasnt there so I picked up Mafia instead.  I like it alot more than gta3, the graphics were more realistic etc..etc..blah blah..best thing in Mafia was the story, it blew me away.  I loved the mission where you go to the prison tower and snipe the politican on the island, everyone runs and screams and the body guards cover his body, but its too late...hehehe... great game indeed.   ,Matt-= kill one your a murderer, kill thousands your a conquerer =- ;  Mafia almost made me give up on the racing level.  But then it was great.   - It''s a life''s work:Image Hosting @ $5/3 Months :30Gig/month bandwidth Reseller Plan @ $40/3 MonthGeneric WebHost: The Cheapest Hosting Around!-ryan@lecherousjester.com ;  Mafia is one of the best PC games I''ve ever seen, having completed it three times.Period.-Nik ;  Mafia was great, although it was extremely frustrating at times. For instance, the racing mission was awful, and it was almost unbeatable if you didn''t have a steering wheel. The car chases were fun, although they were almost comical because the cars were so slow  ("OH SHI, He''s driving 30 miles per hour! We''ll never catch him!"). That, and the traffic laws annoyed me. Yeah, it''s realistic, but is it fun? It mostly just made the driving aspect of the game rather mundane in my opinion. If I want to experience the pure joy of driving an extremely slow car under the speed limit while properly obeying the law I can do that without a game. When''s the next one coming out anyway? Definitely going to be in line to buy it.    ----------------------------------------"Before criticizing someone, walk a mile in their shoes.Then, when you do criticize them, you will be a mile away and have their shoes." -- Deep Thoughts"If you have any trouble sounding condescending, find a Unix user to show you how it''s done." - Scott AdamsFaceHat Software -- Wear the hat. ;  Mafia is neat. Too bad my PC is too weak for it; I suppose I will wait for an XBox version.   Resist everyoneI am your only friend. Click here for more information.