Somehow this year I began to research the Mafia. This led to the general era of Prohibition and the Depression. I am of course prone to become totally absorbed by a historical subject, as you know if you've browsed the History page. This time, however, I did something about my interest in this. There's a game called Mafia. It was on sale for $10 at Wal-Mart. So, I bought it.
The game is made by a fanstastic Czech developer, and the game itself is incredible. The game begins with a well-dressed man (fedora, pinstriped suit, etc-- the ideal gangster) sneaking into a cafe and sitting down with a detective- Detective Norman, a cranky Irishman. Tommy-- the well-dressed one -- explains to the good detective that if he can give protection to Tommy, his wife, and his daughter, Tommy will tell all he knows about the Organization he's in- the gang controlling the city. As Tommy story, begins, it's 1930- the start of the Depression, and the middle of Prohibition. Tommy's a cabby. But one night on his break, he hears a crash. When he looks around the corner to see if he can help-- being the nice guy he is -- two hoodlums point a gun at him and say "drive". You then take control and must lose the car tailing- and shooting at you. In the cutscene that follows, the gangsters- Paulie and Sam- thank you for your service and commend you for your driving skills. Sam then pays you and offers you a job working for his boss- Don Salieri. Tommy, of course, politely refuses. He'll take the money and go about his buisness. Right? Wrong.
The next day, while doing your job- picking up passengers, taking them to where they ask to go- two thugs smash your car up with a bat and try to rough Tommy up. You then run the three blocks to Salieri's, ducking in and out of alleys to avoid getting shot up. You reach Salieri's, your safe haven. The two gangsters- employed by one Mr. Morello, Salieri's main rival who presently dominates- enter and are killed by Salieri. Since Morello is out to get him and Salieri has plenty of dough, Tommy reluctantly decides to join the Mob. And so begins one of the greatest stories I've ever read. Throughout the game- it spans up until 1938- you play as Tommy. In the game, you do all sorts of things- collect protection money from buisnesses Salieri provides security for, drive in a race that the Don bet on, walk a lady home (protecting her from the riff-raff), blow up a hotel office, rub out traitors and rivals and rob a bank- just for starters. But Tommy, despite all of these criminal activities- is a good guy. When ordered to kill a prostitute who's been hurting Salieri's buisness by selling information to Morello, Tommy discovers that she's his wife's best friend. Since he can't kill a woman, espeically not his wife's best friend, he tells her to get out of town and never come back. Later still, when told to kill Frank, Don Salieri's right hand for treachery- Tommy lets Frank off when he discovers that the police and Morello were blackmailing Frank. These good deeds will catch up to Tommy. When he and his best friend Paulie rob a bank without the Don's approval, Paulie is killed and Tommy shoots up a museum with paintings worth $4 million in it, escaping his own death trap.
The storyline of the game is very good- lots of action, but plenty of character development. When you're ordered to kill Frank, or when you find Paulie dead in his apartment, most players probably felt the same way Tom feels in the game.It's incredible.
But what's even more incredible is the game. This takes place in the fictional city of Lost Heaven, a mixture of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. This city is completely modeled in the game- it's a living, breathing city with a working public transporation system. I actually know Lost Heaven better than I know Selma, my hometown. Throughout the course of the game, players come to know the city- bright Chinatown, run-down Hoboken, jazzy Downtown. Churches, armories, schools, homes,- everything is here. This city is available to play when not playing a mission, too- you can roam around it, exploring. It's the most realistic game I've ever played, and I doubt I'll find one bettering it in the near future.
In the game's free ride mode, you wander about at will. You can work- driving a taxi- or you can get money by speeding. The city actually has speed limits, and they ARE enforced by the most realistic police force in ANY game. These police ticket you for running redlights, hitting cars, , hitting signs, and speeding. If you start driving recklessly, slamming into police cars, or slugging it out with innocent civilians, the police arrest you. Got a gun out in plan sight? Arrest. And if you fire that gun or run over someone, the cops make you Public Enemy Number One. They no longer seek to slap you on the hand or slap handcuffs on your wrists. They're going to hound you until you elude them or you die at their hand. They're serious about the whole "law enforcment" thing.
When I play Mafia, I either taxi people around town, speeding a little and running redlights. Sometimes, however, I don't feel like working. I want to drive fast and get into car chases with police and gangsters.(gangsters patrol the city on foot and in cars. Touch them and they shoot you) So I do. I enjoy coming up with creative ways to lose the cops or thugs. Generally, I don't shoot cops unless they're shooting me, and I try not to run over any pedestrians- especially women. I get into more car crashes because some woman was in my way when I was flying down the sidewalk than I can count...