Mafia Classic

Mafia sure had its problems back in the day, but by now gamers got used to higher standards. A few random crashes, shadows glitching - I'm prepared to overlook it. It's just... Back then GTA had founded a new genre and it made sense to transfer it into the early days of cars. Mere years (in the story) make a real difference, so You'll experience the first ones slowly crawling up a bridge and how progress develops towards actually fast cars - it still keeps its charm there! That said it's not a polished genre yet. It's a genre-mix: driving, shooting, storytelling and at times a sort of puzzle-solving. Might sound good on the surface, but it's real annoying if the game doesn't communicate properly what You are supposed to do and which rules apply. Shooting can lead to mission failure after You already did the driving part for a good few minutes - gotta replay that bit then. Thanks a lot. Then there's some puzzle piece and You might wonder: didn't I already shoot all the opponents? What's left to do? Let's walk around on an empty map some more, because we all love doing that... The race is often criticized for being overly harsh. Actually I doubt that's really the problem (in this version You can even choose to render it easier). The problem is the genre-mix in itself. It's not a racing game and its players might not want to play a racing game either, but the race has a difficulty as if it was. Then again the shooting isn't any better: lots of weird bugs, like standing too close, reaching through opponents with Your arm and emptying a magazine "into" an opponent w/o any effect. There's quite a few real-time timers, so if You retry and play it quick You end up simply waiting until events move on. There's lots of walking around to "scout" a level, because the objectives are unclear and You have to "figure it out" - not with wits, but by walking, clicking, trial-and-error. Overall I really missed modern standards and find it hard to forgive its many small flaws.

Truly an amazing game for its time, even 23 years later, on the other hand, I do understand why people might dislike it, I would probably too if I was too young to understand the plot, controls and rebinding keys that need to be readjusted from default, it's pretty hard compared to today's average game difficulty, but that's why It's great, the pursuit of the challenge, is what keeps me coming back to it. I didn't expect playing Mafia Classic with a controller was possible. After tinkering with the controls and rebinding it to my liking, it feels way better when driving and generally a lot smoother, although shooting becomes more of a challenge. What I appreciate the most about this game, is that it comes from such an innocent time, when microtransactions didn't exist. An underrated gem among games, which serves me perfectly as I am anti-mainstream. I would advise against getting this game if u are prone to smashing ur peripherals when stumbling onto an especially challenging mission.

A classic of the video game industry. Almost a work of art. I used several mods to make the experience better, but its just some visual enhancements. Its a narrative drive action adventure game more than anything else and its fairly linear despite having an open world setup. Visuals are alright considering its age, voice acting is decent and the era appropriate music is quite fitting The story revolves around a man called Tomas Angelo and his life in the Salieri crime family in a fictional US city in the 1930s. There is nothing more I can say other than its a very well presented story. Now for the gameplay. It consists of 3 things. Driving, combat, interacting with the environment. You drive around town either performing tasks or initiating tasks. You have shoot outs with rival mobsters and fights with thugs. You need to get or move items that are needed to progress your objectives. Most everything tries to make you feel that you are in the environment that is depicted. The vehicles you are drive are slow and sluggish as they were back then. Cops will chase you if you commit crimes outside, including speeding, driving a red light, crashing into a car. Aiming and reloading is slow, if you reload you lose any remaining ammo in the clip. Atmosphere is key. However, there are quite a few downsides in the gameplay as well. You will often notice game rules apply to you, but not the AI. Firefights can be hit and miss as it depends more on the level design. Melee combat is frankly atrocious. You are staggered if you are hit with a melee attack. Annoying in a one on one, unworkable if more than one melee enemy against you. There can be some glitches and weird AI behaviour. There are some things to do after you complete the main campaign, but I wouldnt say its anything major. Despite having some flaws, its still a pretty solid game for what it sets out to do.

One of the best games from Czech Republic. This game has a special place in my heart. Very nice memories when I was a kid

wow! what a game and world these devs have created, bravo :)