Page 2: Gameplay/Lasting Appeal,Realism, and Conclusion
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<b>Gameplay/Lasting Appeal</b>
Gameplay in Mafia is generally pretty good. I customized the controls to something that I found easier for me personally, but you might like the controls just the way they are.
The cameras in the game are good following behind the car when you are driving(the cameras also follow you from the front when you are driving in reverse which makes it easy to back up)
One of the most helpful tools included in the game are your compass and map. In the upper left corner of your screen is a compass whose needle points in the direction you have to drive
for different missions. If this isn't enough of a help, by pressing the TAB key you can display a map on your screen of your current position and your destination which allows you to drive while
viewing the map(it is semi-translucent), which helps out alot if you get lost because you can get back on the right road. Driving can get a little tedious because of the fact that you have to drive
pretty much everywhere in the game, but it's not the worst thing in the world because there are over 60 cars to chose from and theres always an oppurtunity to steal a new car if you get bored on the way
to one of your missions. Missions have varying difficulty with some missions taking numerous tries to complete, and some being able to be accomplished on the first try, there is a good balance.
<br/>The game offers 3 different modes of gameplay. The main mode is the normal game with missions in which you follow the life of Tommy Angelo and complete the various missions assigned to you by the
Don. For those of you that either get tired of the mission-type play quickly or have already beat the missions and are looking for something else there is the "Free-Ride" option which is more of a GTA 3-esque
play. It allows you to choose your car(some cars must be stolen in the mission-mode first to be able to use them in Free-Ride), and drive around the various cities. During Free-Ride you can
pick up people in taxi's,
eliminate mobsters to make money, and steal different cars. This mode is good because your not bogged down by having to do missions or watch cinematic scenes, instead its a more 'fun' type of play, hence "Free Ride".
The last mode of play is "Free Ride Extreme" which is only accessible after beating the single player game. This removes all of the police from the town and allows you to steal even more new cars. This mode will let
you wreck havoc on the city and go on a killing spree. Between the three modes of play, it would be hard to get bored of the game, theres lots of detail in the 12 square mile map to check out so it should keep you pretty
entertained for awhile. I would have personally liked to see a multiplayer option, however sadly it isn't included with the game.
<CENTER>
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/~smartass083/mafia9.jpg"><br/><b>A nice ride in the country.</b>
</CENTER>
<br/>
<br/>
<b>Realism</b>
I thought I should give a section of this review just to realism. The main reason i would reccomend this game is the detail and realism included. When looking over the games website they note that the cars
have a very realistic physics engine with each car having 100 paramaters affecting how it moves. Each car also has a gas gauge which when playing free-ride can run low on gas forcing you to drive
to a gas-station for a refill. Each individual tire of a car can be shot out, and it is seen as the car will adjust its height/position when a tire is shot out(i.e. you shoot out the front left tire, the car will lean towards the left).
Smoking a cigarrette produces amazingly real smoke and likewise when
shooting a gun, smoke appears from the barrel. When experimenting with the
game I found alot of things in the game were able to be destroyed as well. Fire hydrants can be
destroyed to produce a spout of water, and cars seem to have increasing damage the more you hit it, with more and more scratches appearing each time. The guns each have different accuracy, with the tommy gun being fairly unaccurate(by far the most
entertaining weapon), to the different pistols and rifles which have varying accuracy. You really have to play this game to get an idea of how real it is, it can't all be put into words.<br/>
<CENTER>
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/~smartass083/mafia2.jpg"><br/><b>Hmm... wonder how that happened</b>
</CENTER>
<br/>
<b>Conclusion</b>
I would recomend this game to anyone that likes first person shooter/adventure games. It is a fun-filled game, and has a definite lasting appeal.
<b>Gameplay/Lasting Appeal</b>
Gameplay in Mafia is generally pretty good. I customized the controls to something that I found easier for me personally, but you might like the controls just the way they are.
The cameras in the game are good following behind the car when you are driving(the cameras also follow you from the front when you are driving in reverse which makes it easy to back up)
One of the most helpful tools included in the game are your compass and map. In the upper left corner of your screen is a compass whose needle points in the direction you have to drive
for different missions. If this isn't enough of a help, by pressing the TAB key you can display a map on your screen of your current position and your destination which allows you to drive while
viewing the map(it is semi-translucent), which helps out alot if you get lost because you can get back on the right road. Driving can get a little tedious because of the fact that you have to drive
pretty much everywhere in the game, but it's not the worst thing in the world because there are over 60 cars to chose from and theres always an oppurtunity to steal a new car if you get bored on the way
to one of your missions. Missions have varying difficulty with some missions taking numerous tries to complete, and some being able to be accomplished on the first try, there is a good balance.
<br/>The game offers 3 different modes of gameplay. The main mode is the normal game with missions in which you follow the life of Tommy Angelo and complete the various missions assigned to you by the
Don. For those of you that either get tired of the mission-type play quickly or have already beat the missions and are looking for something else there is the "Free-Ride" option which is more of a GTA 3-esque
play. It allows you to choose your car(some cars must be stolen in the mission-mode first to be able to use them in Free-Ride), and drive around the various cities. During Free-Ride you can
pick up people in taxi's,
eliminate mobsters to make money, and steal different cars. This mode is good because your not bogged down by having to do missions or watch cinematic scenes, instead its a more 'fun' type of play, hence "Free Ride".
The last mode of play is "Free Ride Extreme" which is only accessible after beating the single player game. This removes all of the police from the town and allows you to steal even more new cars. This mode will let
you wreck havoc on the city and go on a killing spree. Between the three modes of play, it would be hard to get bored of the game, theres lots of detail in the 12 square mile map to check out so it should keep you pretty
entertained for awhile. I would have personally liked to see a multiplayer option, however sadly it isn't included with the game.
<CENTER>
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/~smartass083/mafia9.jpg"><br/><b>A nice ride in the country.</b>
</CENTER>
<br/>
<br/>
<b>Realism</b>
I thought I should give a section of this review just to realism. The main reason i would reccomend this game is the detail and realism included. When looking over the games website they note that the cars
have a very realistic physics engine with each car having 100 paramaters affecting how it moves. Each car also has a gas gauge which when playing free-ride can run low on gas forcing you to drive
to a gas-station for a refill. Each individual tire of a car can be shot out, and it is seen as the car will adjust its height/position when a tire is shot out(i.e. you shoot out the front left tire, the car will lean towards the left).
Smoking a cigarrette produces amazingly real smoke and likewise when
shooting a gun, smoke appears from the barrel. When experimenting with the
game I found alot of things in the game were able to be destroyed as well. Fire hydrants can be
destroyed to produce a spout of water, and cars seem to have increasing damage the more you hit it, with more and more scratches appearing each time. The guns each have different accuracy, with the tommy gun being fairly unaccurate(by far the most
entertaining weapon), to the different pistols and rifles which have varying accuracy. You really have to play this game to get an idea of how real it is, it can't all be put into words.<br/>
<CENTER>
<img src="http://www.aselabs.com/~smartass083/mafia2.jpg"><br/><b>Hmm... wonder how that happened</b>
</CENTER>
<br/>
<b>Conclusion</b>
I would recomend this game to anyone that likes first person shooter/adventure games. It is a fun-filled game, and has a definite lasting appeal.