Mafia for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

This game is a little hard to rate. I'll Start off with the story. It's good and their are some really emersive moments. The characters are interesting, and their are lots of cars to unlock. The city is rather big but lacking in flavor. The controls are okay and driving isn't great but I've seen worse. There's a good variety of mission styles but checkpoints are few and far between. To top that off healthpacks are quite scarce. Another annoying aspect was that cops get onto you for speeding, but you can just press the black button to stay under the speed limit. The most annoying part of the gameplay was the targeting. This game is OK I guess but there are better. I give it a 5, out of 10.

Admit it: you always wanted to play a gangster. Well, that's exactly what Mafia offers. You play a cabbie named Tommy who gets mixed up with Don Salieri and his crew in a city strangely reminiscent of (but not quite) New York.
Now, while the game is playable and enjoyable overall, you'll still find yourself noticing flaws. First, the most obvious, is that this is not an open-ended adventure like a GTA. While you have a city to explore, it's just there to traverse for your individual missions. Very few optional missions are presented and they only offer additional cars. Speaking of cars, the handling of these vehicles is pretty rocky. While on foot, you'll note that aiming is imprecise and your health can drop to zero pretty easily.
The morality in the game is a bit off. You can run over pedestrians and the cops won't bat an eye, but run a red light and they're all over you.
But if I had to gripe about one portion of the game, it would be the race. The racing car you control has trouble turning, skids out constantly and flips over if it hits a raised mounds of dirt. This section is annoying, even if your opponents are super easy.
The story is fitting and works in the context of the game. It's also worth note that the 20 missions in the game proved many hours of gameplay.
While the game falls squarely into the "okay" category, the glaring problem is that it falls far behind Godfather: The Game, which offers far more in every category. I'd highly recommend it over this game. But if you've already played it and want to live out your Sopranos fantasy further, Mafia's got an offer for you.