Mafia (computer game)

mafia
Studio	Illusion softworks
Publisher	Gathering of Developers 2K Games
Erstveröffent- lichung	PC August 28, 2002 September 6, 2002 PlayStation 2 February 4, 2004 Xbox March 12, 2004
platform	Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox
Game engine	LS3D engine
genre	Action , third-person shooter
Subject	Mobster
Game mode	Single player
control	Keyboard and mouse , steering wheel , gamepad
system advantages preconditions	500 MHz CPU , 96  MB RAM , 16 MB GPU , sound card , 16x CD / DVD drive, 1.8  GB hard disk space , DirectX 8.1
medium	3 CD-ROMs (PC) , 1 DVD-ROM (PS2, Xbox, new PC edition)
language	German, English, Czech, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian (Subtitled), Turkish (Subtitled), Polish (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Hungarian (Subtitled)
Current version	1.3
Age rating	USK PEGI
information	German version cut

Mafia is a third-person shooter from the Czech company Illusion Softworks . Mafia was released in 2002 for the PC and two years later for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox . It belongs to the game genre of action games , but also has action-adventure and racing game elements. The gameplay is closely related to Grand Theft Auto (GTA), but in Mafia, in contrast to this, missions and free play are implemented as separate game modes.

The successor Mafia II was presented together with a trailer at the Games Convention in August 2007 and was released in August 2010. In May 2020, Mafia: Definitive Edition was a remake of the game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for August 28, 2020 announced.

action

Historical backgrounds and adaptations

In the game, the existence of the American Cosa Nostra is adapted. Terms and objects such as the " Lupara ", a two-mouthed, barreled firearm, and " Omertà ", the command of silence, are used in the game. The term " Consigliere " ( consultant ) describes Frank's role in the game.

The name Morello is historically guaranteed; u. a. Peter Morello and his brothers can be considered the forerunners of the Genovese family in New York City.

There are also parallels to Mario Puzo's mafia epic The Godfather , which was filmed in three parts by Francis Ford Coppola . The hotel where Tommy is supposed to kill a prostitute in the eighth mission bears the name of the Corleone Mafia family, around whom the plot in Puzo's novel revolves.

The villa district Lost Heavens, located on a hill, bears the name Oak Hill . The well-known American gangster John Herbert Dillinger was born in the real district of the same name in the American city of Indianapolis . He went down as the first "public enemy No. 1" in US criminal history.

Course of action

Mafia transports the player to Lost Heaven, a fictional American city in the style of New York City of the 30s. In Lost Heaven, two Mafia families rule the underworld, the Salieris and the Morello families.

An introductory video sequence shows the protagonist Tommy, who meets a police detective named Norman. Tommy wants to get out of the mafia and therefore offers himself as a key witness if he is guaranteed impunity and a new identity in return. The story is now played through in flashbacks by the player, in between video sequences repeatedly show the ongoing conversation between Tommy and Norman.

Thomas “Tommy” Angelo, the protagonist, gets caught between the front lines as a taxi driver when he is forced by two members of the Salieris to help them out as an escape driver. So he gets to know Paulie and Sam and at the same time incurs the wrath of the Morellos. He overcomes his initial aversion to the mafia after an attack on him, and he asks Don Salieri for help. The Don appears as a friendly and helpful man, he offers Tommy a job and guarantees him security. Tommy is now introduced to everyday life in the Mafia, the first missions revolve around intimidation and collecting protection money. The initial scruples are quickly dispelled by his new friends, the successes and the resulting attitude towards life weigh more heavily.

The player also gets to know the daughter Sarah of the family bartender Luigi, whom he protects from a group of thugs. A relationship develops between the two.

The jobs get tougher over time, and Tommy is ordered to kill a prostitute who has passed information to Morello. However, since she is a friend of Sarah, Tommy lets her go and thus defies Don Salieri, even if he keeps it a secret. As part of this mission, one of the most controversial scenes in the game occurs, a church shooting. This is followed by a conversation between Tommy and the priest, which revolves around guilt and forgiveness.

The plot becomes more and more violent, conflicts seem to escalate more and more often. Frank, Salieri's lawyer and accountant, is concerned about his family and wants to provide the police with evidence if he is allowed to flee to Europe. With that he has broken the Omertà , and Tommy receives the instruction to liquidate him (the level in which you get the job is also called "Omerta"). However, after a lengthy conversation with Frank at the airport, Tommy decides to let him and his family go when he gets the evidence. He claims to the Don that he killed Frank. At the beginning of the next level you can see a video sequence that shows "Frank's funeral without Frank".

In the further course of the game Tommy cannot escape the increasingly brutal methods of the Mafia, after an attack on Salieri and him while eating, the Don decides to finally end the war between the families and to eliminate the Morellos. From Tommy's comments on the story he tells Norman, we learn that he is increasingly questioning this approach, also considering the fact that, like Frank, he now has a family with Sarah. However, he continues to carry out the missions and kills the high-ranking members of the Morello family.

After Tommy, Paulie and Sam accidentally discover that Don Salieri has cheated on them out of money, Paulie and Tommy decide to look after themselves and rob a bank. Paulie, who comes from the street and owes a lot to Salieri, feels betrayed and sees his life in a dead end. Sam doesn't want to do this part-time job, he continues to trust the Don. The day after the successful attack, Tommy finds Paulie dead in his apartment, and Sam wants to meet with him at an art museum. Here Tommy learns that the Don ordered Paulie's murder and also knows that Tommy let the prostitute and Frank go. The meeting is an ambush, and after the shootout and showdown against Sam, Tommy decides to meet with Detective Norman.

In the epilogue we learn that Salieri and his people were convicted. Salieri himself is sentenced to death in the electric chair (in the English original he only gets a life sentence), the minimum sentence is 8 years in prison. The last video sequence shows Tommy in front of his house after the Second World War while he is watering the garden. Two men, who by the way are Vito and Joe, the two main characters of the second part, approach him, call him by his old name and shoot him with the words “Mr. Salieri sends his greetings! ”. The game ends with the last words of Thomas Angelo:

“You know, the world is not governed by written law. It's about people. Either through the law or not. It depends on each individual what his world is like. What he makes of her. And you need a good deal of luck so that nobody makes your life hell. And it's not as easy as learning in elementary school. But it is good to have high ideals and hold on to them. In marriage, in crime, in war ... Anytime, anywhere. I screwed it up. Like Paulie and Sam. We wanted a better life, but we ended up doing worse than most. You know it is important to find the right level. Yes, measure, that's the right word. The guy who wants to achieve too much risks losing absolutely everything. And of course those who want too little from life may not get anything. "

After completing the story missions, a new game mode will be unlocked, the "Free Ride Extreme Mode", in which more or less tricky tasks have to be solved, whereby curious bonus vehicles can be unlocked.

Gameplay

control

The player controls the figure with the keyboard and mouse. The game is a so-called third-person shooter . i.e., the player is seen from a pursuer's perspective . In an environment that does not have enough space for this, the program automatically switches to the first-person view. There is also a mission in which you are in the hold of a moving truck and from there you have to eliminate chasers with a submachine gun ( Tommygun ), in which the action is also, but not necessarily, shown from the first person's perspective.

Vehicles can be controlled with the keyboard or the steering wheel. While driving, there is an opportunity to look around using certain buttons, which is essential especially in case of gunfights while driving. When looking around from the car, the mouse only works when you want to fire the rifled gun from the car.

A save point is automatically created after certain mission objectives have been achieved. However, there is no manual storage function.

vehicles

All vehicles have a petrol tank which, under certain conditions, empties while driving. So the car that the player receives at the beginning of each mission is fully fueled and remains so as long as you drive it. However, if you steal another car, its tank can sometimes empty. But then you have the option of having the tank refilled at a petrol station, provided you reach it early enough. It is particularly important to keep an eye on the fuel gauge when using the “Free Ride” mode. However, refueling in this mode costs an amount of money.

Collisions or exchanges of fire leave visible damage to the vehicles, windows splinter, tires burst, axles break, the body deforms thanks to a physically correct damage model and bullet holes decorate the surface. This has some influence on the driving behavior. After particularly serious accidents or volleys of rifles, the bonnet begins to smoke and after a while the car explodes, which means death for the occupants. Unlike in comparable games such as the GTA series, vehicles do not explode if they remain on the roof or on the side for some time.

While driving through Lost Heaven, Tommy must obey the traffic regulations. There is a risk of fines if the player is traveling at high speed or causes accidents. However, if there are no police officers around, the player can break the rules at will. If a fine has already been imposed on you, failure to pay can result in the player being followed by the police and ultimately even arrested (if he has hit and missed). However, if he fires a weapon in the vicinity of the police or drives his car over or over a police officer, the police officers will be ordered to liquidate him.

Some of the vehicles, which are based on real models, are named after rock bands, e.g. B. a model called "Ulver" (DeSoto Airflow) or the "Falconer" (1929 Lincoln).

Game world

Lost Heaven

Lost Heaven is a fictional metropolis on the American east coast. It lies at the mouth of a river. The city extends over both banks and over an island in the estuary. The center of the city lies on this. It is connected to the two mainland parts by several bridges and a tunnel. In addition to the center on the island, there are other neighborhoods such as B. Little Italy, Chinatown, Hoboken, Works Quarter or the rich Oak Hill, whose function is similar to that of their real role models and which are also equipped accordingly. The city's sights include a large art gallery (which is a virtual edition of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna ), a race track and a sightseeing steamer. The Giuliano Bridge is reminiscent of the Golden Gate Bridge . The small church in the middle of the skyscrapers in downtown also has a real model: the Trinity Church . Lost Heaven has a public transport system, consisting of an elevated railway line that connects both mainland parts with the island, and three tram lines that run in the respective parts of the city. There is an airport outside of Lost Heaven. The city also has a seaport and a train station. The elevated train and the tram can be used by the player at will.

Three streets lead out of the city. The modeled environment of Lost Heaven contains the already mentioned airport, a motel, several farms and a dam, as well as various different bridges and a tunnel. Only a small part of the area is covered during the missions. Only in the game's free travel modes can you explore the whole area at will.

The developers tried to make the city look more organic. Depending on the time of day, there are different numbers of pedestrians and police patrols; when it rains, they carry umbrellas. In addition, the citizens of Lost Heavens react to Tommy when he shoots, for example, or they yell at him when he provokes accidents. Some citizens don't just give up their car when Tommy pulls them out of it, but fight back - either with their fists, baseball bats or revolvers. The police react accordingly if the player runs openly through the city with a weapon or if a shooting begins. In some places the city changes over the course of the game. At the beginning, very old, slow cars drive through the streets, while at the end much more powerful and aerodynamic, newer cars are on the road. There are also construction sites that limit the player's freedom of movement in the city at the beginning, or a high-rise building that becomes more and more complete as the game progresses.

Characters

The story of the characters plays an essential role in the plot in Mafia .

main characters

• Thomas "Tommy" Angelo (speaker is Stephan Schwartz ): The protagonist. He comes to the Mafia by chance, has a quick career there, but in the end testifies as a key witness to protect his wife and daughter. After all, years later he was murdered on Salieri's orders.

• Detective Norman (Dirk Fenselau): Detective Norman is a detective. He's the one helping Tommy protect himself and put Don Salieri behind bars. As you play the story of Tommy, you are repeatedly interrupted by cutscenes showing the conversation between Tommy and detective Norman in 1938.

• Don Ennio Salieri ( Helmut Krauss ): He is the head of the Salieri family and the archenemy of Morello, although both used to work together. At first he makes a friendly impression on Tommy, but over time his brutality becomes more and more open. After the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Tommy and the subsequent trial, he is sentenced to death.

• Paulie ( Mogens von Gadow ): Paulie is Tommy's best friend and partner. He grew up on the street and owes a lot to Salieri. Nevertheless, he turns against the Don in the end and is killed as a result. Paulie grew up with the Mafia, so Tommy's scruples are alien to him. Mogens von Gadow also spoke the voice of Tommy DeVito ( Joe Pesci ) in the film Good Fellas - Three Decades in the Mafia .

• Sam (Andreas Gröber): Sam is also a colleague of Tommy, he is relatively distant and is loyal to the Don. In the end, he is killed by Tommy.

• Frank Coletti (Peter Heusch): Frank is the Don's right hand man, but despite the close ties, he decides to keep his family safe and testifies against Salieri. Tommy lets him go anyway, but years later Frank is tracked down in Europe and is believed to be murdered.

• Don Morello: Salieri's archenemy. He is often portrayed as openly violent; he used to be friends with Don Salieri when they worked together for Don Peppone. He is murdered by Tommy, Paulie and Sam in 1935.

Supporting characters

• Ralphie (Peter Wenke), the family's car fanatic. His low intellect and severe stuttering are noticeable.
• Vincenzo (Michael Deckner), he supplies the members of the family with weapons. He and Salieri have known each other since childhood.
• Lucas Bertone (Eric Borner), a friend of Ralphie's. Tommy can get special cars through bonus jobs with him.
• Sarah (Sylvia Steiner), the wife of Thomas Angelo and daughter of bartender Luigi.
• Luigi (Michael Betz), the bartender at Salieri's Bar and Sarah 's father.
• Michelle, prostitute and best friend of Tommy's wife Sarah, is killed by Sam after Tommy let her run in the mission "The Whore".
• The prosecutor whose villa Tommy has to visit on the mission to “Visit the Rich People” to steal documents incriminating the Salieri family.
• Sergio Morello Jr., Don Morello's brother, is killed by Tommy after three failures in the "Lucky Damned Man" mission.

Miscellaneous

In the German version, passers-by cannot be killed, neither by weapons nor by cars, but drivers can. There is no blood in the German version either.

The driver of the other car at the car races are to heavy metal - musicians named - mostly singers from the death metal / grindcore range. So are Chris Barnes ( Six Feet Under ), Peter Tägegren ( Hypocrisy ), "Thomas Warrior" ( Celtic Frost ), David Vincent ( Morbid Angel ), Bill Steer ( Carcass ), Will Rahmer ( Mortician ) and Mark Greenway ( Napalm Death ) to discover.

The game was released in a CD version with three CDs, a limited special edition with pens, cards and similar gimmicks, and in a version on DVD that contains the manual as a PDF file on the data carrier. This DVD version is already patched to version 1.2 and is released from the age of 16. Practically only the DVD version is commercially available, but its copy protection does not allow many users to play. Corresponding files for solving the problem are available from the publisher on request.

The game came out about a year after GTA III , but it does not have the degree of playful freedom that the competitive game offers. All solutions and the weapons for a mission are given so that the player cannot deviate from them.

Some characters have been modeled after actors from Mafia films: Don Salieri Marlon Brando , the main character Tommy Andy García and Paulie Joe Pesci , who u. A. in the Mafia films Good Fellas and Casino (both by Martin Scorsese , whose last name appears in the company name of "Scorsese Import & Export"). This is reinforced at least in the German version by the correct voice actors (in the case of Joe Pesci Mogens from Gadow ).

The museum in the last level of the game is modeled on the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

music

The game's music consists mainly of classical jazz and comes largely from the guitar legend Django Reinhardt .

Console versions

In 2004 versions for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox appeared . However, the manual target acquisition of the PC version was retained on the PS2, so that this, in conjunction with the rather imprecise control of the gamepad , leads to an increase in the level of difficulty of the game. In the PS2 version there is also the risk of the characters "getting stuck" if they get caught somewhere in the room or if the player positions himself in an awkward position during a cutscene, so that the other person cannot leave. Furthermore, you can neither refuel nor change gears manually in the PS2 version. The "free travel extreme" mode does not exist either.

reception

For the most part, Mafia was rated positively, which is why it was voted Game of the Year 2002 by GameStar and PC Games magazines . The magazines particularly liked the atmosphere, the graphics and the German synchronization.

Among other things, the very difficult mission fair play (in which the player has to win an extremely demanding car race) was criticized . The level of difficulty can now be adjusted as a result of a patch. The linear missions also received criticism.

successor

Mafia II

→ Main article : Mafia II

On August 21, 2007, Mafia II was announced in a press release from Take 2 Interactive . This time with a new graphics engine, new characters and a new time span (1940s & 1950s). The game was developed by 2K Czech (formerly Illusion Softworks) and was released for PC and for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles .

Ten days later, publisher 2K Games published the first official trailer for the game on the official Mafia II website . The 1:36 minute video gives you first impressions of the city and the characters of Mafia II .

The new main character in the game is the young Vito Scaletta . He works with his friend Joe for various clients, but mainly for two Mafia families. As in its predecessor, New York is the city's template, but this time it is called "Empire Bay". Empire Bay is ruled by the three rival Mafia families "Vinci", "Falcone", "Clemente" and other gangster groups.

Mafia III

→ Main article : Mafia III

At Gamescom 2015, 2K Games announced Mafia III . The open-world game was created by the American studio Hangar 13; However, 2K Czech supported the development. Mafia III takes place in a period from 1968 and is set in the fictional city of New Bordeaux, which was inspired by New Orleans . The protagonist is the African American and war veteran Lincoln Clay . Vito Scaletta is represented as one of the supporting characters in the third part. Mafia III is about Clay's campaign of revenge against the Italian Mafia. On October 7, 2016, Mafia III was released for Xbox One , PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows .

Web links

• Official German website for Mafia
• Official English website for Mafia 2
• Official German website for Mafia 2

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mafia: Definitive Edition: Is a remake of the classic and not a remaster; first pictures. Retrieved May 19, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Schnittberichte.com Mafia
3. ↑ ComputerBase: Problems with the Mafia DVD
4. ↑ Mafia 3 - Officially announced, presentation on Gamescom on GameStar.de , accessed on June 19, 2016
5. ↑ Mafia 3: E3 trailer, 20 minutes of gameplay, pictures on Playm.de, accessed on June 19, 2016
6. ↑ Gamestar.de: Mafia 3 - Release date and details on the Season Pass, update on the price