Why The Original Mafia Is One Of The Most Underrated Games Of The Last 20 Years

So You Want Action?

Mafia arrived during a time when first-person shooters were far more common than the third-person equivalent, and yet, in telling the story, Illusion Softworks cleverly situated Tommy in front of the camera at all times. This was the year of Soldier of Fortune II, Medal of Honor, No One Lives Forever II and Morrowind, but in terms of pure action, this third-person shooter was as good as any of them.

Still, early on, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ll never fire a gun at all. Mafia is in no rush to tell its story and there’s plenty of downtime in its opening hours, including a notorious driving mission in which you need to navigate a jerky race car through five laps of winding track. Finish first or fail.

The missions themselves are surprisingly reminiscent of the Hitman games. This was something I didn’t notice when I played it all those years ago, but revisiting the assassination of a target on a luxury yacht, or taking care of business in an expensive hotel – often with a disguise at the ready – draws strong parallels with IO’s series.

Unlike Hitman, however, the action is top notch and the moment-to-moment lulls in gameplay as you drive from one section of the map to the other seduces you into a sense of calm – and then, out of nowhere, staccato gunfire ratchets up the tension.

In a game where you can never save at will, and enemies soak up gunfire, it’s a difficult campaign, too – one that forces you to play with a steady trigger finger.