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

A Band of Brothers

More than anything, Mafia is a story about a band of brothers: the ups, downs and ensuing betrayal of one in your number. Remember Frank, the kindly numbers man? Or Paulie, the high-octane gun-for-hire? Or Ralph, the stuttering car mechanic? Yeah, even after all these years, these faces and voices and personalities were instantly familiar.

Of course, Mafia has lost some of its lustre. The graphics have aged and character models are now soberingly wooden. At the time of its release, I couldn’t stop going on about Mafia the technical marvel, but today its visuals are showing age.

As a side note, Mafia is a stark reminder of how far gaming technology came the following year with the release of Valve’s Half-Life 2. Situated side-by-side, there’s an almost generational gap between the two. Bear in mind, Mafia was a technical tour-de-force at the time of its release.

What does stand the test of time is the story itself: the great cast, as memorable as ever, and all the incidental details that raise a smile, like the music that accompanies car journeys, or the carcyclopedia, a painstaking showroom of the cars you discover throughout the story.