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

Legacy

It’s ironic that Mafia III will confirm the perception people have always held about the series: that it was trying to be an open-world sandbox. The latest game in the franchise expands the scope and evolves the formula, caving to the demands of players but also using modern technology in a way it’s good for: scope and spectacle. What’s really pleasing is that this third entry in the series seems to recognize the importance of pushing boundaries and championing challenging themes. 

The spirit of the Mafia series has always been in the telling of a complex morality tale where violence is not black or white. Back in 2002, there was an attempt to build concrete fiction where gunfighting and bloodshed never occurred at random, but felt like an indellible part of the lives of these characters.

Mafia turned out to be damn good fiction and an action game of the highest order: full of concussive, kinetic shootouts stitched together by a first-rate story that confounds expectation and resists easy categorization. Its half-hearted nods to open-world games (in an age in thrall to Grand Theft Auto III) might have sold it short, but it’s still remembered as one of the finest – and often most underrated – games of the last 20 years.