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Favorite Mafia in the series


  • Total voters
    60

Abhay

Augur
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
204
Location
India
Now that we have three games in the Mafia series after following for so many years, then there should be a review looking at each game and discuss about the improvements and flaws/complaints to evaluate how the series has been doing with the changes so far.

Mafia I - Such an excellent game that I really don't to explain in much details about it here.

Mafia II - Disappointing. Dislike it thoroughly.

Mafia III - Amazing game. Quite impressed. Mafia III with its treatment on the subject of racial injustice ( See: Kotaku article that sums up perfectly - The Debate Around Mafia III's Depiction Of Racism ) is a solid revenge story and its told in a brilliant way.
As an open world game, there are many little things that makes the game worth recommending it. Its not remarkable but has a good foundation in place to become better with future updates. I liked how you can pick up the bodies, use stealth, the way racial plays into its game mechanics with police response and wanted system, special perks, superb driving and gunplay, taking down the criminal rackets in each district of the city, and my god New Bordeaux itself feels so atmospheric and beautiful with a lot of details, including good variety of interiors and NPC's. It feels so distinct with good environmental variety in the game.
The complaint regarding repetition seems quite exaggerated. The mission design may seem like GTA in structure but what separates it apart is the good amount of freedom and choices to approach them, which somewhat makes the repetitive structure not entirely annoying but still fun. I found myself not caring so much about those flaws because New Bordeaux is such a unique and interesting world to be in. Plus the story kept me hooked without any difficulty.
The single player campaign asks for some amount of patience because of its open ended nature different from the tightly paced campaigns of the past with no criminal empire concept in them, and as such, rushing through the story won't work here. In its current state, the game asks for a much needed patching but trust me, after the updates and upcoming DLC's the game will feel much better to play through.
It has a strong potential for improvements through modding ( sone of which are available and the modding has already begun ), which will further alter the experience in terms of AI, stealth and addictive shootouts just like the first Mafia.

I'll rate each Mafia below:
Mafia 1 - 9/10
Mafia II - 4/10 Rubbish game.
Mafia III - 8/10
 

Ivan

Arcane
Joined
Jun 22, 2013
Messages
7,474
Location
California
I don't get the hate for Mafia 2. To me it was a game that was shackled by its story. It had solid gunplay, driving was fun, it looked great, but it didn't let you create chaos. It didn't know whether it wanted to retain the sophistication of Mafia or cash in on the chaotic fun that could be had with GTA. I'll check out 3 once it sees a steep discount.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,307
Why is this even a question? As far as I'm concerned this isn't a series at all. There's Mafia City of Lost Heaven and that's it.
 

Abhay

Augur
Joined
Aug 12, 2013
Messages
204
Location
India
Why is this even a question?
What question?
Please, don't confuse the topic, which is very difficult for people who read the topic title, with choosing or talking about your FAVORITE Mafia in the series.
The poll put up is simply optional.

The main purpose of the topic is to discuss about what lies ahead for the future of the series after experiencing three games, and how the series has been so far, for you, by looking at each game and talk about the improvements and flaws/complaints to evaluate about the changes so far.
Not about which one is your favorite Mafia in the series, for which a separate poll is conducted anyways.
 
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
7,307
What lies ahead for the future of the series is either death or more shitty games that share nothing in common with the only good game in it. End of topic.
 

tormund

Arcane
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
2,282
Location
Penetrating the underrail
We had one good Mafia game, and other one that was just poorly utilized shell of a game. Other one nevertheless looked and run great (and that at a time when PC ports of open world games were less than satisfactory, see GTA IV and SR2), contained beautifully crafted city, had great driving and shooting component... It is just that it deserved better content, and more of it.

Here's hoping that original devs will have a chance to produce spiritual successor of some sort, maybe that will be their next project if their upcoming RPG turns out to be a success. I definitely need a third Mafia game in my life.
 

adddeed

Arcane
Possibly Retarded
Joined
May 27, 2012
Messages
1,473
Mafia 2 is underrated and an excellent game. Had numerious improvements over Mafia 1. Plus the driving model is the best in any such game, could've been used to make a racing sim.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Mafia series? For what I know Mafia died with the first one, the rest is publisher diarrhea in form of games.
 

Mark Richard

Arcane
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
1,192
Like the Driver series, the Mafia series doesn’t seem to know where it’s headed. I feel it has traded away its strengths to enter a bigger general market and compete alongside open-world juggernauts such as GTA. That’ll probably make them more money, but I would still rather they took a different direction. Perhaps an immersive sim.
 

Carrion

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
3,648
Location
Lost in Necropolis
Only Mafia 1 is real.

I don't get the hate for Mafia 2. To me it was a game that was shackled by its story. It had solid gunplay, driving was fun, it looked great, but it didn't let you create chaos. It didn't know whether it wanted to retain the sophistication of Mafia or cash in on the chaotic fun that could be had with GTA. I'll check out 3 once it sees a steep discount.
Mafia 2 was just a more generic game. The first Mafia had great combat, the sequel was like every other cover shooter. Mafia 1 was a classic ganster story that was executed exceptionally well, whereas Mafia 2 was more like a collection of random scenes that were loosely connected to each other but didn't really form a particularly memorable story arc. Add two and two together and you ended up with a game that was notably weaker both in terms of the gameplay and of the story, which is not a very good thing in a primarly story-driven game.

Mafia 2 was a step towards GTA and other similar open-world games, but the strengths of Mafia 1 were in the opposite direction, and while the sequel improved on some of the weaknesses of the first game, it also lost its greatest strengths. The third game looks like it continues on the same path, but I don't really care since I don't consider it a part of the same series anymore.
 

J_C

One Bit Studio
Patron
Developer
Joined
Dec 28, 2010
Messages
16,947
Location
Pannonia
Project: Eternity Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath
Good to see that all of the votes go to Mafia 1 as they should. The Codex should just explode if this changes.
 

Cynicus

Augur
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
176
Mafia wasn't perfect but its potential was off the charts. It was as much a simulator as anything, the polar opposite of the over-the-top arcade shenanigans of GTA and its copycats as Carrion says. Mafia II wasn't total shit in my opinion, but it was underdeveloped and a victim of consolitis. I haven't played Mafia III, but I've seen nothing about it that makes me want to.
 

Starwars

Arcane
Joined
Jan 31, 2007
Messages
2,829
Location
Sweden
I like the first Mafia the most, I enjoyed that a lot. At the same time, I don't really get the immense love that a lot of people have for it. I mean, the simulation aspects were neat and had a lot of potential but I don't think it came close to reaching that potential.

Didn't like the second part (though it looked beautiful) and haven't played the third.
 

Neki

Scholar
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Messages
145
Mafia 1 is the real deal.
Mafia 2 is an wannabe gta.
Mafia 3 is not a good mafia game nor a good ghetto game, the ideas on it are great but the game per se is poorly executed.
 

GrainWetski

Arcane
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
5,080
1 >> 2 >>>>>> 3

Replayed 1 a few months ago and currently playing 2 here and there. Gave up on 3 after a couple of hours. 2 is better than I remembered it being, but still not a great game.

I don't get the hate for Mafia 2. To me it was a game that was shackled by its story. It had solid gunplay, driving was fun, it looked great, but it didn't let you create chaos. It didn't know whether it wanted to retain the sophistication of Mafia or cash in on the chaotic fun that could be had with GTA. I'll check out 3 once it sees a steep discount.

Mafia 3 is just a worse Mafia 2.
 
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
3,059
Location
Brazil
Divinity: Original Sin
Mafia 1 is a great game. I played for thd first time after I finished gta:sa and wanted a similar game. It bothered me at first the fact that you had a whole city but couldn't actually move freely. But i loved the storyline which reminded me of great gangster movies which the game was inspired from. It nailed the themes of the genre.

And the mission were well designed to, and it had a good balance if reward/frustration: the game was difficult, but it was fun. The enemies were ruthless. I never bothered with freeride mode afterwards.

Mafia 2 actually follows the structure of the first game, but the story doesn't "click". Lots of bosses that you hear their italian names but barely meet, and when they throw the names you never know who they're talking about.

It also introduces popamole shooting, but the game still has thd italian mob vibe. But it's pretty forgettable. Also, the chapters feel disconnected, which would explain why the story feels bland. The end is very anticlimatic too.

Third one starts great but then it gets to shitty repetitiveness. So I haven't finished it. It's like assassin's creed unity. Boredom.
 

Carrion

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
3,648
Location
Lost in Necropolis
I like the first Mafia the most, I enjoyed that a lot. At the same time, I don't really get the immense love that a lot of people have for it. I mean, the simulation aspects were neat and had a lot of potential but I don't think it came close to reaching that potential.
It was always a flawed gem, a very ambitious game that had tons of great things and ideas which never formed a perfect whole. Flawed gems often have a solid foundation with some individual elements that just aren't executed particularly well, but Mafia was different in the sense that the very idea behind the game was somehow flawed, the formula all wrong for the type of a game they were going for. Probably the most notable was the clash between the linear story and the open world, but at the same time I'm not sure if the game would've been any better had they scrapped the whole open world aspect and gone for a more "traditional" structure, or alternatively changed the story structure to make it fit the open world better. The game ended up having this pretty weird pacing with lots of "filler" that somehow managed to make the best parts stand out even more. For some reason it worked, even though it shouldn't have. Maybe it's because the game just had so much effort and care poured into its different areas that it was easy to forgive its failures — the big city was not really needed, but it was absolutely gorgeous and full of detail; the side missions that rewarded you with new cars were completely pointless, but hey, the developers really loved their cars, even including an in-game "carcyclopedia" for them, not to mention stuff like manual transmission and gas stations and driving wheel support that nobody probably ever used.

For me Mafia 1 is great mainly because of its flawlessly executed setting, excellent writing, unique atmosphere, fun and memorable combat and the impeccable sense of style that just oozes through the whole game. It's not perfect, but few games are, and — as can be seen with just a quick glance at the Codex top ten — the most loved games are often also some of the most flawed ones, they just manage to get one or two important things completely right.
 

Burning Bridges

Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
27,562
Location
Tampon Bay
Mafia was not a perfect game, but it is still memorable as the pinnacle of Czech game development in the late 90's. The other important titles are of course Hidden & Dangerous (both games) and to some extent Vietcong. If Kingdom Come Devliverance is not going to be total shit (which I am not 100% sure of) we will at least see a little revival of those glory days, gameplay was always a bit shit in those games but they make up for that in graphics and athmosphere.

Recently I tried to play Mafia 2 because the graphics were still somewhat decent, but the shooting gameplay was much more than I could swallow. What horrible shit.

I didn't even try Mafia 3.
 

Carrion

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
3,648
Location
Lost in Necropolis
Mafia was not a perfect game, but it is still memorable as the pinnacle of Czech game development in the late 90's. The other important titles are of course Hidden & Dangerous (both games) and to some extent Vietcong.
I'd rank Operation Flashpoint above all of those, but yeah, the Czech did put out some quality games.
 

Burning Bridges

Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
27,562
Location
Tampon Bay
I did not forget about OFP but it's a different type, Bohemia was all about the mechanics and Illusion about artistic stuff.
 

Drakron

Arcane
Joined
May 19, 2005
Messages
6,326
It also introduces popamole shooting.

I am going to say that was not a bad thing because I definitely recall Mafia shooting mechanics being so ... different I died in that damn runout house so many times before I learned how to deal with then and then had barely any problems because I dont recall any problems outside that first mandatory shootout.

Mafia had its problems with the controls, cover based shooting in the 2nd one was simply standard implementation of mechanics of their times, better that Mafia since at least I didnt had to relearn controls.

I am voting for Lost Heaven simply because it was more innovative that Mafia 2 even if Mafia 2 was in many ways a more "tight" game.
 

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