Mafia brings the 1930s underworld to life in this third-person, 3D action game. Rise from the lowly but well-dressed foot soldier to the envied and feared "made man" in an era of big bands, zoot suits, and Model Ts. Take on the roles of a hit man, enforcer, getaway driver, and more in your struggle for respect, money, and power within the Salieri family.

Join the struggle for power as you rise from a lowly cab driver into the ranks of a 1930's mafia family. Explore over 12 square miles of an intelligently simulated city; engage in more than 20 action-packed missions ranging from mob hits to car chases; 60 realistically modeled cars with faithfully reproduced physics and over 12 weapons to stop anyone who dares to cross your path!

There are two kinds of games: those that stand the test of time, and those that don't. I'm sad to report that Mafia is most definitely in the latter category. I was eager to play this PS2 port, as I remembered having quite enjoyed the PC version two years ago.

On one level, this is a very solid port. It certainly does a good job of translating the PC visuals to the PS2, especially in the cutscenes, which are rendered here is startling fidelity Ð an extremely impressive technical accomplishment.

So, while the plot and Depression-era ambience still held me rapt, the gameplay itself was, quite frankly, pretty dull at times. Most of this is due to the dreary driving sequences. Although they have raised the maximum speed limit to 60, tooling around on "pizza delivery" missions in an old jalopy just isn't that fun. There's still some good gunplay to be had, but games can't get by on the free-roaming city environment concept anymore. It's not enough to just create a living, breathing virtual world Ð you've got to give me something interesting to do in it. While I can still appreciate this game for its strengths, its flaws have become much more noticeable than they were when it launched on PC.

Concept:
Port the old PC hit to PS2, while adding a lackluster racing mode

Graphics:
Technically, this is very sound, especially considering the difference between the systems' power

Sound:
I love the music; it's reminiscent of Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown (Now, there's a selling point!)

Playability:
Boy, this is pretty poor by today's standards

Entertainment:
A great PC game in its day, but time has not been kind

Replay:
Moderate