At first glance, one might think that Mafia is just a Grand Theft Auto in the 1930's. This is in fact not true. I'll get into that a little later, though. Mafia was released nearly two years ago on the PC but is first being ported to the Xbox. Unfortunately, this is a direct port making it a two year old game for $50. In no way does the game take advantage of the Xbox.

Once you start the game and go through the introduction video, you will realize what to expect from the cut scenes. The opener is just like you are watching the opening credits in an actual movie. Though the graphics aren't that great, the cut scenes are very cinematic and well directed. The story in the game will get you hooked and is the best part of the game.

The first thing that I mentioned is that Mafia is not a GTA clone. Mafia is more realistic as you must obey traffic laws and be careful when attacking someone or even having a weapon out when a police officer is around. Get into a car crash and a cop sees it, you basically have two choices. You can either get out of your car and wait for the officer to fine you or you can try and outrun him. Continuously get into trouble or do something serious and they will try and arrest you. At the extreme end they will just try to take you out. The way this works out is very nice better than having the cops always trying to kill for doing something minor. Another dose of realism comes in the form of the cars and driving. Compared with other games, you will find these cars slower and not as nice to drive. This is because it is the 1930's. You might get a little aggravated with the driving but I appreciate that they made it more realistic.

As I mentioned, Mafia's graphics aren't too hot. Characters and many objects contain flat textures. There really isn't anything in the game that looks really good. Cars look decent and other objects are average looking. Details in the game, from building to the characters, are plenty but they are flat. Facial expressions on characters seem a bit lacking, as well. The framerate does stutter a little when traffic starts getting heavy but isn't too bad otherwise. As a note, I never played the PC version so I can't comment on the two.

The game's sound is reminiscent of that decade, though the sound effects often drown it out. The cars' engines are pretty loud, for starters. Horns sound authentic and other sound effects are fairly well done at least. The voice acting in the cut-scenes are very well done and make the cinematics even better. I do think that custom soundtracks seem appropriate in this type of game and is just another thing that Mafia doesn't take advantage of.

Mafia is good game for those that can appreciate a good story and not complain about graphics and a few minor things. You need to remember that this isn't GTA but more story involved. The one thing that I would have liked to have seen is a more open ended gameplay rather than the linear one that it features. Considering the game originally came out 1.5 years ago on the PC, you'd think that there would be something in the game that utilizes the Xbox. Mafia really should have been a budget title because it really isn't a new game and is lacking in some respects.