3d Avenue - Rating: 92%
Comparing Mafia to GTA3 works in many ways, although in a wider sense Mafia is most certainly out of GTA3's league. The story is rock solid, the characters have depth and the fighting and driving subsystems are executed with precision. With a few minor quirks put aside, the combination of all these elements makes for one hell of a game. Mafia isn't just a presence, it's a way of life.

Elited - Rating: 91%
Many details about Mafia make it such a fun game to play. Believe me, there is so much more that I have not even included in this review. This game puts you in the life of the Mafia, this means deceit, money, death, and always looking over your shoulder. I have a few friends who *gasp* are not really gamers, but once they saw Mafia I could not get them off of my computer. Illusion and God Games have done a spectacular job on this one. Live life on the edge, join the Mafia.

Game Power - Rating: 95%
When it boils down to it, Mafia is quite simply one of the best PC games to release this year. It may not incorporate Grand Theft Auto III's open-ended game play, so gamers may feel a little restricted at times, but its action sequences and cinematic direction take the action genre to new level. If you're in the market for an original, compelling, flat-out gorgeous action game, it's hard not to recommend Mafia - it's a surprise hit that PC gamers shouldn't overlook.

Gamespot - Rating: 93%
Someday, some developer will successfully integrate the nonlinear portions of Grand Theft Auto III and the incredible action sequences of Mafia. Until that time, you can consider the two games halves of an eventual whole. Separate, but equally amazing.

Gamespy - Rating: 90%
In the end, a game hasn't oozed this much style since the release of Max Payne. The gameplay, the story, the graphics -- the entire presentation is topnotch. Many developers have very ambitious goals but end up leaving a lot of the substance on the cutting room floor. For the most part, the team at Illusion Softworks set their sights high and came close to nailing the bulls-eye.

Gaming llustrated - Rating: 90%
It stands toe to toe with GTA 3 and doesn't back down, a sign of real quality and a huge compliment. The two titles compliment each other and both deserve to be in your collection.

IGN - Rating: 92%
Mafia is a great game with some minor problems that are easily forgotten once you get into the meat of the game. While I still wish that I could skip through some of the driving, it isn't anywhere near a big enough failing for me not to heartily recommend this game to anyone that likes action and especially those that love the depression gangster era. Mafia is dripping with style and class and has certainly shoved itself into the ranks of the best games of this year, which as you know has already had some incredible titles.

NeoSeeker - Rating: 90%
Mafia is the type of game that will stick in your mind for a long time. There are many memorable gaming moments that you?ll want to replay at least a couple more times. The atmosphere is rich, with a classic feel. Mafia is a lot like watching a time-honored movie like the Godfather. Even when you know the plot you watch it again because the story is so compelling. While it does have some obvious flaws, Mafia is a game that should not be passed up.

Oc Prices - Rating: 90%
GTA set the standard in terms of living, breathing, game environments, but Mafia exceeds it in almost every possible way. What we appear to be looking at is the evolution of action games as a whole, and if Mafia is anything to go by the future is bright indeed. Buy it, buy it now. If you have the PC power you won?t be disappointed!

Stratos Group - Rating: 90%
Mafia takes excellent story, game play, graphics, and sound, and blends them into a cohesive whole that earns it a ranking not only as the best game I have played this year, but one of the best I have ever played. I try not to write reviews that are just lists of praises, but with Mafia, I can?t do much else! If you are a gamer, you should have this game.

Total Video Games - Rating: 90%
Thankfully most of the missions are an absolute joy to play, with enough variety between each of them to ensure you?ll keep on playing. The game starts off with Tommy as a taxi driver and so the first mission sees you getting accustomed to the layout of Lost Haven, collecting fares as you do so. Slowly the missions will become more sinister, and see you performing money collection duties, seeking revenge on other gangs, assassinations, body guarding right up to racing in a motorcar race!!! The variety is what keeps it fresh and ensures that you want to see what the next mission has in store, along with the next fantastically created cut-scene.

Playlist
1. Minor swing - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
2. Rhythm futur - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
3. Coucou - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
4. Vendredi - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
5. Oiseaux des Iles - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
6. Belleville - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
7. Lentement mademoiselle - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
8. Douce ambience - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
9. Manoir des mes reves - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
10. Cavalerie - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
11. Coquette - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
12. Echoes of France - Django Reinhardt and The Hot Club de France
13. You rascal you - The Mills Brothers
14. Chinatown - The Mills Brothers
15. Tiger rag - The Mills Brothers
16. Out for no good - The Mills Brothers
17. Moanin' for you - The Mills Brothers
18. Caravan - The Mills Brothers
19. Long about midnight - Louis Prima
20. Sing it way down low - Louis Prima
21. I'm living in a great big way - Louis Prima
22. I'm not rough - Louis Armstrong
23. The mooche - Lonnie Johnson
24. Jet black blues - Lonnie Johnson
25. You run your mouth and I'll run my business - Louis Jordan and His Tympany five
26. Lake of fire - Lordz of Brooklyn
27. La verdine - Latcho Drom

Original Music
Composed and arranged by Vladimir Simunek
Orchestrated by Adam Klemens
Producer: Jiri Zobac
Sound mixer: Vladimir Fila
Performed by the Bohemia Symphonic Orchestra
Conductor: Adam Klemens
Contractor: Jiri Krizanovsky
Recorded in Studio B of the National Theatre, Prague, Czech Republic
Mix and mastering: EVOO studio

The music of Vladimir Simunek was performed by the 45 member Bohemia
Symphonic Orchestra at Studio B of the National Theatre in Prague,
Czech Republic.

The orchestra was conducted by Adam Klemens (Dark Blue World),
and was produced by Jiri Zobac, who has worked with, among others,
Angelo Badalamenti on the films of David Lynch.

What are they?
The developers made Mafia with some extra models (these models are stored in a single file named with the extension .4ds) in the game. The only way of using these secret cars is to rename one of the secret car models to the name of a car model that is already in the game.

Extracting
First of all you need to get a copy of MafiaDataXtractor available from this site in Downloads/Tools. This patches the game so that it can read information stored in folders. All of Mafia?s files are stored in .dta archives with the game patched it will look if there?s any files it can use in the folders, If not it will just use the files in the .dta archives.

Launch MafiaDataXtractor and extract models.dta. This will extract the models to your mafia folder under the folder models. Open your newly created models folder (there will be only a few files you'll use in here. The rest you can just ignore/delete).

Renaming
The renaming works like this:
e.g. fordtTud00.4ds is the Bolt Ace Tudor and bus.4ds is the secret bus. Delete or rename fortTud00.4ds so Mafia ignores this file, and rename bus.4ds to fordtTud0.4ds. Mafia will now open the bus model if you select the Bolt Ace Tudor in Freeride or Freeride Extreme.

Models and physics
These are the secret car models:
bus00.4ds - Big cream bus
bull00.4ds - Bulldozer
Salina.4ds - Tram (can't be used; only be seen in Carcyclopedia)
toyota.4ds - Toyota Concept Car
bigfoot.4ds - American monster truck
bigfoot00.4ds ? Brown Monster truck
traktor.4ds - Tractor
brouk00.4ds ? Customized Beatle
xedos00.4ds - A Rover

You could use these models to replace them with:
cad_road00.4ds - Lassiter Roadster, top speed 100 mph with very good acceleration.
cad_phaeton00.4ds - Lassiter Phaeton, top speed 88mph.
airflTUD00.4ds - Ulver Airstream Tudor, engine sound is more like modern cars with average speed/acceleration.
airflFor00.4ds - Ulver Airstream Fordor, same as above but the four door model

Since you have only change the model or the shell of the car, the properties i.e. acceleration, cornering, physics realism, top speed will all match that of the car that Mafia thinks it is using. So for faster cars like the Toyota or Rover, it is best to use a car that has closer matching properties.

Uninstalling the secret cars
If you want everything back how it was, so all cars are how they were, just delete the models folder and mafia will use the files in the .dta archive instead.

The Cars
Mafia will feature around 60 different various types of vehicles in the game. For each vehicle there will be a number of different colour variations and models, such as coupe, sedan, cabriolet, and speedsters. There will also be other vehicles such as pickups, ambulances, police cars and the like. Each car has been modeled to the smallest detail, using pictures of the early 1930's historic cars.

Physics
The cars will also feature real-life physics, so you'll have to adjust to each different car you steal. Because of the complex engine, the developers can adjust up to 100 different parameters to make it feel like the real-life version. Things like top speed, maximum acceleration, gear ratios, and suspension settings will all be unique from other cars. You can use Force Feedback, manual shifting with clutch, and hood camera views to make cruising around Lostheaven feel even more complete.

Stealing Cars
With each car being unique, Tommy will have to learn new ways on how to break into each car. Ralph, an automobile wizard teaches you everything you need to know on how to break into cars.

Freeride Extreme
Upon completion of the game, a special mode is unlocked. You can complete small tasks to earn special cars like Hot Rods.