Anyone looking for info on Mafia..

[BlueJam]

Try wacking "Mafia" into the search engine at the top of this page ^.

You get a good few screen shots/trailer and Q&A session with Illusion Softworks the developers.

It's looking really good so far, might be a change from the norm online fps experince and the single player looks like it could provide a fair few hours of horses head in the bed style action.

I have to say I can't belive someone hasn't done this kinda thing before, I mean the films are so popular because most people like the idea of the being the bad guy for once.

[DVS]

Nah Bluejam - the shots on the Gameplay site are the very first shots of the game and since then, the developers, Illusion Softworks, made a switch over to a different engine (Insanity 2 I think its called). It looks much more spectacular now. For a real idea of how fantastic Mafia will be, download the in-game movie from http://www.pcgamer.co.uk or http://www.gamesdomain.co.uk


As for being a bad guy as you said Bluejam, your character, Tommy, isn't really a bad guy. The game starts with you relating your stories as a gang right-hand-man to a local police officer. You were sort of intimidated into working for them and once Tommy started reaping the rewards of carrying out the Don's hardest jobs, you found it was an offer you couldn't refuse (sorry - no doubt that joke has been heard 1000s of times). It'll be a corka! Plus it's by the people who made Hidden and Dangerous so it'll have a really plausible and substantial narrative too :D

[BlueJam]

Yeah I never thought of Ray Liotta in goodfellas as a bad guy, in fact you end up rooting for them. It's usually Joe Pesci (sp) stabbing people in the neck with pens.

plausible and substantial narrative too

Probably the most important part m8, fantastic lighting engines and real world physics are all very well, but your nowhere without a story.

[DVS]

Too true! A fantastic story will almost always make a fantastic game if it has the all the right key ingredients too. Look at Half-Life - it used the ageing Quake 2 enginee and visually, it boasted nothing we hadn't seen before. IT was it's stunning narrative and scripted scences with unbelievable enemy AI that earned it the title of best game ever. Same goes for Deus Ex - a story that gripped you to the PC until you'd finished the entire game. Mafia will be quite special, I'm sure. And £24.99 from these fellas is an extremely good price too it must be said. You pre-ordered yet Blue? :)

[BlueJam]

Not yet m8, I think I will tomorrow.

I'm seeing different release dates everywhere, but the one on the Gameplay site say the beginning of march.

[DVS]

Ooo, I don't think that early, although its always possible. I haven't pre-ordered mine yet either - tend to leave it about a couple of weeks before release day so here's hoping Gameplay don't up the price between now and then. Whenever it comes out though, Illusion said a demo is planned to be made available before the actual shipping of the game so we'll be able to have a taster beforehand. The anticipation starts here ... :wink: