History Main / Mafia

* A {{parlor game|s}} called "Mafia", also known as TabletopGames/{{Werewolf}}.

* A {{parlor game|s}} called "Mafia" that we don't have a page about yet. Feel free to make one, though.
* ''Jane Austen's Mafia!'', a spoof movie which also has no page.

* A party game called "Mafia" that we don't have a page about yet. Feel free to make one, though.

* VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven, a 2002 video game
** VideoGame/MafiaII, the 2010 sequel

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Mafia_Cast.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Welcome to the family.]]
''Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven'' is a video game about TheMafia (see that article for the scary Italian dudes with guns trope). It was developed by Illusion Softworks, later renamed 2K Czech.

Thomas "Tommy" Angelo is an ordinary taxi driver working in the city of Lost Heaven during TheGreatDepression. One evening, he is caught in a wild car chase involving thugs of two rivaling mobs in town trying to kill each other. Forced to side with one party, he soon faces retribution from the other and has no choice but to start working for [[BenevolentBoss Don Salieri]], whose men he saved earlier. This turns out to be a wise decision, since the other family is [[BadBoss much worse]]. Thus begins Tommy's ascension from a simple cabbie to the best [[CareerKillers hitman]] in the entire mob.

As noted above, ''Mafia'' is a ThirdPersonShooter that combines an [[SatireParodyPastiche affectionate pastiche]] to the classic mafia movies (''TheGodfather'' and co.) with the ''GrandTheftAuto''-like gameplay to produce a sweeping storyline with many sudden revelations, intense gunfights, and adrenaline-laden car chases. The sequel, ''MafiaII'', came out in August 2010 and features the new setting of Empire Bay, a new protagonist and a supposedly DarkerAndEdgier storyline.

The game featured many unique features for its genre and time, including storing the aftermath of player actions in the city, even if the player left the location for a long time: e.g. if you shot at a car in Free Ride, it is possible to run into that same car later on in a different part of the city; abandoned cars and weapons stay where they are, instead of disappearing after a while as in ''GrandTheftAuto'', etc. The game was noted for exceptional graphics for its time and a sophisticated police AI. However, despite being originally released for PC, the game is probably known to many for its god-awful Playstation 2 port, which, due to a significant drop in processing and programming power, lost many of these unique perks.

Not to be confused with the [[ParlorGames card/roleplay]][[TheWerewolvesOfMillersHollow ing/mind game]].
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* AnachronismStew: It's the 30s, but holds some design ideas, especially with vehicles, that reach as far forward as to the 50s. Mostly not jarring, due to the RuleOfCool.
** There is one DidNotDoTheResearch moment worth mentioning, namely early mission called "Molotov Party" in which Tommy uses [[MolotovCocktail Molotov Cocktail]]s to wreck some rival family's cars. That part of the game takes place in 1930, whereas Molotovs didn't see widespread use until the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Granted, it could be [[HandWave hand wave]]d by saying that Salieri's weapon master came up with the idea on his own, but Vincenzo audibly calls them Molotovs, a name coined by the Finns in their Winter War, ten years later.
* BackSeatsAreJustForShow
* BadBoss: Don Morello
* BattleButler[=/=]TwoShotsFromBehindTheBar: Luigi, the bartender, packs a shotgun behind the bar, and will not hesitate to gun you down if you attack any of your allies in the mid-mission stages.
* BenevolentBoss: Don Salieri ([[spoiler:who turns out to be NotSoDifferent from Morello, in the end]])
* BloodstainedGlassWindows: After bursting in on the funeral of the guy ''you killed''.
* BondOneLiner: "Man, that is one ''hot'' dame."
* CareerKillers: Tommy, Paulie, and Sam
* TheConsigliere: Frank
* CoolCar: Most of the bonus cars in the freeride mode.
* DashedPlotLine: The original game is a collection of various episodes of a long MobWar spread over the years, recounted by the PlayerCharacter.
* DeadlyDistantFinale: See DownerEnding below.
* DiscretionShot: At the end of an early level, The Running Man, there is one after the two mafiosos that have been chasing you go into [[BenevolentBoss Salieri's]] bar.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Tommy finishes telling his story, testifies against the family and gets 80 gangsters thrown in jail, with some getting the chair and Salieri himself getting life in prison. The police then gets him and his family new identities, moves them across the country to a good looking neighborhood and a respectable job for Tommy. Basically everything seems to have worked out great...then we flash forward 20 something years, where we see an aged Tommy watering his lawn when a couple of thugs show up. One of them calls Tommy by his real name (which was changed by the feds) and the other says "Mr. Salieri sends his regards" while he blasts Tommy in the chest with a sawn-off shotgun. The game then ends with his thoughts as he lies bleeding on the lawn]].
** In ''Mafia II'', [[spoiler:[[PlayerPunch Vito and Joe are revealed to be the hitmen.]]]]
* EnemyDetectingRadar: Oddly enough, but only for cars.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Cars are a ''lot'' less explosion-prone than most other games in the genre, but they'll still go up in a fireball if you put a hundred rounds or so into the engine, or shoot the fuel tank a few times.
* GameBreakingBug: A minor one, but Gangsters with shotguns in [=FreeRide=], who start off driving a car, occasionally have a glitch where their shotguns rapid fire until they need to reload, which is deadly in close range, but not too much of a problem farther away.
* GenreShift: For some levels, ''especially'' "Happy Birthday!", the game turns into a StealthBasedGame--specifically, and appropriately, ''{{Hitman}}''.
* GottaCatchEmAll: The cars in the game, which you need to collect to be able to access in other modes, and the Bonus Cars, which include a tank, Batmobile Expy, a hippie-mobile, and a fragile taxi that can go from 0 to 90 in less than a second.
** That'd be the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Corsair Phantom Corsair]]. As most other cars in Mafia, it is a real car with a few details changed and sans the marque name.
* TheGreatDepression: The whole plot of the first Mafia, except the final scene of the epilogue, takes place between 1930 and 1938, dead smack in the middle of it.
* [[spoiler: TheHeroDies]]
* HowWeGotHere: The entire story is a series of Tommy's flashbacks, as he relates his criminal past to Detective Norman.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Adverted. While Tommy can hide quite a few pistols in his coat, he can can only conceal one large gun at the time while carrying another in his hands. Picking up a third large weapon will prompt Tommy to drop the one he is currently carrying. The sequel plays this trope straight.
* InVehicleInvulnerability: Averted. Bullets can still hit you inside a car (although you gain some protection) and crashes will injure the occupants.
* ItGetsEasier
* ItsLikeIAlwaysSay: Played with for irony:
--> Tommy Before He Decides To Join The Mob: "It's like my mom used to tell me: better to be poor and healthy than rich and dead."
--> Tommy After He Decides To Join The Mob: "It's like I always say: better to live good, quick, and loaded."
* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: The PS2 port is the primary offender of this trope - it takes up to 5-10 minutes for a mission, a cutscene or Freeplay to start up. Add additional time to load up the New Ark/Hoboken district when crossing the Guiliano Bridge and the countryside (in some missions). Expect to clock half your game time waiting for the damn game to load. Averted with the PC version though - it omits loading screens in between map changes and only uses them for mission startups or cutscenes (and the time it takes is at least 10 seconds).
* TheMafia: Where do we start?
* MeaningfulName: Thomas '''Angel'''o from the city of Lost Heaven, eh?
* MobWar
* NoOneShouldSurviveThat: Sergio. Four times. In the end Tommy decides to just chase him down and kill him rather than being discreet about it
* OneBulletClips: Mafia is one of those games that averts this trope, so be prepared to lose unused ammunition in your magazine when you reload. Oddly, this also applies to sawn-off shotguns, which are supposed to be fed with individual shells.
* RoofHopping: Rooftop escape after blowing a hotel.
* StopHelpingMe: Though they are usually pretty intelligent, the main character's partners (especially Sam, for some reason) will occasionally get a bit too enthusiastic and run straight into trouble.
* SuperDrowningSkills
* ThirdPersonShooter
* TranquilFury: Most characters get at least one. Morello gets a particularly creepy one partway through the game.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: You can run over people, shoot them, stab them, and cause gigantic amounts of mayhem, and the people will just keep taking it; even if you block traffic and then drag people out of their cars one at a time and shoot them, the rest will just keep honking their horns till they're dragged out too.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Angelo, Lost Heaven, etc.
** The mob boss is named ''Salieri''. In ''{{Amadeus}}'', Salieri declared himself an enemy of God.
* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: The final stage takes place in an art gallery. Nearly everything can be broken, and those that can't be can still show very large bullet holes. Feel free to wreak havoc on priceless works of art.
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<<|ActionGame|>>

* In-VehicleInvulnerability: Averted. Bullets can still hit you inside a car (although you gain some protection) and crashes will injure the occupants.

* In-Vehicle Invulnerability: Averted. Bullets can still hit you inside a car (although you gain some protection) and crashes will injure the occupants.

* WhyWeCannotHaveNiceThings: The final stage takes place in an art gallery. Nearly everything can be broken, and those that can't be can still show very large bullet holes. Feel free to wreak havoc on priceless works of art.

* BackSeatsAreJustForShow: Cars with 2 doors but four seats can't be used to carry more then two people.

Not to be confused with the card/roleplaying/mind game.

The game featured many unique features for its genre and time, including storing the aftermath of player actions in the city, even if the player left the location for a long time: e.g. if you shot at a car in Free Ride, it is possible to run into that same car later on in a different part of the city; abandoned cars and weapons stay where they are, instead of disappearing after a while as in ''GrandTheftAuto'', etc. The game was noted for exceptional graphics for its time and a sophisticated police AI. However, despite being originally released for PC, the game is probably known to many for [[PortingDisaster its god-awful Playstation 2 port]], which, due to a significant drop in processing and programming power, lost many of these unique perks.

* BattleButler: Luigi, the bartender, packs a shotgun behind the bar, and will not hesitate to gun you down if you attack any of your allies in the mid-mission stages.

* BestLevelEver: Everyone who plays the game has one.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: The result of a PortingDisaster, the PS2 port is the primary offender of this trope - it takes up to 5-10 minutes for a mission, a cutscene or Freeplay to start up. Add additional time to load up the New Ark/Hoboken district when crossing the Guiliano Bridge and the countryside (in some missions). Expect to clock half your game time waiting for the damn game to load. Averted with the PC version though - it omits loading screens in between map changes and only uses them for mission startups or cutscenes (and the time it takes is at least 10 seconds).

* PortingDisaster

* ScrappyLevel: See ThatOneLevel below.

* ThatOneLevel: The racing level, which thankfully has a helpful cheat to cut down the time you spend on it.
** An update to the game removed this cheat (by placing an invisible wall in front of the side road you needed to be on to use it) but made this level easier by slowing the opponents cars down a good bit.

* GameBreakingBug: A minor one, but Gangsters with shotguns in FreeRide, who start off driving a car, occasionally have a glitch where their shotguns rapid fire until they need to reload, which is deadly in close range, but not too much of a problem farther away.

Thomas "Tommy" Angelo is an ordinary taxi driver working in the city of Lost Heaven during TheGreatDepression. One evening, he is caught in a wild car chase involving thugs of two rivaling mobs in town trying to kill each other. Forced to side with one party, he soon faces retribution from the other and has no choice but to start working for [[BenevolentBoss Don Salieri]], whose men he saved earlier. This turns out to be a wise decision, since the other family is [[BadBoss much worse]]. Thus begins Tommy's ascention from a simple cabbie to the best [[CareerKillers hitman]] in the entire mob.

* ScrappyLevel: The racing level, which thankfully has a helpful cheat to cut down the time you spend on it.
** An update to the game removed this cheat (by placing an invisible wall in front of the side road you needed to be on to use it) but made this level easier by slowing the opponents cars down a good bit.

* ThatOneLevel: The dockworker strike level. Enjoy the insanely bad checkpoints.

* OneBulletClips: Mafia is one of those games that averts this trope, so be prepared to lose unused ammunition in your magazine when you reload. Oddly, this also applies to sawn-off shotguns, which are meant to be fed with individual shells.

* HilariousInHindsight: The early mission in Mafia 2 where you have to stack crates in the back of a truck for a lousy 10 bucks. The mission ends with you saying screw it and informing your boss that you come for a better job. The kicker? Now you're sent out the office to collect cash from all of the employees in the warehouse, collecting 10 dollars from each. In other words: would you've completed the job you got offered first, you would've spent a lot of time earning only 10 bucks, only to lose it immediately.

* MeaningfulName: Thomas ''Angel''o from the city of Lost Heaven, eh?

* PortingDisaster: Take 2 has [[http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/8945/2k-defend-differences-of-mafia-ii-versions-ps3-inferior-to-others apologized]] for making the [=PlayStation 3=] version of ''Mafia II'' the least feature rich version, compared to the PC (which is the fullest experience) and Xbox 360 versions.

* EveryCarIsAPinto