By Jamie Kennett
It may be a slightly over-romanticised account of the Great Depression, but Mafia is one of my favourite games and for years has been at the top of my list of potential film adaptions. I even remember using the game’s prologue for the basis of a short story for some English coursework once. It’s essentially an interactive film, not in a Heavy Rain way, but in the way the game’s laid out. It’s presented in a series of chapters that possess all the facets of a great movie; it has the perfect balance of action, drama and character, all with enough room for the plot to develop into something marvellous.
It may be a slightly over-romanticised account of the Great Depression, but Mafia is one of my favourite games and for years has been at the top of my list of potential film adaptions. I even remember using the game’s prologue for the basis of a short story for some English coursework once. It’s essentially an interactive film, not in a Heavy Rain way, but in the way the game’s laid out. It’s presented in a series of chapters that possess all the facets of a great movie; it has the perfect balance of action, drama and character, all with enough room for the plot to develop into something marvellous.
Here’s the story itself; we’re in 1938 and former mob enforcer Tommy Angelo meets with a detective in a bar in central Lost Heaven (an amalgamation of New York, Chicago, and San Francisco). After a series of unfortunate events, Tommy wants to quit “the life” and move to the other side of the country with his family, under the protection of the FBI. So he tells his story and everything he knows about the Lost Heaven criminal underworld to Detective Norman in return for his and his family’s security. His parlance with Norman serves as the road the rest of the story heads down, as we head back to where it all began…
It’s 1930, and the Great Depression is in full swing. Tommy is an impoverished taxi driver who finds himself being drawn into a world of organised crime, after being forced to help two gangsters in the Salieri Family flee certain death at the hands of their rivals the Morellos. After a brief conflict with his inner self, Tommy decides to abandon taxi-driving and take up the Salieris’ offer of work. He quickly proves himself to be a valuable asset to the organisation, impressing the Don himself on numerous occasions. He becomes the go-to guy for all manner of assassinations, intimidations, and dodgy dealings.
His story is one of naïvely fine living, money, women, respect, car chases, gunfights, betrayals, murders, sharp suits and hats. Naturally, and as with most stories of this fashion, all the good things come to an end and after several years of living the high life it all comes around and kicks Tommy up the backside. After a dubious deal involving “imported cigars”, a botched heist, and a climatic shootout in the city art gallery, he needs to get out of the city, and his life. This is why he goes to the police, partly to put all the men who want him killed behind bars, and partly to assure a relatively easy way of disappearing from the sight of anyone he ever knew.
It’s 1930, and the Great Depression is in full swing. Tommy is an impoverished taxi driver who finds himself being drawn into a world of organised crime, after being forced to help two gangsters in the Salieri Family flee certain death at the hands of their rivals the Morellos. After a brief conflict with his inner self, Tommy decides to abandon taxi-driving and take up the Salieris’ offer of work. He quickly proves himself to be a valuable asset to the organisation, impressing the Don himself on numerous occasions. He becomes the go-to guy for all manner of assassinations, intimidations, and dodgy dealings.
His story is one of naïvely fine living, money, women, respect, car chases, gunfights, betrayals, murders, sharp suits and hats. Naturally, and as with most stories of this fashion, all the good things come to an end and after several years of living the high life it all comes around and kicks Tommy up the backside. After a dubious deal involving “imported cigars”, a botched heist, and a climatic shootout in the city art gallery, he needs to get out of the city, and his life. This is why he goes to the police, partly to put all the men who want him killed behind bars, and partly to assure a relatively easy way of disappearing from the sight of anyone he ever knew.
Mafia fits into the same category as previously mentioned films like Public Enemies, Lawless, Gangster Squad, and shows like Boardwalk Empire. It has all the makings of a modern classic, and there are only a handful of things I’d change; Lost Heaven would transform into Chicago (which would of course mean that the story would have to be slightly adapted to include elements of Al Capone’s Chicago Outfit), all of the miniscule references to other gangster films that are scattered through the game would have to be done away with, and a few of the less important missions would have to be removed from the script, including most of the lesser action in the game. Other than that, neither the story nor the characters need be changed. In my eyes, it is near perfection in its form as a piece of drama, and as with Grand Theft Auto IV it’d be sad to see such good writing go to waste because of where we experienced it first.
The game could do with some work of course, but it is eleven years old after all.
The game could do with some work of course, but it is eleven years old after all.
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