Hands-On Preview: Grease up your hair, open your shirt and get ready for a storm of Mafia clichés
Next week, PC gamers in the US will get the chance to step into the shoes of Joey Verola and get made into a Mafia family, courtesy of Aspyr games and Silverback Studios. The game will offer plenty of action, destructible environments, Brooklyn-Italian accents, and lots of gold necklaces, all wrapped up in a mystery plot that spans several continents. I recently took the time to sit down with the demo, which presents a pivotal moment in Verola's life, one that, of course, ends up in a shootout. Here are my impressions of the experience.
The story definitely looks like it wants to be “epic” in a Godfather sort of way. It follows Verola on the day he's going to get made, but features flashbacks to the events in his life that led up to that moment. For instance, it jumps back to Verola's experiences in Vietnam, where he meets Johnny Biondo, the mobster who gives him his first break. The demo starts with Verola and a partner in a car on the way to the initiation ceremony, but it soon flashes back to Verola and some partners in the middle of a job. They've gone to collect a stash of loot hidden in a graveyard, but members of a rival family show up to spoil the party with a hail of bullets. After a short intro, the action transitions into a pretty standard—and heavily pathed—shoot 'em up level that leads Verola through the cemetery to his goal.
The Made Man story spans three decades, from the 60s to the 80s as it follows Verola's rise in the Lombardi family, his break with Biondo and their rivalry, and a mob war with the Chinese Tong.
David Fisher wrote the main storyline that takes the player through seventeen levels that represent different stages of Verola's life. Fisher's name may be familiar to Mafia aficionados, since he's written fifteen New York Times bestsellers, including several non-fiction books written in conjunction with real-life Mafia hitmen. Fisher's involvement promises to bring more depth to the characters and story, although it's difficult to say how well this will integrate with the action gameplay, which based on the demo, will involve gunning down waves of men in suits. And waves of men wearing leather jackets. Sporting serious chest hair. Not to mention the gold chains.
Also on the writing staff is Bill Bonanno, author and former high-ranking member of the Bonanno crime syndicate. Bonanno brings an insider's perspective to the plot; each stage of Verola's development as a gangster corresponds to events in real-life Mafia organizations. Major plot points and missions are based on real-life incidents, either from Bonanno's experience or Fisher's research. And the characters—including Verola—are based on real people or are composites of real people.
In itself, this doesn't mean much, but from the little bit of the main plot presented in the demo it seems like Fisher and Bonanno have at least brought some interesting writing to the game. The demo gives just a few clips from the story and a bit of the voiceover narration that links the action sequences, and it's surprising just how good it is. So many games praised for good writing end up being disappointingly full of recycled tough-guy clichés and plot elements, casting doubt on reviewers' concepts of “good writing.” Sometimes it seems like there's a distinction between “game good” versus “book good,” since writing in games is so rarely done by professional writers. Instead, it becomes a secondary task given to game designers, level designers, or even producers at some companies. The contrast is right there in the Made Man demo, evident in the difference between the the narration, definitely written by Fisher and Bonanno, and the annoying battle chatter, which was likely written by someone good with a spreadsheet.
If it looks like Made Man will have good characters and an interesting plot, it really doesn't look like the gameplay will be a standout. It does offer a few items to grab players' attention: press releases mention features like a “jump to cover” mechanic, a “picture in picture” feature, and the ability to slow down time during firefights. But as it plays in the demo, jump to cover doesn't do much more than snap Verola's back to a nearby wall or tree and then allow the player to shoot around the object. It doesn't really feel right, however, since there's no lean-around-the-corner animation. When I tried to shoot while under cover, Verola just jumped out and shot, and it was hard to tell whether he was still supposed to be under cover or not. The picture in picture sounds like it might add a cinematic feel to the game, since it will give the player a larger sense of what's going on by allowing them to monitor different events at the same time. The feature isn't present in the demo, however. The time slowing feature works as you'd expect: hit a key and everything moving at a snails pace, except for Verola's ability to aim his weapon. It isn't coupled with any other interesting moves, though, so it doesn't seem to do much besides give the player a major advantage in a shootout.
On the visual side, Made Man reveals itself for the budget title that it is. Some of the scenery isn't bad looking, and the animations in the cutscenes don't look bad, but for the most part, the landscape in the demo was blocky and plain. The characters had a generic feel to them, and not just because the demo level was packed with clones of just a few bad guy models. The models themselves were plain: they wore big, dark sunglasses, had dark hair and wore dark suits. They all called out the same tired expressions in the same accent. They stood there waiting to get shot. To be fair, the main characters do look much better and are far more interesting, but the play's the thing, isn't it?
