There hasn't been, there isn't, there will never be a game like this, it's a scar for life.
Mafia defines of what a game really should be like by all means. Everything is great, it's merely a whole new portion marked in your brain as new yardstick for games.
I really cant decide where to begin, so here we go. (I'll try not spoil it)
Suffice it to say that the game events begin at the early thirties which gives a great atmosphere like you are actually in the game it's self and forgetting about real life, then.
You start the game as a taxi driver with a guy called Thomas Angelo and then BAM...... you get threatened by two mobsters to drive them away from other ones or else they'll shoot you, later on the conflict begins in the players character whether to join the mob or not instead of his job, followed by unpredictable life situations.
The feeling of that time era is great whether by music or cars etc...it made me wish to live at that time
The only thing might get considered bad by these days players, is the graphic quality, which is great looking at it's age.
That's all I could extract from my mind right now, because there are a lot of things to say that can't be remembered at once.