When it was first released, Mafia set itself apart from its competitors with a strong focus on the narrative. And while the narrative holds up remarkably well to this day, its gameplay is starting to show some serious age. Had there been an option to manually save the game, a lot of the problems would've been masked, resulting in a much more enjoyable experience nowadays. Sadly, no such option is given.
Pros: Great story, characters and writing, superb music, entertaining voice acting, good driving engine, graphics still hold up well
Cons: Infuriatingly sparse use of checkpoints within missions and no option to manually save, weak gunplay, the constant need to drive across all three islands to do most missions is a chore, voice acting sometimes falls flat, no mini-map