One of the most famous Czech video games – Mafia – celebrates 20 years since its first release on Saturday. The gangster story from the 1930s by developer Dan Vávra has sold millions worldwide. And even after two decades, the players won’t let her go.
Prague
11:25 a.m August 27, 2022
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Mafia: Definitive Edition | Source: FB Mafia game
Illusion Softworks’ Mafia was not just a classic third-person shooter, but above all it was an elaborate cinematic story that can still compete with Hollywood blockbusters today.
Mafia celebrates 20 years. Filmed by Alžběta Havlová
As the editor-in-chief of Level magazine Petr Poláček recalls, it took a while for foreign players to understand that it was something completely different from what they had known so far. However, in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Mafia was an instant hit.
“The legendary dubbing with the participation of Marko Vašut, Pavel Rychlý, Dalimil Klapka and other well-known actors not only of that time, but also of today, is probably behind the domestic success. It was as if you offered the players a movie, they weren’t used to that,” Poláček explains to Radiožurnál.
Marek Vašut lent his voice to the main character – taxi driver Thomas Angel, who became a member of a mafia family in the fictional city of Lost Heaven in the United States in the 1930s.
About the game MAFIA
- It is a gangster film from the American Prohibition era, which takes place in the fictional city of Lost Heaven. His free model was New York and Chicago.
- The main character of the story is Tommy Angelo. He starts as a taxi driver, but gradually works his way into one of the two mafia families in the city.
- It received two sequels: Mafia II was released in 2010, the third part six years later.
But his path through the mafia underworld was not straightforward, and that is what set the game apart from others – for example, the biggest American competitor GTA III at the time.
Anyway, in 2002, Dan Vávra and his team started the Czech gaming industry with their project, which today is one of the most recognized in the world. But the path to this success became simple.
“Developers were creating their own technology. In general, making a game of similar size and similar ambitions in the then conditions of Czech game development was a miracle. The people who worked on that game gained such experience that they would not have gained anywhere else,” says Poláček.
The music composed by Vladimír Šimůnek is also worth mentioning. It was recorded by the 45-member Bohemian Symphonic Orchestra Prague at the National Theatre.
Expert on the new game: The creators managed to preserve the essence of the original Mafia, the Czech dubbing is even better
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Mafia saw not only a remastered version, but also two sequels. For the round anniversary, he will receive the book The Art of Mafia Trilogy in September, which will guide the reader through the history of the entire mafia trilogy.
And players can alsolook forward to 15 new missions that will take place 10 years before the events of the original game.
Elizabeth Havelová
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