Made Man Demo

The Italian-American mob has been the inspiration source for many movies, books and video games, all of which aim to depict the realities of the mafia, including drug trafficking, extortion and murder. Most of the people involved in it, however, know the risks from the beginning and they accept the repercussions, in most cases.

Made Man, however, tells the story of a gangster that didn't really want to be a part of the mafia, but was forced to do so after a curious series of events lead him to a life of murder. Hence, you get to play as Joey Verola, a made man who relives the past as he explains the way he got involved with the mob, although he had no intention of doing so.

The game takes you through a variety of environments in order to tell the story, starting with the Vietnam war, where Joey's tale starts. After he saves the life of a powerful mafia figure, he gets rewarded for it by becoming a made guy and joining the crime family, which is only the beginning. In order to rise through the ranks, he must participate in a lot of violence and basically give up everything he believes in.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, everything revolves around you being able to find cover, otherwise you quickly crumble under the enemy fire. However, some of the objects you can hide behind are often destructible, which means that they fall apart after a few bullets and leave you exposed, which in turn forces you to keep moving and take full advantage of the environment.

Unfortunately, although the idea sounds pretty well in theory, its implementation is very poor and you constantly find yourself stuck in cover, unable to shoot, or in a weird position that somehow allows the enemies to see you. The enemies appear out of nowhere in scripted moments, and only after you get rid of the previous wave. Thus, the entire game is basically a series of badly implemented triggers that ruin the entire atmosphere.

Made Man started from a few good ideas, which got lost or maimed in the process, resulting in a very fragmented, poorly executed and anti-climatic experience. Hence, unless you really want to hear the story's conclusion, there aren't too many reasons to try out this game.