Well, this game is PAINFULLY short and in dire need of side missions and busy work, especially given that it takes place in the 40s and 50s and does a great job of making you feel like you are in the 40s and 50s. It is a world that you want to explore and live in for a while, it's a beautiful world, and the game is too fast.
It needs padding, it needs to extend itself a little, or a lot, so you can really live in that world for a bit longer than a COVID weekend.
But... it has some things that make it stand about GTA.
The first is the lock picking method, which adds to the game both in realism and fun. Especially since I have a friend who is a lock picker (which is the most useful friend to have in the world), who does it competitively. He has Youtube videos of picking locks, key and combination, to a timer. And, I guess for a video game the principal of how it's done is sound, but the execution is not. So, I guess if you are going for pure realism it's 50/50.
But if you don't like it you can just break the windows.
In any case, it's a nice addition.
As is the speedometer... and why GTA has never added it is beyond me. But the fun there is that you will get the cops on you, and you will get ticketed if you are driving too fast... which, again, GTA needs to add. And it comes with a safe drive mode that you can turn on and off to assure that you don't speed too much.
Vito, your character looks like a cross between Pacino and DeNiro in the godfather movies (more Bobby than Al) which, again, is fun.
The winter setting in the 40s is beautiful. The summer setting in the 50s is beautiful, and both really take you to the decades they portray, right down to the radio segments and the news with commentary about the Rosenbergs that is brutal, dark, and hysterical... making the car radio feel like what L.A. Noire wanted but never achieved.
The first real mission back in the US tells you exactly what you need to do to mine as much money as you want (which also allows you to hone your lock picking skills) and make enough to assure that you are set to buy whatever you need for coming missions.
Ammo is limited, which is a nice add, and it draws the need to buy hold out weapons and really stock up before you start some missions.... which is another thing it has over GTA where you seem to always have more ammo than you possibly need.
And the cars and driving handle great.
However, it is FAR too short, especially given how great they made the world and the sense you got for being back in the 40s and 50s.
And the shooting is... uninspired. It's not done badly, it's just uninspired.
And, frankly, the game is glitchy. Which means in a few missions you have to die over and over again until you figure out your way around the glitches.
But, all of that is mote when compared to the ability to be in a different era and believably so... I just wish the game was longer, that there were more side missions and busy work to allow you to explore it more completely.
