For me, sometimes it’s the little things that have the biggest impact on the gaming experience. You might not consciously notice them, but your brain notices. And it’s your brain that does the subconscious heavy lifting when it comes to the realm of fantasy.
Think back to a time you were playing an open world game — maybe Grand Theft Auto V or Just Cause 4 — and you thought to yourself, “man, the weight of this car feels just right.”
Or even something as simple as a game character using their hand to open a door instead of it just magically opening. Or being able to turn faucets on and off in bathrooms in Max Payne. Or flush toilets in any game that has toilets. These things don’t really impact the core gameplay all that often (better driving mechanics is an exception), but these details are there to aid the believability of the game’s world.
I was recently playing Mafia: Definitive Edition when I noticed one such detail. After I had finally completed the infamous Fairplay racing mission, I stumbled on a little thing that blew me away. Although I’m sure this has been in other games, it really caught me off guard when I discovered it in Mafia: Definitive Edition. It was so natural that I didn’t consciously pick up on it at first. In fact, I must have experienced it half a dozen times or so before I realized it was even happening.
The radio in Mafia loses some of its reception when you enter the Southport Tunnel. You can hear it in action in the video below.
And just like that, Mafia effortlessly draws you further into its 1930s-era America. And the fact that I discovered this while listening to America’s pastime sort of makes it all the more sweeter.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, sometimes it’s the little things that can have the biggest impact.
