10 Infuriating Levels That Almost Derailed Great Video Games

2. The Fairplay Race - Mafia

The original Mafia's Fairplay mission should have just been a little bit of throwaway fun - a nice break from the shooting - as players were given the chance to jump into a period-authentic race car and burn some rubber across a few laps. The only problem was that players had never controlled a car like this before, which could barely turn to save its life and was faster than a speeding bullet. Or at least, it felt like it.

In their noble effort to make it as realistic and compelling as possible, the developers designed this section using a racing wheel. The problem was, everyone at home was using a regular controller, which completely broke the balance and threw everyone off.

To make matters worse, you had to come first to get to the next mission, or you’d be sent right back to the beginning. It should have been so simple - a bit of harmless fun - but it was anything but.