10 Infuriating Levels That Almost Derailed Great Video Games

2. The Fairplay Race - Mafia

Mafia race
2K Games

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.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.