Did Rockstar unashamedly copy Mafia 1?

[Abhay]

I always thought Rockstar seems to have lifted certain ideas not only from movie which Dan and his team usually do and always admitted Hollywood as their inspiration which is fine but with IV, Dan and his team of writers seem to have taken inspiration from one of the most classic and popular game called Mafia City Of Lost Heaven, and even starting the trend to rehash many missions' from their own past games. In fact, there're not only many plot similarities with SA, but even missions and characters seem to have been repeated with minor changes.
I mean, IV hardly feels like a sincere attempt to be inventive with more memorable story and unique missions, as they did with their 3D era titles, instead of simply lifting ideas from other games, not just limited to movies.

Niko Bellic's story is actually quite similar to Tommy's; despite their best efforts and comparatively good nature, both men get chewed up by the world they belong to.

Unfortunately, there are many believers that find GTA IV a masterpiece; one of the most original works to come from Rockstar when it comes to writing, characterization, including the shooting galleries, and impressive set-pieces.
Well, I don't know what to call such people whether absolutely blind fanboys, or lack of experience with games outside their favorite developer Rockstar, but for the topic, I want to finally figure out as many similarities between GTA IV and Mafia COLH when it comes to missions, story and situations in game, something I always wanted to do and that's why I'd request my fellow Codexians for their contributions towards the same by sharing anything from your experiences in playing both games that you felt obvious similarities or something resembling between them.
So far, I've managed to pick certain missions from GTA IV ( and more will be added as I figure it out ) that I find strikingly similar with Mafia COLH, namely:-
1. The GTA IV mission Undertaker with The Priest mission from Mafia.
2. The mission Catch the wave with Just for Relaxation mission
3. The mission Harboring a Grudge with A Trip to the Country

I'd like to know what else do you think are shared by both games in common, anything from story to missions, etc.??

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

I don't think 'paying homage' to other games is necessarily copying.

 

[Havoc]

Check if people who worked on Game 1 worked on Game 2, then maybe you will have an answer there.

 

[Multidirectional]

I really don't think these missions are that similar. I played the shit out of first Mafia back in the day, used to be one of my favorite games and I didn't get the feeling that GTA IV was ripping it off when playing it. Though maybe there are similarities in that GTA IV had you doing too many mundane boring tasks that didn't really suit the series that much, as different as it is from Mafia.

Niko Bellic's story is actually quite similar to Tommy's; despite their best efforts and comparatively good nature, both men get chewed up by the world they belong to.

Spoiler

Actually as far as I recall Tommy fucks up by deciding to rob a bank without letting Salieri know about it, while Nico just gets betrayed by people.

 

[Whisky]

It's almost like the stories are both derivitive of gangster movies...

And I had a hard time believing Niko was really a good person. Niko was just a sociopath with occasional bawwwing about the American Dream.

For the record, I don't think Tommy was a good person either, but I felt that was tied into the story rather than poor writing. He only feels remorse when he's killing someone he knows and he very quickly changes his values to justify his actions (Like when he mutilates his mother's quote about "Better to be poor than dead," after he joins the Mafia.). Hell, the final battle has the boss (His friend...I forget his name) trying to take advantage of the former flaw and almost got away for it. Even when he's telling his story to the detective, he still tries to justify his actions even when they ended up backfiring.

Man I loved Mafia 1.

 

[Multidirectional]

Mafia was a much more down to earth kind of game and that allows for more believable characters by default. GTA is the type of series that is better when it sticks to over the top parodies.