It’s 1931, jazz is crackling over the radio of your glossy convertible, and you’re on your way down to the bar to meet with Paulie and the boys about your next big score. Such is the life of Tommy Angelo, Lost Haven resident, and cabby turned gangster. Mafia: Definitive edition serves as a reminder of how far America and the open-world genre have come in eighteen years. While it mostly succeeds at reimagining the Mafia series’ best story, the gameplay elements of a bygone era leave it feeling uneven in spots.
Mafia: Definitive Edition (PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: Hangar 13
Publisher: 2K Games
Released: September 25, 2020
MSRP: $39.99 standalone, $59.99 as part of the Mafia: Trilogy
The original Mafia has been more than just touched up for the definitive edition. Chicago stand-in Lost Haven is a lot bigger for one. Buildings are taller, road layouts have shifted, and a whole new countryside area located out of the city really makes the world feel lived in.
On top of that, things are mostly very pretty if you don’t pay close attention. Weather effects look fantastic as headlights and neon signs for an in-universe drink, Swift Cola reflects off of puddles and between rain droplets, and the static of the radio feeding larger stories about the state of a world on the brink of a World war adds to the ambiance as you drive between missions. Occasionally, however, you’ll catch some rather stiff and plastic looking facial animations on characters who have committed the sin of not being Tommy, Paulie, or Sam. The strangest technical blunders come in the form of occasional stutters in animation. While the framerate is mostly stable, I’ve caught cutscenes getting these strange moments of hesitation.
When Mafia first released, one of its biggest claims to fame was the realistic gear shifting when driving. Here, that system is set to manual by default, and that’s the way I prefer it. You could argue its part of the push to be authentic to the era, but these big curvy cars handle like garbage, and a solid forty percent of Mafia’s gameplay is car chases, so I’ve got no room for error here. Definitive edition adds motorcycles that handle better than any car and can make chases a breeze when you’re permitted to use them.
If you’re not ramming a truck or shaking down a butcher in Mafia, you’re likely firing a Tommy gun at the poor bastard who had the audacity to take your parking spot. Much like the wonky driving system, shooting feels very much like game mechanics from 2002. The third-person camera feels fine, but when not in cover, you go down quickly, and using old school health kits can lead to some frustrating, if not insurmountable shootouts. Few of the guns feel particularly great, but the AI is definitely a step up from the original game. If you hang out too long, they’ll do their best to flank or slowly close in and take you down.
The real shame of Mafia’s structure is that it doesn’t do much of anything with the open-world. The city is beautiful, but the structure is incredibly linear; every mission feeds directly into the next. With no real incentive to explore the city outside of the story, most players will never see huge swaths of this world.
Mafia’s Story is my favorite part of the whole experience. The new performances are great, and the tale of the Don’s right-hand man turned rat is still the strongest in the Mafia series. While it lacks any huge spectacle, the tale of Tommy Angelo feels like a classic mob movie and delivers better than ever even if it is a bit of a slow burn.
Verdict: Mafia: Definitive Edition is a remaster with a lot of heart. While it looks fantastic and tells a wonderful story, the gameplay struggles to escape the 2002 source material's confines. As a result, it’s constrained by the things its sequels and modern games do better.
Wait for a sale
Author: Rich Meister
[This review is based on a retail build of the game purchased by the reviewer]