Mafia: Definitive Edition Review – A Mob Classic Returns

Mafia: Definitive Edition is a loving rebuild of the original game, with impressive visuals and added depth held back by some archaic restrictions.

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Mafia was the most memorable of the crime-themed action games in a post-GTA 3 world. It had a lavish feel to its setting and story, a slice of a Godfather pastiche with the kind of grandeur that open world games hadn’t attempted. Although the series has never quite reached the heights of its original PC release, Mafia: Definitive Edition now gives fans of the franchise a chance to relive the first entry in the series.

Mafia: Definitive Edition is the final part of the Mafia trilogy’s Definitive Edition rebirth. So far these re-releases have been a mixed bag, with Mafia 2’s remaster proving to be rather disappointing thanks to an array of technical issues. The first Mafia undoubtedly required the largest overhaul, and as such fans may be a little cautious about the end result.

A lot of these problems are simply down to how Mafia has aged since 2002. The game was rightly lauded (aside from its lacklustre console versions) for its achievements, but those who have tried to go back to its initial form may have struggled to get to grips with its dated elements. Even in comparison to those early GTA 3D titles the original Mafia feels a little restrictive, with the sheen of exploring the city of Lost Heaven losing a little of its power in those 18 years.

Perhaps the biggest success of Mafia: Definitive Edition is that Lost Heaven once again feels exceptional to visit. It’s a sense that the series has never quite been able to capture again, with the possible exception of the swamplands of Mafia 3, but Lost Heaven feels authentic and with heady atmosphere. Here, Mafia: Definitive Edition manages to live up to what the first game felt like at the time, even without the nostalgia of those early days for the series.

Because of the restrictive nature of the original Mafia, there’s much less by way of freedom in comparison to what modern gamers might expect. The main story is very much focused around individual missions, without the opportunity to hop from area to area in an open world. Through a contemporary eye Mafia: Definitive Edition does feel a little disjointed here, as it feels odd to drive from a central hub to a mission location without the ability to truly explore the city, although Hangar 13’s emphasis on cohesion in set pieces does offset this legacy issue.

There is the ability to free roam via a separate game mode, however, mirroring the original release. Although this can be a good way to unwind, there’s not a lot to do in this mode except to admire the scenery and cause a bit of chaos. The player can pick up an odd quest or two for things like gaining cars for the garage, but it’s certainly not as deep as some might want.

Nonetheless the quality of Lost Heaven shines through, thanks to a stunning level of depth and atmosphere. Mafia: Definitive Edition’s setting is gorgeous, feeling authentic thanks to its billboards and architecture, giving the players an immediate sense of what the city is all about. Meanwhile, interactive elements like its cars and its radio stations, which occasionally give snippets of blunt historical context, also help to envelope the player in their surroundings.

The work put into Lost Heaven is particularly impactful in the story mode of Mafia: Definitive Edition. The linear approach to its gameplay gives ample opportunity for the player to see the city at different times of day and in different weather conditions, from the art deco heights of wealth through to the poverty of those living through the Great Depression. It’s a varied look at a place over a number of years, avoiding the repetition that true open world games often rely on.

Unfortunately this impact is occasionally marred by the odd graphical glitch, although not at the same level as Mafia 2: Definitive Edition or other memorable errors. Components of the player’s car may disappear, or enemy bodies might drop at awkward angles, although thankfully these issues are rare. Odd AI can also break immersion here and there, such as pedestrians walking up to a tram and then turning around, or the inevitable hilarity of a civilian car driving straight through a police roadblock.

Even so, the best of the game’s set pieces still work well. Over the course of the game the player will take part in plenty of memorable missions, such as a shootout in a church, or stealing contraband from a customs yard. For those who have less-than-positive memories of the original Mafia, thankfully Hangar 13 has fixed that notoriously awful racing mission.

The more mundane moments of Mafia: Definitive Edition do show up one problem, however, as video games have moved on since 2002. The game feels simple even in comparison to the other Mafia games, such as Mafia 3’s bombastic shootout in an abandoned amusement park. There’s something relatively basic about pulling off a whiskey heist, or even later missions that amp up the action considerably.

It’s fair to say that Hangar 13 has done a solid enough job of trying to negate this problem, though, albeit with a few issues that need to be addressed. The graphical overhaul does a lot to hide the game’s rough structural edges, while the addition of well-crafted cinematics adds a stronger narrative template to the game.

Because of this Mafia: Definitive Edition still comes across as a decent enough crime yarn in the modern day. It doesn’t go to places that fans of media like Goodfellas haven’t seen many times before, with a struggling taxi driver drawn into organized crime through the promise of revenge and economic security post-Great Crash. Its po-faced severity is infectious, lacking the humor or nihilism of the likes of Grand Theft Auto and instead going for something a little more earnest.

However, the game’s core message is not as strong as it could be. This is in part because of the vanilla feel of the first Mafia in comparison to what’s happened in games since, even within the same franchise. Main character Tommy Angelo is not as sympathetic as he could be, with his ambitions not tied to the strong revenge narrative of Mafia 3 as an obvious (albeit hamfisted) example.

Mafia does invert the trope of the ‘good’ crime family versus the ‘bad’ crime family somewhat, but without the power to offset Tommy’s lack of empathetic narrative drive. The game glosses over the car bombing of an innocent woman and the running down of civilians, with Tommy’s desperation to escape the life of crime tied to personal motivation rather than a realisation of the monster he is becoming. When major plot points do turn the tables, they move quite quickly and without significant emotional impact.

Equally, although some characters feel very developed – both in terms of narrative depth and graphical fidelity – others are desperately underused. Tommy’s wife Sarah and their child together are hardly in the game, with the daughter not even appearing until she is an adult in the epilogue. It’s strange, because they are regularly mentioned as a major part of the decisions Tommy makes, but neither has enough screen time for the player to get a sense of their importance. It’s another hangover from the original game that could have been addressed, but the absence of a strong presence for Sarah in particular does hamper any emotional development in the game.

It’s these elements that really hold Mafia: Definitive Edition back from being a must-have. It’s clearly a loving recreation of the original game, and Hangar 13 should be applauded for that. However, the ways in which the video game world has moved on since 2002 have left Mafia behind in ways that this recreation has not challenged.

Nonetheless Mafia: Definitive Edition is still a strong title. Those who loved the original will likely pick this up and enjoy every minute, although those who are entirely new to the first entry in the Mafia series may find it a little bizarre in its structure and storytelling. Even so, it still stands perhaps as the best of the Mafia Definitive Editions, and most importantly provides a coherent approach across a trilogy that has felt more than a little disparate at times.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/mafia-definitive-edition-game-review/