Mafia: Definitive Edition Review (SpaceCouncil)
A dash of nostalgia, a heavy hit of criminology
This is a ground-up remake of the original Mafia game. A game I have never played. Mafia 2 was my introduction to the series — from this standpoint, I simply cannot make a true comparison. But what I can offer you is my thoughts on the game from a modern standpoint.
Structure
The Mafia games are extremely narratively driven, insofar that they are chapter based. Where the “open-world” part is really... well mostly inaccurate. In fact, in this remake, it's essentially not open-world at all. The free roam aspect is in a separate mode, outside the campaign selected from the main menu. This mode is intended for you to explore the city and obtain collectibles at your leisure.
Gameplay
While very impressive removed from the source material, it's a exceedingly traditional third person shooter, character driven game. You'll drive to locations, tail people, hide behind cover, sneak around etc etc. And these are not bad things inherently, it's just at no point was I... impressed at what I was playing. It's... functional as what to expect from a big, triple A title.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858108400
Visual Upgrade
The game is vastly more realistic looking, perhaps to a fault. The game maybe didn't really need such a drastic visual upgrade — at least from my perspective. That next-to-low-poly look of games from 1998-2012 is something I really enjoy. If nostalgia is something you're looking for, this is one way to achieve it. Keep that aesthetic while increasing resolution, frame rate and other quality of life features. To me, this would have gone a lot further. But I understand the desire to make it look this nice. Commercials, for one. Now, if something like this were to happen to LA Noire...
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858102338
Narrative hindrance
Being that my first experience with Mafia, the “not-GTA” series, was Mafia 2. I have admittedly the most nostalgia for that title. I don't feel the same way about Mafia 1 that I do Mafia 2, not the characters or the story itself. It seems to me that unless you are deeply unfamiliar with how “crime” narratives play out, it probably won't take you very to figure out what's going to happen in this game. On top of that, I didn't feel I could relate to any of the characters in this game. Whereas I very much did find something to latch onto in Vito Scaletta from Mafia 2. Mafia 1 felt overtly contrived from its inception to me, which may be my own fault for not just letting it play out instead of being so critical. It's still a good story, however.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858104153
The Gist
If you're not in need a large dose of nostalgia, especially if unlike me you played Mafia 1 before playing Mafia 2, then you've probably already played this. But for those on the fence, it's not that long of a game. It's from the era when Triple A games only needed a 12 hour campaign — not a 35-80 hour massive world with 16 DLCs. I would wait for a sale.
If you've found this review helpful, consider following my curation — Station Argus
Mafia 2 review here.
Mafia 3 review here.