Review: Mafia Definitive Edition – intheGame

We return to the fictional city known as Lost Heaven almost 20 years later. As an innocent taxi driver, fate meets us to dive into organized crime. And that’s just the beginning.

It is 1930 in Mafia Definitive Edition and Tommy Angelo is an honest taxi driver who tidily perfects his hours for a competitive wage of a few dollars a week. A piece of cake, but soon two very interesting customers arrive who are happy to use Tommy’s service, after they have fled during a collision with the Morello Mafia. Paulie and Sam are members of the Salieri mafia. With not too much choice, your crushing taxi skills will ensure that Paulie and Sam can safely return to Don Salieri after performing cutscene maneuvers.

You will be compensated for your heroic exhibition and you will be reminded that you have never seen the best people. Your boring taxi job continues, but not for long. The next day you are recognized on the street, in your taxi, by members of the Morello mafia. They recruit you and destroy your car. Running and climbing you make your way through narrow alleys before finally arriving at the café of Salieri. Paulie and Sam scare off the Morello members. Maybe now is the right time to meet the big boss, Don Salieri. And this is where it really starts.

Old-fashioned cozy

Mafia Definitive Edition is a remake of the first Mafia game from 2002. At the time it was a revolutionary title with an open world, unprecedented story and an overall very good execution. Almost 20 years later, we all experience it again, even if it is not as revolutionary as it once was. By the way, I do not want to say that the remake is not impressive, because Mafia Definitive Edition knows how to hit the right strings in many ways and moments.

Immersed in action

It’s almost like playing a movie. Mafia Definitive Edition knows very well when to interrupt gameplay with a narrative cutscene. These are of very high quality, especially in the acting. Every film manages to deliver the setting, the story and the feeling perfectly and that in itself is quite an achievement. The result is that as a player you are constantly in the flow of the story. You are immersed in the whole story every moment and it remains memorable even years after playing the game. Mafia games are very strong at this and especially in this remake all wheels turn a few teeth faster in this area.

Timeless in 1930

The strength of Mafia is that the game still fits well into the current video game landscape about 20 years after release. It is admittedly a remake, but one that remains very faithful to its source material. It is a full remake, so not a mediocre remaster as we saw with Mafia 2. So you’re going to see big differences between the original game and the Definitive Edition, but it’s essentially the same game, thankfully.

What this means is that the open world again does not add that much to the game except for the freedom you get as a player in tackling certain missions and routes. There is plenty of activity in the world around you and the city feels very lively too. This only reinforces the point where Mafia really puts the focus on and that is telling a great story and making it look good too.

It not only looks and feels authentic, but that’s how it plays. Unlike Mafia 2, you are not a war hero. Not that Vito was, but let’s leave that aside. In any case, you also notice from the playing style that you are not an inborn serial killer. Aiming with firearms is not Tommy’s strongest point and you will notice that immediately. Even with an accurate shot, there is a significant chance that you will miss at a reasonable distance. Using the environment as cover is therefore very important in this game. In short, Tommy’s playing style feels very credible.

Everything used to be better

Life in 1930 so far sounds perfect for the taxi driver looking for a job in the underground world, but not everything is perfect in Mafia Definitive Edition. Although the game does what it should do in the main area, and also does it very well, the known ailments are creeping in again. It’s not as disastrous as it was in the Mafia 2 remaster, by no means, but known issues still occur to some extent.

For example, there is again a texture pop-in that is mainly visible while driving. Grass plains are only loaded in front of you and this takes you a bit out of the atmosphere because you simply cannot keep your eyes off it. The exact same problem as we saw in the Mafia 2 remaster. The animation quality could also be better and smoother.

Verdict

Mafia Definitive Edition is a wonderful game. In essence, still the game that everyone fell in love with at the time, but then completely rebuilt. It looks great, plays well and feels realistic. The biggest plus in the game is the way the story is told and how you as a player are the link in this story to literally play it for you like a movie while you are more or less in control.

In addition, the game stays true to what it suggests, making you feel at home in the environment without feeling game-y. Unfortunately, the latter is somewhat interrupted by known issues, but overall this was one of the Salieri mafia’s least annoyances.