4/5 ★ – ysobh's review of Mafia: Definitive Edition.

Mafia is an incredibly weird franchise. It is a franchise that hit the ground running from the start with the first game yet took 8 years to follow it up with an even better and more loved sequel. What do you do after that well of course you take another 6 years to turn out a game that ends up disappointing the fan base and the wider gaming community essentially putting the franchise on death row. But what did 2K do you might ask well of course they did what any publisher does when a series is dying YOU TURN TO THE OLD GAMES. 2K decided to reinvigorate interest in it is crime franchise by releasing the mafia trilogy. A collection of the three mafia games featuring a remaster of 2 and from the ground up remake of the original 2002 title. And speaking of the remake I think they absolutely nailed it. Let me tell you why. From the start Mafia Definitive edition makes one hell of a first impression with well designed menus and the most badass loading screens I have seen in a while. This carries through out this remake with well-designed UI and overall amazing the vibe. The game also looks stunning. I played on an Xbox One x with HDR turned on and let me just say that I was blown away. I was not expecting the game to look this good especially coming from the alright looking mafia 3. The cars especially are incredibly well modelled, and they look incredible in the daytime when the light and reflections are bouncing of them. Although some aspects of the art style are better than others (what the hell are these sky boxes) the game nails it is look. Which brings me in to the other parts of the presentation. I have a question, what the fuck are these animations? Everything in this game has been perfectly modernized except this aspect. The hand to hand animation feels ripped out the ps2 era and tommy’s running animations lack any sense of weight and momentum. And before I move let me just say HOT FUCKING DAMN what a score. Jesse Harlin had no right to make a score that slaps this hard. Now to the actual meat and potatoes of any game, the gameplay. The gameplay is sadly a downgrade of Mafia 3’s already lacks luster gunplay and stealth. The gun’s feel light and lack any sort of punch to them, the cover system is laughable, and the melee is just press B/O to win. Although I was glad to see this game continue the trend of hanger 13 games having excellent pistols (which is a weapon most devs just treat as an afterthought). The rest of the weapons range from broken (wtf is this shotgun’s range) to feeling serviceable (the tommy gun is well made although it could have used a bit more damage. Although very lacking its short comings become unnoticeable when your tearing through hundreds of enemies in one of the many excellent set pieces the game services up. Which seaways nicely into the story and plot which some would argue is why you even play the game but before that let me mention quick. Driving good. Okay so the story. In the opening credits you will notice how well directed this game is. The new cast deliver excellent performances in their respective roles. The face Mo cap although inconsistent is also a nice addition. The story is by far the game’s high point. The new script is great and especially the dialogue between characters. I found myself interested in the banter between Tommy and the rest of the crew even laughing a couple times. But what really helps the story is the pacing. Once the games pick up 5/6 chapters in it does not let go. The games structure of being linear is not only refreshing but also helps the game deliver excellent action set piece after the next. Although incredibly diverse they suffer from incredibly linear shooting gallery like level design. Tommy is such a well written and well-acted and charismatic character. The new design absolutely slaps (the hair oh god). Which brings me to the final point the performance. The game runs fine on XBONE X. I only encountered a couple pop ins here and there and two frame rate drops and one crash that required me to restart the game (I luckily did not lose any progress). But I have heard that it runs worse on other consoles. Overall an incredibly good remake that is nostalgia inducing but at the same time absolutely refreshing.