Mafia Definitive Edition Review Will It Sleep With The Fishes?

Mafia Definitive Edition developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K is available now on Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4.

Mafia Definitive Edition is set in the 1930s a complete remake of a 2002 classic by 2K Czech and puts you in the shoes of taxi driver Tommy Angelo. Tommy is just trying to make an honest living but during prohibition and the depression, it’s been a tough ride. One night two guys with a gun, one injured demand that you take them to the Salieri Café, a well-known mob boss in Empire City this brings change to Tommy’s for better or worse? I enjoyed how the Mafia story plays out, instead of getting you to drive to contact a or b to start a mission the campaign keeps it all flowing forward perfectly which always leaves you wanting more at the end of each chapter. If you want to explore the city, free ride mode lets you do just that, we’ll talk more about that later. Mafia introduces many characters some you’ll dislike, some you’ll start liking down the line. Because the story takes place over several years you also see a lot of growth in these characters, now the main character, I empathised with him in some parts of the game but it’s Paulie towards the middle of the game I start seeing this different side to him, I won’t say too much but I became invested in him too. All the characters though in this game are bad people, but somehow they make you feel emotions for them despite them being ruthless criminals and I think that’s a sign of a good story. With the scaffolding of the story that 2K Czech set up all those years ago and Hanger 13 completing the build (story) by adding certain parts to it, new voice actors and new technology, I think together they created a fantastic experience and for £29 in the UK, you can’t go wrong. The game lasts around 10 to 15 hours, you can extend that time with free ride, collectables and more.

The gameplay in Mafia is similar to Mafia 3’s but I think it has been touched up in a few areas to meet the 1930’s theme, with weapons, cars, clothes and overall design meeting that criteria perfectly. I love the vehicles, at first, I thought, oh no, are they going to be slow car chases and are there going to be annoying driving scenes between getting from point a to b? No, the driving is a ton of fun, the cars handle well, chases are great fun and being able to ditch whoever is chasing you via certain points in the map feels like a Blues Brothers moment when all those police cars stack upon each other, it’s fantastic fun, I also love drifting around corners with friendly AI sticking there heads out shooting whoever is chasing us with Tommy guns. The whole things feel like an authentic Mafia experience and from documentaries I’ve watched, it seems pretty on point. A little negative now, the gunplay, something about the combat feels a little off, it’s good in its own way, it works but it feels floaty like there’s not much impact on anything and I just wish it had a little more work to just make it more GTA like, it just didn’t feel very thrilling, towards the end I just got a little bit tired of it, it’s not awful it just isn’t to the standard we tend to see in video games now, perhaps it’s too much of a loyal remake and this is just trying to copy how the original felt and if that is the case then they got it right. I still enjoyed everything about it I just felt the shooting could be just a little bit better. With an added cover system Mafia is a lot easier than it’s original unless you play classic edition which makes everything much harder, I’m yet to do that but I had so much fun with the game I’m wanting to platinum trophy it if possible. For players who want to explore the living and breathing city, free ride mode lets you explore freely and discover collectables, hidden cars and many more interesting secrets, it’s well worth a go because Hanger 13 has gone above and beyond in its recreation.

I believe Hanger 13 have shown what they are truly capable of, with the story being the main focus here and in the campaign, and though there isn’t much time for exploration, Hanger 13 still created this 1930’s Empire City that feels truly alive. It isn’t just a shell of a city for you to play in, there are set pieces everywhere, from the civilians performing different actions, old-timey ads on the radio and news pieces usually reflecting on something you’ve done in the world and so much more. In free ride, if you just take it all in, it almost feels like you’re experiencing some kind of time travel. I don’t think Hanger 13 even needed to go into this much detail but they did and it’s fantastic. The music is great, again it fits in with the theming perfectly and is a joy to listen to on the radio and the music performed for the action and cutscenes is spot on. I loved the voice acting, it felt like they’d gone to a lot of effort to recreate the original and add a lot of new scenes, it truly felt like a proper Mafia movie that I can’t recommend enough to fans of those type of films.

Verdict

I loved Mafia more than I thought, I wasn’t going to pick it up but my parents kindly gifted it to me and I had the best time with this, it is definitely for me a surprise hit in 2020. The story, the gameplay, the design, all loved it. I did encounter a pretty bad bug but 2K responded instantly and fixed it, I’m sure a patch will sort it out but overall, this is one hell of a title and I have now installed Mafia 2 to continue the story.

9/10