Mafia: Definitive Edition — The Drama, Crime, and Omertà are Terrifically Reimagined
On September 25, 2020, old school plyers and newcomers were able to have the chance to experience the incredible reimagining and drama of Tommy Angelo’s rise and fall in developer Hanger 13’s new game, Mafia: Definitive Edition. Published by 2K games, this title is a full-on remake built from the ground up of the 2002 classic originally made by defunct Czech developer Illusion Softworks. This remake contains brand new assets, actors, gameplay, and an expanded story that provides more depth to the characters and conflicts that players will encounter.
The story takes place during the 1930s prohibition era where players take control of taxi driver turned mobster Tommy Angelo. As Tommy, players drive and fight through the fictional and gorgeous city of Lost Heaven while trying to accomplish their responsibilities for the Salieri crime family. The gameplay is a large reworking of the original game’s clunky combat and awkward driving. The shooting and driving mechanics are built similarly to Hanger 13’s previous title Mafia III but is much more polished such as shooting guns now have stronger kickback and driving while fast now has more of a weighty feeling. Though unfortunately the game does have very mediocre melee combat that mainly boils down to spamming one button multiple times in a row that does not really feel satisfying. This touching up of the driving results in players truly feeling that they are driving an old but quick and efficient 1930s car.
The large city of Lost Heaven is explorable but Mafia: Definitive Edition is not an open world game. The experience is strongly linear with carefully crafted missions that are not only exciting but provide a gripping mob story that both old fans and newcomers will be enthralled with. This aspect of the game shows players that it is not trying to be an explosive GTA type experience, but rather a more grounded and nuanced focus of Tommy’s journey of being in the Salieri mafia which is what the original game managed to do.
The game also accomplishes to be satisfyingly challenging since old players who enjoyed the 2002 version difficulty can still feel it in this reimaging. With great balancing of an interesting story and (for the most part) well done gameplay, Mafia: Definitive Edition is not only good remake but a terrific entry point for people who wish to experience more of what the series has to Mafia offer.
