It’s been 10 years since the last time I’ve played Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven. Back then I still loved it, despite a lot of really clunky gameplay elements, for having a genuinely engaging story told inside an open world. We’ve had quite a few examples of really well made story driven titles inside open world design since then, of course, most not resorting to the same mission-based structure the original Mafia had, including the sequel Mafia II. Yet, there was something about that original game from 2002 that still had me extremely excited about the remake announcement. Despite being developed by the team who brought us the disappointing Mafia III, I had high hopes for the Definitive Edition of Mafia. And even though I might argue against the subtitle selected, this turned out to be a fine game indeed.
The original Mafia was among the first to do a fully 3D open world in the sense that we got to expect after GTA III canonized the approach a year before. Yet, being developed for years prior and influenced by other earlier attempts at the open world design, the game took a more simulation-like aspect. The cars were somewhat hard to control, required fuel, the police on the streets would enforce the speed limits and basic traffic regulations and the action would often be brutal and unforgiving, relying on cover, years before the modern cover systems, and motivating you to crouch and stop to help with the aim. More uniquely for many years from then, the game wasn’t structured as a sandbox and instead had missions or chapters. You’d have a story setup, do the main bulk of it and then, occasionally, have a more optional side-mission to do after the main story is done. After you do what was required, the mission would end and the story would progress to the next chapter, taking place days, weeks or years later.
I’m happy to say that Mafia: Definitive Edition keeps the structure intact. Even Mafia II was bogged down with unnecessary “open world content” that you could not skip, despite also being chapter-based and Mafia III was 95% boring sandbox. This remake, however, keeps the Free Ride mode and the Story separate, as they were in the original game. And even more, the optional missions from the main story chapters were moved to the Free Ride mode as well. The bizarre over the top and silly missions in Free Ride have been redone remain absolutely ridiculous. And, as with the original game, I don’t really care about doing them.
Because the main focus of the game, just as it was with the original, is the story. And the story is still really good. In many spots, the Definitive Edition adds extra details that were lacking in the original and even makes some of the less interesting missions far more exciting and varied. Yet… The story also often feels like a result of the overcorrection. Some moments, that worked perfectly with little to no words, now have dialogue overexplaining what the players should feel. Some aspects of the story have additional segments that change the tone of the events almost completely, without really needing to. And while it’s nice to see some of the characters get more on-screen time, some of this time is spent on changing their personalities and motivations just enough to make them less interesting. While the original game had a very romanticized feel to it, which, sure, shouldn’t really be applied to organized crime, it created a unique tone to the game that was fantastically contrasted in the sequel. Now, the sequel feels less of a contrast and, as such, has less of an impact. A strange mistake to make when you have both stories already told and well known.
Luckily, the gameplay is changed almost always for the better. There are some simplifications, like the process of shooting while driving. Some missions have been cut down a bit: sometimes to a fault, sometimes for the better. Yet, playing the game on the Classic mode has been, overall, very fun and tense just in the right way. Except for the racing mission that is still absolutely horrible when on “simulation” driving. The score is wonderful, though less memorable than the original score that is still occasionally used and the licensed music is less interesting. The visuals are fantastic during cinematic scenes, but can be plain and bland during gameplay. And while the game is running the same engine as Mafia III and has a lot of the same annoying hitches and performance issues (and bugs), it has been stable and I’ve encountered very few notable bugs or problems.
I really enjoyed playing Mafia: Definitive Edition. It’s not quite the “definitive” remake it claims to be and it is often less interesting than the original game was in terms of writing and presentation. Yet, at many other moments it is as good or better. If you’ve never played the original and like a good crime story, absolutely give this game a go. And if you, like me, liked the original – you’ll like this one too. There will be moments when you’ll want to put your guard up, but give this game time and it will grow on you. Even if not as much as the original did.