Mafia: Definitive Edition (PS4) review – Old gangsters in new suits.
Contents
The Omerta has been discontinued and Wouter can finally talk about Mafia: Definitive Edition without the risk of cement shoes. However, once the ‘wage management business’ finds out what Wouter’s opinion is about the mobster game remake, he might still run the risk of being hacked by a wiseguy!
2002 is the year that I was screaming in a Zwolle cinema and watching Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and… er, I don’t remember much about it. It was also the year that Willumpie got married to Maxie, Billy Wilder died and Gaten Matarazzo was born (feel old yet?). Friends was still on TV, as was Sex and the City and, more relevantly, The Sopranos. Long ago and completely different times! That is why it is not a crazy thought from 2K to give Mafia from that year a major makeover. Or is this gangster adventure still a thing of the past even with a new coat of filler and a fresh dollop of pomade?
Welcome (back) to Lost Heaven
Even after finishing Mafia: Definitive Edition, I still believe that the best showcase for this remake is the very first minutes. As I am inmy preview already mentioned, the ‘camera’ flies through the city of Lost Heaven during the introduction of Mafia: Definitive Edition, similar to how it is done in the 2002 game. If you compare these two introductions, as you can see in the video below, you will notice the immense difference between the versions: in terms of textures, lighting effects and 3D models, but also in terms of the vibrancy of the city and the number of animations of which characters are provided.
What I find even more impressive about this remake is the way all cutscenes have been re-recorded. But also really recorded, because the story of Tommy Angelo is now fully told by actors who acted at the motion capture studio of Hangar 13 in Brno. The difference with the original is gigantic! We’re talking little computer people from 2002 versus people of flesh and blood with a bucket of polygon paint thrown over.
The cast of Mafia: Definitive Edition
Mafia is a very story-driven game, but in the original version, good voice acting was clearly not a priority. Texts were read half interested; with as much passion as a teacher naming those present in a class. Which was fine for the year 2002, because people were not used to anything else and the numb voices matched the emotionless faces of the characters, not much more than human-colored surfaces with a moving mouth. In that respect, Mafia: Definitive Edition has really made enormous progress, because in this remake acting performances can actually be discerned… and judged of course.
We’re not dealing with Norman Reedus, Rami Malek, Emma Stone, Kristen Bell or Keanu Reeves (names you will find in other games) in Mafia: Definitive Edition, but the casting isn’t bad and they are all people who clearly have experience with physical acting. Protagonist Andrew Bongiorno as Tommy Angelo manages to put down a somewhat sympathetic, not too arrogant wiseguy, exactly what the game needs. Jeremy Luke and Don DiPetta as Paulie and Sam respectively, on the other hand, are really the stereotypical, Italian-American, way-too-slick gangsters that you almost hate.
I was most impressed by Bella Popa as Sarah, Tommy’s love interest. Sadly, she doesn’t have much to do, despite her role being bigger than in the original, but she steals every scene where she gets the chance to showcase her flawless New York attitude and accent. Sarah is not exactly the epitome of a strong woman and is still the little appendage waiting at home to make the food, but Bella Popa’s charisma shines right through her performance capture and your computer screen.
Ff lifting your disbelief
So the story portion of Mafia: Definitive Edition has been vastly improved in terms of effect, making you probably feel a lot more involved in Tommy’s entanglements. Although those events are still a bit … cheesy and clichéd, with the normalization of violence and criminal life not making the characters much more likeable. It’s a funny story, not like that, but even if you haven’t played the original you can predict a lot of ‘plot twists’ far in advance. In addition, Mafia tries very hard to be credible, but that is repeatedly undermined by the gameplay segments in which practically every criminal plan of the Salieris escalates into one major massacre of No Russian-like proportions.
But actually this is negligible criticism. You shouldn’t take Mafia: Definitive Edition too seriously, despite the fact that you do have that tendency due to the sometimes very serious cutscenes. Because while the story is the epicenter of the game and little remains if you leave it out, at the same time it is also just a way to tie the missions together in a somewhat convincing way. If you look at it that way, the makers have certainly achieved that goal. With the revamped cinematics, the discrepancy between story and gameplay may have become a bit more noticeable, but it’s a lot easier on board when Tommy continues his story to Detective Norman.
How old? So old!
The clear-cut story of Mafia: Definitive Edition ensures that it is a linear game, despite being set in an open world. You complete mission after mission, and these twenty chapters consist of elements such as chase scenes, the occasional fist fight, a bit of stealth, the occasional escort, some exploration of a new location, and ultimately usually a gigantic shootout. The well-known ingredients of an open world game, but thanks to a healthy dose of variety and the interesting settings, this remains fun for a long time. Although there are of course some snags – that couldn’t be any different with an almost two decades old game!
At a certain point you notice that the cover system was not in the original and was copied from Mafia 3 to this final version. It works fine 95 percent of the time, but occasionally Tommy can’t properly stick to a door frame and it happens more often that your gun can’t aim around the corner and the crosshair turns into a cross. Those are minor issues, but what is more annoying and even more emphasizes the age of the original game is that you don’t take your guns with you to the next chapter or even checkpoint! You have to hustle a tommy gun or magnum over and over again, and the only reason that doesn’t get extremely annoying is because there aren’t that many different types of shooting irons.
Medium / mild Mafia
Minor hiccups aside, I was usually mildly or medium entertained during the twenty chapters of Mafia: Definitive Edition. It’s quite funny to be introduced over and over to a new environment, a hotel, prison, airport or – of course – gentleman’s club, knowing that in no time they will fill up with cops and mafioso that you have to shoot all to death. In addition, driving classic cars from the 1930s is refreshingly different from driving around with the average GTA box, where the realistic physics and sounds of the cars enhance the experience.
After an hour or 20-30, depending on the difficulty, you have finished Mafia: Definitive Edition. Sure, there will probably still be some collectibles left in the city and there are some extra missions that will keep you busy for a while in the Free Ride mode, but in the case of Mafia it is also really finished with the game. Which is fine; this final closing, and the price of 40 euros is also somewhat in line with that, but you are still left with a bit of an empty feeling. That filler and pomade and the new three-piece suit have certainly made this old wise guy presentable again, but his times of badabing badaboom have definitely come and gone.
Conclusion
SCORE:
78 This is one of the best remakes of recent years, both graphically and technically and especially in the field of cinematics that tells the old story much better. Mafia: Definitive Edition is the best reason for players of the original to put on Lost Heaven again! But the novelty layer has small cracks, leaving the non-nostalgic player with a somewhat meager, somewhat unsatisfying experience. This is one of the best remakes of recent years, both graphically and technically and especially in the field of cinematics that tells the old story much better. Mafia: Definitive Edition is the best reason for players of the original to put on Lost Heaven again! But the novelty layer has small cracks, leaving the non-nostalgic player with a somewhat meager, somewhat unsatisfying experience.
