Review for Mafia: Definitive Edition. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/09/2020
Eighteen years after the release of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, the story of Thomas Angelo and the Salieri clan returns to the spotlight with the publication of Mafia: Definitive Edition. The title, developed by Hangar 13, is a real remake of the original and aims to give it new light from every point of view. The developers, in fact, not only carried out a graphic restyling, but also took care of rewriting some sequences of dialogues and renewing the direction and gameplay.
There is a part of the history of the twentieth century that always exerts a huge fascination on the public and, not surprisingly, has been the subject of books and films several times. The 30s were deeply marked by the economic crisis that began in 1929 and, at least as far as the United States is concerned, by prohibition, which cleared organized crime. This term refers to the historical period in which the United States experimented with a ban on alcoholic beverages. The story of the taxi driver Tommy Angelo is part of this context, which is complex and full of contradictions, to say the least. If on the one hand the distribution of alcohol was prohibited, on the other hand its consumption did not stop at all. In the aftermath of the entry into force of the Volstead Act, alcohol saw its value rise considerably and a black market began to develop which flourished until 1933.
The plot of Mafia: City of Lost Heaven - and of Mafia: Definitive Edition - offers a very clear look at this period and manages to do so through the events told, in 1938, by Thomas Angelo to detective Norman, in charge of finding and arresting Don Salieri. The same Tommy, Therefore, traces his career in organized crime from the beginning, which began after a chance meeting with two of Salieri's men during an evening of work and motivated by the desire for social and economic redemption.
Mafia: Definitive Edition, just like the original, is a fully storytelling title and you notice it from the first minutes of the game. The care taken by Hangar 13 in the creation of the cutscenes is remarkable and the final result, both for the quality of the facial expressions and for the acting, can only take on a pleasantly cinematic cut. In this regard, one cannot fail to point out the excellent level of dubbing, which is on the same level as that on which the 2002 title could count.
Being a deeply narrative title, you will notice that the same attention has been paid to the rewriting of the dialogues. The main characters now appear more nuanced and plausible, but their character characteristics have not been distorted. Hangar 13 was faced, in fact, with the difficult task of giving life to the re-edition of a real milestone of the video game, but it still tried to do it all with a discreet originality. The original material has not been distorted; it can be said, however, that it has been reworked and enriched.
Even from the point of view of gameplay, the title has maintained its original character. Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven offered a very linear gameplay experience and the remake developers did not include side missions. The choice of the developers to maintain this connotation is much more than appreciable. Inserting other contents would certainly have distracted the player's attention from a story that finds two of its most appreciated traits in the fast pace and linearity.
The fact that the general framework on which the game is based is very distant from today's trends is evident and at Hangar 13 the merit of not having included elements that would have brought him too close to today's productions, risking to distort his identity.
The developers of Mafia: Definitive Edition have chosen to include some collectibles - such as gangster stickers or comics - which, although not present in the 2002 title, are not invasive and can entertain the player for an extra hour or two. The longevity of the title, however, increases considerably according to the difficulty chosen by the user.
The missions of Mafia: Definitive Edition are not overly difficult in the default difficulty level and they are quite varied in terms of situations and jobs to be completed. For a large part of the experience the player is engaged in driving the most disparate vehicles, including cars, motorcycles and trucks that faithfully reflect the models circulating in the 30s. The driving system has been revised by the developers, despite some obvious physics problems in the impacts, and the user can choose whether to set the driving in standard or simulation mode. By choosing the latter, the difficulty of moving will be amplified since the cars will reproduce the most common problems of their real counterparts.
In the course of frequent shootings, however, one easily realizes how tiring it is to aim accurately. At first glance it would seem a mistake of the developers but, in reality, it is a characteristic daughter of the idea of the development team to make the of a character like Tommy with weapons realistic. At the beginning of the game he is catapulted into the world of organized crime and is certainly not accustomed to the use of firearms, so his difficulty in taking aim is fully justified. This, however, makes it very difficult to perform headshots in the most hectic situations and is certainly an element capable of keeping the player's attention on the scene high.
The firefights are not particularly complex if you take advantage of the covers and if you waste a few bullets. Finding yourself without ammunition in front of a dozen minions of the enemy Don leaves almost inevitably without escape, also thanks to an artificial intelligence that, except for the classic smudges present in other titles, will try to circumvent or bring Tommy into the open. The system for restoring the life bar has also remained unchanged. Even in the remake, therefore, it will be necessary to locate the medkits located in the maps in order to regain one's health. However, it should be remembered that the difficulty level is scalable. Lowering it, therefore, the bar will gradually reload autonomously and you will suffer less from the limited number of bullets at your disposal.
From the point of view of the setting, however, the work of Hangar 13 is simply splendid. Lost Heaven, on the whole, has been faithfully recreated and contributes considerably to the immersion.
The developers did a great job with the lighting which, especially during the night, offers unique plays of light among the puddles on the road surface, the colored paints of the cars and the luminous signs of the premises. The graphics engine of Mafia III was certainly decisive and guaranteed an undoubtedly remarkable final result. Mafia: Definitive Edition, however, lends itself to some bugs and graphic glitches that, fortunately, do not spoil the gaming experience. Accompanying the setting, which can now be visited freely also in the “take a ride” mode, is the soundtrack composed of original instrumental tracks but also of songs by well-known artists such as Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington.
The work done by Hangar 13 is undoubtedly courageous. Developing the remake of a great classic like Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven is not an easy task: on the one hand there is the risk of not capturing the interest of new players, on the other hand that of disappointing fans of the game. due to some changes deemed intrusive. Mafia: Definitive Edition, however, does none of this, managing to classify itself as an accessible work for those who have never tried the original and, at the same time, as a respectful and faithful re-edition of a cult of the videogame medium.
► Mafia: Definitive Edition is an Adventure type game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 25/09/2020
