Mafia: Definitive Edition (2020)

Mafia: Definitive Edition is an absolute gem that resonated deeply with me. As someone who loves linear storytelling, this game hit all the right notes. The narrative is incredibly engaging, pulling you into the gritty world of 1930s organized crime with a captivating, well-paced story that kept me hooked from the opening scene to the credits.

The graphics are nothing short of breathtaking. The developers have done an outstanding job recreating Lost Heaven, making every street and building feel alive and authentic. The level of detail in the environment, the lighting, and the character models is impressive and adds to the overall immersion.

The soundtrack is another highlight for me. The music perfectly captures the era and enhances the atmosphere of the game. Each track complements the action and drama unfolding on screen, making the emotional moments even more impactful.

What I loved most about Mafia: Definitive Edition is how it presents the story. The seamless integration of cutscenes and gameplay keeps the pacing just right, never making it feel like you're watching a movie or just playing a game. The voice acting and motion capture are superb, bringing the characters to life and adding depth to their personalities.

In short, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a fantastic reimagining of a classic game. It combines a compelling story, stunning graphics, and an unforgettable soundtrack to create an experience that any fan of linear narratives should not miss. If you're like me and appreciate a well-told story with top-notch presentation, this game is definitely worth your time.

i liked it, felt like a movie. most likely gonna play the second game. stayed up till 4 am just cause i wanted to get to the ending, and it was wowzers. i might just be really bad at games but it was funny and so hard to shake the police off your tail. you could run pass so many enemys and just shotgun your way to the checkpoint which i found enjoyable and funny. i feel pretty neutral about all the characters and how they went about doing stuff. tryna keep it spoiler free for others. if you want a quick story game to play and enjoyable i would say its worth the 20 if you can get it for that price.

It is one of the most boring games I have ever played. It is neither good nor bad. This game is worse than bad games because it almost made me lose interest in gaming for a few months. I could never play more than 1 or 2 chapters per session and it was a pain to get through.

Though the graphics are good, the world design is very much forgettable.

As some reviewers have said the game mechanics are dated and broken, this makes for a very annoying experience. The hand to hand combat is one of the worst that I have seen, it never works as intended. When you take down an enemy, the camera angle changes completely and it takes sometime for us to figure out where we are and where to hide a body.

The story is ok but by today's standards the overall story telling and immersiveness are well below par. I also felt the turn of events towards the end was ill conceived, after being fully loyal to Salieri through out the game, it was a bit difficult to believe that Tom and Paulie would feel that Salieri was ripping them off after the customs mission. There was never any indication of that before.

Played this for the first time in my life, and WOW. Really loved the story, it made me feel really immersive into it. Without getting into spoilers, I really love a good game with good plot twists. Since it is based on the old game, I was expecting a worse gameplay. After watching some gameplays from the original 2002 game, I was really impressed by the effort that the studio gave to this definitive edition. It's been a while since I've been so addicted to a game!

Positive points:

• The story is AMAZING
• Huge collection of cars (and a motorcycle)
• Amazing radio music while driving -Immersive gameplay
• Diversity of the missions

Negative points:

• Would love to have more exploration through the world, but it was not needed.

I binged all the fast and furious movies recently and god damn now when I see games talk of family I just think of the shitty movies.

After playing the original, the remake was wonderful visually! From what I read apparently some story is cut a bit / reworked but none of that made it unenjoyable. I still think Mafia 2 is the best but this was a great time - the story is generic mafia story but still I enjoyed it.

One thing I was curious why I never got to do anything between missions - turns out that is what the "free ride" option in the menu is for - I know it's from how the original did it but I don't really like the idea of having to go out of game to go back in just to have some time between a mission.

Iunno if u like the Mafia games I'd say this is worth playing esp over Mafia 3 - I just really like the periods of 1 and 2 so even if Mafia 3 isn't horribly worse it's just more eh in my mind.

I'm not sure how Rockstar fumbled their GTA HD release so bad when this game came out before and was a perfect example of how to remake a game. The graphics are beautiful and the story is greatly improved upon with the voice acting and cutscenes. One of the best endings to a video game I've got to enjoy. Highly recommend!

Gameplay: 7

• Open world but not as interactive as GTA, just immersive and great detail
• Mix of racing and gunplay/stealth misisons keep it mixed
• Great assortment of Free Roam missions to unlock cool outfits and golden weapons to be used in game, I wish it was just integrated in the main game and not a seperate mode

Story: 9

• Amazing story brought to life through great voice acting and movie like cutscenes
• Immersive acting has you feeling like you're actually in the mafia
• Watch meaningful relationships play out with a surprise ending true to the story

Graphics: 9

• Huge improvement from the original, not just an HD texture pack
• Vehicles and outfits in game look great
• Nice details to side streets like mini markets and pedestrians doing activities really bring the game to life

Soundtrack: 7

• Good soundtrack throughout missions and cutscenes, fit the vibe of the mafia
• Cars only have two radio stations, one talk channel and one that plays old tunes in the time of the game so does make sense.

I never played Mafia before so I thought I'd give the Definitive Edition a shot and I really liked it.

Sure, it's super linear and you don't have any real freedom, but the story is good and at about 10h playing time it's almost like watching a season of a TV show. I really enjoyed the world, even it's really just a backdrop for the story. But the clothes, cars, and radio stations all add to the cinematic feel. I was very engrossed in this and while it doesn't have any replay value (at least for me) I think I'll still remember it for a long time. Also props for the ending, Tommy getting shot was the best possible way to end this.

I've got a confession. I love video games. Have played them for as long as I can remember, and I've rarely ever cared that much about gameplay.

I mean I certainly care about it, but a great story and immersive world/atmosphere will smooth over any complaints I have about it. For some, poor gameplay is a complete and total deal breaker. For me, as long as there's a great narrative to get invested in, it's a minor inconvenience at worst.

That's pretty much my review of Mafia Definitive Edition summed up. I went into this game completely new to this franchise (so purist of the original 2002 game, go ahead and head over to Home Depot to pick up whatever you need to crucify me), but I freaking loved this game. Totally immersed from beginning to end. Super cinematic, great writing, great performances, beautiful presentation, and I was totally immersed in its world.

This is where I acknowledge that, yes, there's literally nothing to do in the open world except the main story. But honestly it was kind of refreshing to play this style of game with all the fat trimmed.

Yes, large sections of the game are spent just driving from point A to point B, but I was so immersed in the atmosphere I found the drives to be rather pleasant. I enjoyed taking my time. The open world wasn't "living and breathing," but it was the perfect backdrop to a very linear and cinematic story.

Yes, the gameplay (while vastly improved from the original, or at least what I can tell from YouTube) is mediocre at best, but it was functional enough. I also kind of enjoyed the limited ammo and the fact that you couldn't just run in guns blazing. The combat is kind of centered around either getting a headshot or spending a lot of that limited ammo, and the headshots were kind of difficult to get, so that presented it's own fun little mini-challenge.

Yes, the game changes the story, characters and completely re-writes the dialogue. Because I was so engrossed by this game, I spent a lot of time on YouTube looking at what the differences were between this and the original. From what I can tell, this is pretty much a massive improvement across the board. The comment sections were full of fans of the original swearing up and down that the original was vastly superior. Some of them reasoned that's because it was harder and more built like a prohibition era gangster simulator and less of a story-driven game, which I understand and can respect. Others argued the original had a considerably stronger story and portrayed the characters better, which I consider laughable. Those are some pretty powerful rose-colored glasses!

I can make fun of that sentiment while also acknowledging what a great, pioneering game the original was for cinematic, narrative-driven video games. Which, you can probably tell from my intro paragraph, is the type of game I absolutely love! The original DID tell a good story, but was severely limited by its tech. That's nothing the original did wrong. It did the very best it could with what it had, but this is simply a matter of time and better tech allowing for this remake to do it considerably better.

To me, this is the perfect blend of new and old video game design. It tells a well-written, engaging narrative with BEAUTIFUL graphics like many of the best games today, while containing absolutely none of the excess fat and repetitive runtime stuffing of its contemporaries. If that sounds appealing to you, this is a no-brainer.

Can't wait to check out Mafia II and Mafia III (Even though I've heard Mafia III contains all the excess fat and repetitive runtime stuffing I just complained about!)

Missed out on the original so perfect time to jump in with the remake. Story was well done with little rest bite between chapters which kept me engaged. Characters were well written and voice acted and the soundtrack was on point for the era portrayed. Unfortunately there were a few glitches during my playthrough and some of the gameplay left a lot to be desired, mainly vehicle handling and stiff fist fights, fortunately the gun handling felt much more comfortable and made it more enjoyable.

Critics' Score:

Metacritic: 79/100

Game Informer: 5.5/10

Gamespot: 6/10

IGN: 8/10

First of all, I need to clarify, that my story with the franchise isn't that of a fairy tale. I play the demo for Mafia II back in the PS3, but never got around to actually playing the game, I tried many years later but it wasn't the right time. I hated with a passion Mafia III, couldn't stand it; being an African-American in 60's Louisiana was a great idea at first, but the whole game was so bad, stories were repetitive and not to say that everything was repetitive, fuck it, I'll say it. You play 1 hour of that game, you've played the whole game. So, now, I do not have nostalgia for the original Mafia, not for the series. Still, I love films and I love films made and set in the 30's and one day, I thought, "I want to play a game set in the 30's" so I picked up Mafia: Definitive Edition wasn't expecting much... but I was greatly surprised.

The story might be the best thing out of this game. Cutscenes are great, and the whole cast is great. The only problems I can point my finger at, is the pacing, which sometimes feel rushed, that's mainly due to the way that the story is told, and played. Dividing the game by chapters, like if it was some kind of series, felt to me often a bit off. Things were going on behind scenes, when the screen went black "Chapter Complete", and some of those thing I would have liked to see. Some relationships suffered from that, one chapter we get to know someone, next chapter we are dating. You see, where I am going.

I played the game in the "noir" mode. Saw a gameplay before buying it and thought the games colors were plain, specially when outside in the city, interiors looked better. That's one thing to complain generally, lot of studios go for realism and is often the Indies, who give us the best looking game as they stylized them. Realism can be great for a game like Red Dead Redemption II -which I have my fair share of complains about- but this one, asked for something more cinematic. The "noir" mode comes to save the day however, as suddenly the experience becomes one of the best looking games I have played. It really outshines the excellent, and often dramatic, lighting of the game; in color there are little things that go amiss. Some people complain the game gets "too dark" and they "can't see", it didn't happen to me, on the contrary it added intensity. The "Farm Mission" one of the best known in the game, gets a whole overhaul in ambience, the lightings and the lamps hanging from the cottages, it really gets terrifying.

Things that have gotten better compared to the first game, I have recently sit through half an hour of a gameplay from the original. The dialogue has vastly improved, it really has some top notch "gangster" dialogue in it; the voice acting is much far superior, and those who disagree, are affected by nostalgia. However, the aiming and shooting looks much better in the original, this remake has an incredible weak shooting. And this is at the end a 17-20 hour game, where most of all, you'll be shooting and driving your way through. Talking about driving, do not have any complains here, played with keyboard and mouse, and I really enjoyed it. However, that whole arch of the race car, it was heavily criticized in the original, it hasn't improved, what a way to fuck up the pace. I played the whole game in "Classic" difficulty -the hardest-, but when I got to the race, that infamous race; after spending more time than one should spent trying to beat it, I changed it to easy, I just simply couldn't be bothered to finish it.

The game is worth it. A great story but it mainly suffers for the way it's told and can get a bit repetitive, but still the story will push you through it all, because in its way it deserves it. But let me warn you, the game is extremely buggy, at the end, these are the same developers that developed Mafia III, none of them was "game breaking". Although the audio died in some cutscenes, and those cutscenes are the best thing in the game, so that really thwarted my immersion. And there was one bug, that happened only once, but it was so weird, it was kind of remarkable. It's already hard to explain but, the closest I can get to is, at one moment Lost Heaven became a kaleidoscope. It figures, eh?

Score: 65/100