Mafia: Definitive Edition

It's been eighteen years since gamers first experienced the Prohibition era criminal empire of the original Mafia game. With two sequels under its belt and two generations of consoles having come to pass, Mafia: Definitive Edition returns with a long overdue revisit to the fictional city of Lost Heaven. It delivers with sharp visuals, new voiceovers, and a few new tricks and gameplay elements. The result is a city that's more alive and characters that are more engaging than ever. As vibrant as the bump in quality is, it also makes the violence feel much more brutal. There's no sugarcoating things here. This is a world rife with bootleggers and button men, where gamblers and prostitutes are more common than businessmen and housewives, and where mafia kingpins give "mob rule" whole different meaning. It's a fantastic noir setting with an equally fantastic story that stands the test of time. But the same can't always be said for the gameplay.

Mafia: Definitive Edition has been rebuilt from the ground up, but that doesn't mean things haven't be recycled from the past. For starters, the game's engine borrows heavily from Mafia III. While this makes it less stiff than the original, it's still using a four-year-old system that wasn't exactly groundbreaking even at the time. It gets the job done though, allowing players more interaction with the environment. Combat feels a little sluggish, but somehow still fits the sort of gritty, street level violence. Driving through the city, whether in slick classic cars or the newly added motorcycles, can be a touch finicky. While players can go crazy flying through the streets in Free Roam, trying to play it safe to not draw undue attention can be a pain in Story mode. While there's no doubt that certain portions of the remake can feel a bit dated, especially by current standards, Mafia: Definitive Edition still manages to feel like a fresh take on a classic game that plays to its nostalgia without getting smothered by it.