Mafia News

Mafia: Definitive Edition review - streets ain't what they used to be

'Definitive Edition' is a curious, fluid term. It's been applied to everything from a game bundled with DLC, a slap of fresh paint, and a handful of tweaks, to a "built-from-the-ground-up" overhaul - like Mafia: Definitive Edition. It's a remake, effectively, and it walks the same tightrope: how do you preserve the spirit of an 18-year-old title in a modern gaming experience? At what point is a game's DNA so altered that it becomes a new thing entirely? Mafia: DE not only walks that rope with barely a wobble, it nails a few pirouettes along the way.

It's clear we're on 2002 Mafia's turf from the get-go. The same orchestral theme greets me like an old amica and the scene's set with protagonist Tommy Angelo making jaded cop Detective Norman an offer he can't refuse. The diner booth, the exchange of verbal ripostes - heck! - right down to the cup o' Joe - it's the same but just... better. Well-written and acted. Graphically gorgeous.

In the cinematics, at least - of which there are a lot - Mafia: DE is almost wholly faithful to the original. There's a nice touch early on with a near frame-for-frame replica of an original cutscene.

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Gamescom - Mafia: Definitive Edition has a new trailer, check it out

We've got another good peek at the upcoming Mafia remake, Mafia: Definitive Edition, with a brand-new narrative trailer having just been unveiled at tonight's Gamescom 2020 Opening Night Live showcase. The brand-new clip, titled 'A life of reward too big to ignore', gives us our second glimpse into the world of taxi-driver-turned-gangster Tommy Angelo, and the dynamics of the Salieri faction. It hinges on one key thing, which the family's head honcho drums into the aspiring baddie: loyalty.

As you can see below, the new trailer opens with a rainy night in the crime game's fictional city, Lost Heaven, and a meeting over coffee between Salieri faction members. "All these guys, in this room - they're here because they have the only thing that matters to me. The only thing that should matter to any of us," Don Salieri, its head, states ominously. "You know what that is, Tommy?"

"They're loyal," the up-and-coming gangster responds. Shudder. We then get a good eyeball of the upcoming PC game's "built-from-the-ground-up" aspects - busy city streets, with old yellow cabs, Tommy's encounters with many of Lost Heaven's tricky customers, and some tommy gun-filled gunfights - all with those shiny all-new visuals.

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Here's how Mafia: Definitive Edition differs from the original

Mafia: Definitive Edition's release date is fast approaching, and fans are no doubt itching to get their hands on the revamped game, which adds a new lick of paint to the 2002 original. Some fans, however, have been wondering how much or little of the game will be changed for the remaster. In a new interview, Hangar 13 tells us just that.

"Largely we wanted to keep the story the same," Devin Hitch, the studio's lead producer, explains. "We have all of the same missions; all of the major mission beats that occur are in there, the missions in the original are back. The area where we wanted to introduce some new things and where we really had to figure out where the balance was with some of the new gameplay features.

"The original 2002 Mafia is third-person shooter but it plays very much like a first-person shooter, where you're strafing to take cover, things like that. One of the things that we had to look at was, 'How did we want to take the more modern cover shooter mechanics that we developed in Mafia III and augment those to support the story and the type of combat that we wanted in Mafia I?'

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Mafia: Definitive Edition - why "it's going to draw you in"

If you're a crime games fan, you'll no doubt have heard Mafia - yes, the 2002 game - is being treated to a "built-from-the-ground-up" remake. Mafia: Definitive Edition will essentially have the bones and blueprint of the original, but will feature all-new technology, voice acting, game mechanics, and more, transforming it into a modern experience on par with the latest title in the series, Mafia III.

Since the action-adventure game's announcement earlier this year, developer Hangar 13 and publisher 2K have shared brief glimpses of the remake, including a trailer that (re)introduces us to its star, cabbie-turned-mafioso Tommy Angelo, and a clip teasing ten seconds of Mafia: Definitive Edition gameplay. Now, 2K's unveiled a generous 12-minute chunk of gameplay for us to check out ahead of the game's launch in September, which you can see embedded below - but there's still plenty more to ascertain about what the remake will bring.

To find out more about how and why the remake came to be, how Hangar 13 is striking the balance between the old and the new, and why Tommy Angelo's journey from happy-go-lucky cab driver to a made man who's kind of in over his head is worth revisiting, we spoke to Devin Hitch, lead producer at Hangar 13.

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