The day has finally arrived, Mafia: Definitive Edition is here. Developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a remake of the 2002 original built from the ground up, bringing back the classic tale of Tommy Angelo.

Welcome to the 1930s where you play as Tommy Angelo, a taxi driver from Lost Heaven who soon hands over the keys to his cab to join the mobster lifestyle within the Salieri family. The story is told across around 20 missions where you’ll be shooting a lot of bad guys, throwing molotovs, getting in fist fights and driving… lot’s of driving. I’ll touch on how the games controls feel a little later on.

Now, the original game came out about 18 years ago, so how does this remake hold up against the original? Straight away you’ll notice just how much blood, sweat and tears Hangar 13 has spent on the game’s visuals. The city of Lost Heaven is absolutely stunning. It’s not just the visuals that have been recreated from scratch, every cutscene has also been recreated, with a string of new motion capture actors bringing it more in line with what you would expect from games today.

Compared to the original game, the sheer amount of detail that has gone into this remake is mind blowing. Everything from the sun shining through the trees and off the cars, the puddles on the roads, the busy streets of people going about their daily lives, the whole world really feels alive as if I’ve stepped back in time to the 1930’s.

The controls and driving feel a little fine tuned since it’s 2002 version release, but for the most part the same. Mafia is set in the 1930’s and the way the cars drive really feel like they fit in and made sense for the time period. It would have been nice to maybe have it feel a little more on the moden side, but I get it, Hangar 13 wanted to stay faithful to the original game, and I think they achieved that.

Speaking of detail, doing something wrong like driving too fast or running red lights will result in getting in some trouble with the police, so during missions where you really don’t need the heat from the cops, I suggest using the games built-in speed limiter to keep those speeds at bay. Though if you want to avoid this all together, you can disable it and the police won’t bother you at all.

As for the gunplay, while it’s not going to feel like the next Call of Duty, firearms feel much looser and a little less clunky as they were back in 2002, all while still having them feel and handle like you’d assume they would from the 1930’s. My only issue I have with the gunplay would be the guns, they do feel a little underpowered, more so the pistols, taking many, many shots at times to take down a single enemy. Pick up a shotgun though and it’s a different story. Love a good boom stick.

Mafia: Definitive Edition also comes with a mode called, “Free Ride”. This lets you explore the city without needing to worry about the main story missions. It’s a perfect way to jump back in and run around tracking down the games collectables which are in the form of old magazine covers or cars you might have missed during your story playthrough.

Hanger 13 have absolutely nailed it with Mafia: Definitive Edition. The original Mafia game was hands down one of my all time favorite games. Mafia: Definitive Edition is a faithful remake of a classic story for not only those that played it back in 2002, but for anyone that has never experienced this masterpiece before.

Written by: MKAU Gaming