Live out the life of Tommy Angelo where one day a cab ride turns into helping the mob, and then becoming himself a mobster in the 1930’s. Mafia: Definitive Edition is a game about the mob and what rewards and consequences that come with the mob, mob life and the outcome to Tommy life being a mobster.
AS THE GAME IS RATED M – FOR MATURE, THIS TITLE WAS TESTED WITH GAMERS OVER THE AGE OF 17.
General Gameplay
Mafia: Definitive 
Edition is a remake of the original Mafia game that was released 2002. The game has additional footage and updated graphics, music, and gameplay. The game is a linear sandbox game where you play the game from the perspective of Tommy and what is going on with him and the mob. The Game Visuals are outstanding. Now as the game is a remastered of the original there will be a lot of graphical upgrades but when you see the game in motion, Mafia: Definitive Edition is just an absolute joy to see in action. The amount of detail from the character animations, to the city, cars, and everything else that is in the game is done well in 4K. Even if you are not gaming in 4K the level of detail is just well done. The game backgrounds and people in the city have a life of its own, and makes the game come to life. The cut scenes are done in true detail from the era of the clothing, to the cars and other things that you would see in the 1930’s. The game is very colorful and the colors pop on the screen making it easy for anyone to see the colors in the game. As the game does not offer a colorblind mode, is it not needed for Mafia: Definitive Edition. As the game is a mature rated title there is lots of violence and blood in the game, but little nudity but implied nudity in parts of the game. Also, as the game is a game about the mob, there is lots of violent moments where characters are gunned down or beat down in a violent manner. Nothing over violent but more to show the story as it unfolds. In our play testing, outside of the mention about the graphics, there is nothing wrong with the game play when it comes to the graphics for Mafia: Definitive Edition. Audio in Mafia: Definitive Edition is also remastered for the game. The game audio is presented in the same way as the original game but with more character banter, more city sounds and other improvements. The game characters audio dialog is brought to life with a fantastic voice acting cast. All the characters voice acting is done well, and you feel that as you are watching a mobster movie as the dialog is presented in the game. The game background sounds are also done well where the city comes to life in its audio. The sounds that you want to expect to hear from a game like this are present. From car engines, to city people talking, gunshots, and other sounds are done very well. Mafia: Definitive Edition is presented in 5.1 surround sound as well in 2.0 stereo sound, and it sounds very well in either sound environment. As the game is a mature rated title, you would expect to hear language, and honestly the language used in the game is similar as what you would hear from a gangster movie with an R rating. Lots of F bombs dropped as well as other “colorful” language but again the language is used to tell the story and give more dept to the characters that are using the language. If anything, the game the language help bring more dept and character to the games characters and feels right in the audio. The game story is told via audio dialog, so expect to hear a lot of dialog in the game. In our play testing, outside of the outlines that we made above about audio, the game audio preforms fine and great for older gamers playing Mafia: Definitive Edition. Controls in Mafia: Definitive Edition are quite easy to use. The game plays out in an action controller setting and all the controller buttons are laid out in a way where you can move Tommy and get around without any trouble. The game has an opening style tutorial where it will help you get used to the controller settings. Overall, the controller setting is quite easy to use and pick up and play, and for those that are used to playing sandbox style of action games, the controller is designed around that style. As the game is available on both consoles and PC, we recommend for PC gamers to use a controller and the standard controller for your console is fine for the game. In our play testing we did not encounter any issues with Mafia: Definitive Edition controller settings or controls. The game is very special needs gaming friendly.
“With a great story, action and overall gameplay, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a great remastered game for any gamers out there that love a good mob story or just fans of the Mafia series.”
Family Friendly
When we heard that 2K was remastering the original Mafia game, we were extremely excited about what they will do with this remastered and how it will look when finished. And they did not disappoint in this. Mafia: Definitive Edition has everything that made the original game back in 2002 such a classic. A great story, storytelling from the character voice acting, characters, gameplay, soundtrack and ending that would make you feel that you are watching a mob movie. What the developers did was add more dialog and more sharper controls and graphics to give the game more of a movie feel. Gameplay is easy to get into combat, and navigate throughout the game, and the story. The gameplay is exceptionally smooth and quite easy to pick up and play for both fans of sandbox story driven games and non-fans. Now here are some things that we have notice when playing the game. The game is more linear then first seen, yes you can go around the city but the only true way to play the game in its “sandbox” mode is in its free mode from the options and allows you to play the game in the “sandbox” style that the game is designed to be in. In this mode you can go for the collectables that you normally cannot get during the normal story mode. This was the same way the game was in 2002 as “sandboxes gaming” was still growing in mainstream, so for those that are looking for side missions, you will not get this in this game. Another thing that was a nice update is that after beating the game you can go into the free mode and hunt down collectables like cars by getting clues from locations and driving them back. This is a nice post end game content that is great for those that want to find everything in the game. Now as some may find this as a more of a chore, but this was still a fun aspect of the game after beating the game story. The story mode can be completed in roughly 8-9 hours and it does have some great set moments in the series, but the checkpoints that are within the level make the game more forgiving in if you are defeated or fail in a mission, you don’t necessarily need to restart the whole mission over again. There are some points of the game that can get increasingly hard even on easy settings such as the race or chase scenes, but with a few restarts of the last checkpoint it can be completed, however for casual gamers this may be an annoyance. Overall Mafia: Definitive Edition is a great game for those that love mob movies, or just a game with a good story. The levels are easy to finish, has a great story about Tommy and his time with the mob, controls are easy to use, and overall, it is a great game. Now as the game is rated M – for Mature there is a lot of language and at times some culturally sensitive material that is in the game. Now this is part of the game more to tell the story and give it more of an actual feel of what would happen in this era more than being overused just for shock value. There is no nudity in the game but more implied nudity where you will be at points at the game where you will see ladies less clothing on but no nudity to speak of. The game used a lot of language, but this is expected in a game like this, let alone a game that involves dealing with the mob and their general banter. As we are getting into more of a culture sensitivity in gaming this is important to point out for gamers before picking up the game as some may find both the language and cultural references hurting or offensive, but in Mafia: Definitive Edition it is more used to tell the story than anything else. Our best suggestion to gamers and parents of gamers is to watch video footage of the game in motion and make the best choice for yourself and your gaming family. The only complaint that we had about Mafia: Definitive Edition was that after beating the main story, that there is nothing much outside of finding cars and some collectables in the game. We felt that this would have been a wonderful time, especially in a remake to introduce more post game content to keep gamers going. Also, the race portion of the game can get considerably harder for some odd reason. Now you can reload the last checkpoint of this portion, but it just felt harder than it needed to be. Another point was vehicle chase scenes where just one miss or crash causes a failure of the mission, this was also frustrating in the game but not enough to break the game or gameplay. Outside of these minor complaints, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a great remaster of the original Mafia game from 2002. For those that have played the original, this is a must have game for your digital library. Also, for those that are looking for a good story driven game, or just love the Mafia series or love mob-based games, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a must have for any gamer. In our special needs game testing. We did not encounter any issues with the game visuals, audio or even the controls. Outside of some minor complaints listed above, Mafia: Definitive Edition is very special needs gaming friendly.
Closing
With a fantastic story about being part of the mob, and seeing mob life from Tommy’s eyes, Mafia: Definitive Edition is a must have game for your digital library for any sandbox, or story driven gamers out there. The sheer amount of remastering alone is worth the price to play this fantastic game!
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