Mafia: Definitive Edition

Mafia: Definitive Edition is a 2020 action-adventure video game, developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games. A remake of the 2002 video game Mafia, it is the fourth main installment in the Mafia series.

Mafia: Definitive Edition
Developer(s)Hangar 13[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)2K Games
Director(s)Alex Cox
Producer(s)Devin Hitch
Designer(s)Ondřej Vévoda
Programmer(s)Martin Brandstätter
Artist(s)Petr Motejzik
Writer(s)Haden Blackman
Will Porter
Composer(s)Jesse Harlin
SeriesMafia
Platform(s)
ReleaseSeptember 25, 2020
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Set within the fictional city of Lost Heaven, Illinois (based on Chicago) during the 1930s, the story follows the rise and fall of a Lost Heaven Sicilian-American mobster, Tommy Angelo within the Salieri crime family. Alongside the story mode, players can also explore the city in an open world mode, which features side missions and the ability to find secrets at their own leisure. The remake brought with it several improvements to the original's story and gameplay, including a rebuilt setting, enhanced mission dynamics, and the introduction of motorcycles to the series. While most of the veteran Czech Mafia voice cast returned for the new installment, the English voices were recast. In addition, developers created an original score for the remake.

The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 25 September 2020, both individually and as part of the Mafia: Trilogy pack, which also includes a remastered version of the second game and an updated version of the third game. Upon release, it received generally favorable reviews from critics, with praise for revitalizing the story, performances, and graphics, yet faced some criticism over its animations.

Gameplay
Comparison screenshots of the original Mafia (top) and Mafia: Definitive Edition. While the latter inherited the original story and premise, the remake rebuilt the original's map with new elements, while using the Mafia III engine to account for eighth-generation consoles and contemporary gameplay mechanics.

Conceived as a full remake of the original, Mafia: Definitive Edition was built from the ground up with new assets and an expanded story, although missions and arcs from the original game are carried over. As with the 2002 game, players control Tommy Angelo throughout the game's single-player campaign, and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. New to the remake is the introduction of motorcycles, a first in the series.[1] Mafia: Definitive Edition's gameplay mechanics are based on those of Mafia III. A 'Classic Difficulty' setting is also included, serving as the game's hardest difficulty setting that changes some gameplay mechanics such as ammunition management and police response to crimes, bringing the game closer to the original 2002 game.[2]

Outside the main story mode, a separate Free Ride mode is included "as a nod to the original game", allowing the player to explore the city at their own leisure without any mandatory mission objectives. Unlike the original game, however, Free Ride and Free Ride Extreme are merged into one game mode, with the latter's outlandish and over-the-top side missions incorporated into the main Free Ride segment as hidden secrets to be uncovered by the player.[3]

A post-release update released in October 2020 added new activities in the game's Free Ride mode, including taxi missions and a racing mode which takes place in the autodrome featured in the mission "Fair Play". Also included in the update is the ability to play the game in black and white, labeled in the game's settings menu as "Noir Mode" as a homage to film noir movies of the era, as well as various options allowing the player to show or hide parts of the game's HUD.[4][5]

Plot
See also: Mafia (video game) § Plot

In 1930, during the Great Depression, impoverished taxi driver Thomas "Tommy" Angelo is strong-armed by two members of the Salieri crime family—Paulie Lombardo and Sam Trapani—into helping them escape an ambush by the rival Morello crime family. Although he is offered a job and is compensated for his help, Tommy Angelo returns to his job the next day until two Morello family members attack him in an act of revenge. After Sam and Paulie save him, Tommy asks Don Ennio Salieri for help and exacts retribution upon his attackers, while agreeing to join Salieri's organization as an associate. Assisting with the operations of Salieri's rackets across Lost Heaven, overseen by his consigliere Frank Colletti, he befriends Sam and Paulie during the jobs they perform together, while earning Salieri's respect by thwarting an attempt by the Morello family to take over one of his rackets.

In 1932, Tommy, now a made man, begins a relationship with Sarah Marino, the daughter of Salieri's bartender Luigi, after protecting her from some punks. Under Salieri's orders, Tommy and Paulie raid the gang's hideout in retaliation, but Salieri reprimands them for killing their leader, who was the son of corrupt city councilman Roberto Ghillotti. Tommy is later ordered to bomb a brothel for switching its loyalties to Morello, and kill an informant working there, but spares her at Sam's request and lets her go in exchange for her silence. In 1933, Don Marcu Morello ramps up his efforts to dismantle Salieri's organization, and gains support from Ghillotti, who desires revenge for his son's murder. When Frank disappears with the family's account books, Tommy finds him preparing to leave the country with his family, having made a secret deal with Morello and the FBI. Learning Morello threatened his family and sympathizing with Frank's disillusionment with the mob lifestyle, Tommy allows him to leave with his family for Italy in exchange for the books, later lying to Salieri that he killed them.

By 1935, with Prohibition over, both Mafia families begin moving out into new rackets, while Tommy, promoted to caporegime for his successes, marries Sarah and starts a family. Upon learning Salieri is attempting to bribe law enforcement and city officials in his pocket, Morello attempts to assassinate him in a restaurant. Tommy protects him, and when it's revealed that Salieri's bodyguard has been spying on him for his rival, the families go to war. Tommy is sent to publicly assassinate Ghillotti to send a message that Morello can't protect his friends, and kills Morello's brother and right-hand man Sergio. The war eventually concludes when Tommy, Sam, and Paulie kill Morello himself as he attempts to fly out of the city. By 1938, the Salieri family is in full control of the city's rackets. When Tommy, Sam, and Paulie are sent to retrieve a stash of diamonds hidden in cigar boxes seized by customs officers, they are shocked to find a hidden shipment of heroin instead. The three then realize that they had just risked life in prison for drug trafficking, and that Salieri knew about the true nature of the cargo.

Tommy and Paulie are angered by Salieri's duplicity and hypocrisy and, against Sam's advice, rob a bank without informing the Don, intending to leave the mob lifestyle behind. Although the job is a success, Tommy finds Paulie shot dead in his apartment the following day and the stolen money missing. Sam calls Tommy to warn him that Salieri had put a hit on both men for going behind his back, and arranges to meet him at the city's art gallery. Once there, however, Sam admits to murdering Paulie, and reveals that Tommy's past cover-ups were exposed: Sam had deliberately asked him to spare Michelle, and Frank was recognized by a friend of the family after briefly coming out of hiding; both were subsequently killed by Salieri's men. After surviving Sam's attempt on his life, Tommy kills his former friend and leaves Lost Heaven with his family. He later contacts Detective Norman for assistance, to whom he relays his story before offering to testify against the Salieri family in exchange for protection for his family. Norman agrees to the request, out of respect for being a family man himself. The resulting investigation and mob trials lead to most of the Salieri family, including Don Salieri, being convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

After serving an eight-year prison sentence, Tommy is reunited with his family, all of whom are placed under witness protection and relocated to Empire Bay. Tommy lives a peaceful life with his family until 1951, when two hitmen[lower-alpha 2] approach Tommy. Accepting his fate and knowing that his past as a mobster has caught up to him, Tommy is shot and left to die on his front lawn. He succumbs to his wounds surrounded by his family, content that they are safe now. As he dies, Tommy recounts a speech he made at his daughter's wedding about the importance of family. He concludes that while everything else comes and goes, family is forever.

Development

On May 13, 2020, a remake of Mafia was announced by 2K Games titled Mafia: Definitive Edition, as a part of the Mafia: Trilogy — the other parts being a remaster of Mafia II and an update of Mafia III. Development was placed in the hands of Hangar 13, who opted to expand on the original story and gameplay, and create a brand new, original score.[6][7][8] To ensure the game would be suitable for the latest generation of consoles and systems - Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows - Hangar 13 rebuilt the game with an updated game engine taken from Mafia III.

As part of the rebuild, the entire setting of the original game was redesigned. The development team focused on restyling the city to match those of the United States around the 1920s and 1930s following World War I, improving on the atmosphere and aesthetic designs of the city's various districts. One example of this was redesigning the original setting's district of Chinatown to feature more recognizable buildings and decorations. Other improvements focused on modifying the street layouts to coincide with the smoother driving mechanics implemented into the game, including smoother corners and intersections, as well as relocating several buildings and landmarks to new sites and adding in shortcuts and alleys, in order to help with the remaking of the original game's missions - Hangar 13 specifically altered how players traversed between objectives by using specialized data-mapping to view the driving patterns of players in the original game, assessing how to best change this for the remake.[9]

The English-language soundtrack for the game was recorded with a different cast, with Italian-Australian actor Andrew Bongiorno lending his voice, likeness and motion capture performance to Tommy Angelo. Hangar 13 president Haden Blackman stated "since our cinematics rely heavily on motion capture data, it was essential that we have both voice and physical performances," and they wanted to ensure that the actors not only "looked the part" but could also perform well on both motion capture and voice-over booths.[10] Conversely, the Czech dub has most of the surviving cast from the 2002 game reprise their roles for the remake, namely Marek Vašut who returned to voice Tommy.[11]

Efforts to prepare the game for release on August 28, 2020, were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic,[12] which presented several challenges with completion of the game. One problem was completing the main theme of the remake, which was solved by conducting several sessions with their orchestra - each session having a selected group of members to perform their pieces while complying with social distancing protocols - and then mixing all recordings post-production. Overcoming the problems meant that the game's launch date was pushed back towards the end of September.[13]

Select covers from period-accurate magazines and comics, including Black Mask, Super Science Stories, Dime Detective Magazine, and Terror Tales, along with fictional collectibles based on the Mafia mythos, such as the Gangsters Monthly comic series based on events that take place throughout the game and cigarette cards featuring likenesses of Mafia series characters and their backstories, were included as in-game collectibles hidden throughout the game world to be found by the player.[14][15]

Reception

Mafia: Definitive Edition received generally favorable reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[16][17][18]

Destructoid summarized its 9/10 review by calling the game "A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage."[19] IGN gave the game 8/10, writing: "Completely rebuilt from the ground up, Mafia: Definitive Edition features excellent performances from its new cast, a fantastic driving model, and a beautiful and authentic city oozing with 1930s atmosphere like overfilled cannoli."[25]

GameSpot gave the game a 6/10, praising the story and performances but criticizing the dated combat and movements.[23] Game Informer gave the game a 5.5/10, writing: "Faithful almost to a fault, Hangar 13's remake puts a glossy finish on a title that is fundamentally musty by contemporary standards."[20]

The original developer and writer of the first game, Dan Vávra, praised the remake's graphics, though criticised some changes to the script, as well as certain physics elements involving weapons and vehicles.[27] Vavra departed 2K Games in 2009, and had no involvement or knowledge about the game's production.

Sales

In its first week of release the game was the third best-selling in the UK, with the Mafia Trilogy finishing sixth.[28]

Notes
  1. Original game developed by Illusion Softworks.
  2. In the remake, the hitmen are explicitly modelled to be Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro. Vito's lines are subtitled "Vito".


References
  1. Yin-Poole, Wesley (13 June 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition looks great". Eurogamer. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  2. Web, 2K. "Introducing Mafia: Definitive Edition's Classic Difficulty". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  3. "Introducing Mafia: Definitive Edition's Free Ride mode". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  4. O'Connor, James (2020-10-08). "Mafia: Definitive Edition Adds A Black And White Noir Mode With Update 1.03". GameSpot. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  5. Deschamps, Marc (2020-10-08). "Mafia: Definitive Edition Update Adds Noir Mode". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  6. Brown, Fraser (2020-05-13). "Mafia Trilogy announcement coming on May 19". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  7. Phillips, Tom (2020-05-13). "The Mafia series is getting a trilogy re-release". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  8. Bailey, Dustin (2020-05-13). "Mafia: Definitive Edition leaks via store page, and it's a full remake – not a remaster". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  9. "REBUILDING LOST HEAVEN FOR MAFIA: DEFINITIVE EDITION". mafiagame.com/. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  10. O'Connor, James. "Mafia: Definitive Edition: Here's How And Why They Recast Tommy Angelo For The Remake". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  11. "Recasting Tommy Angelo for Mafia: Definitive Edition". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  12. "A development update for Mafia: Definitive Edition". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  13. Gach, Ethan (2020-05-19). "Mafia Remake Is A 'Complete Overhaul' Of The Original Game". Kotaku. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  14. "Seek out these Mafia: Definitive Edition collectibles". Mafia - Official Website. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  15. Arora, Akhil. "Mafia: Definitive Edition Review: Half-Baked in Every Sense". Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  16. "Mafia: Definitive Edition for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  17. "Mafia: Definitive Edition for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  18. "Mafia: Definitive Edition for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  19. Makedonski, Brett (September 24, 2020). "Review: Mafia Definitive Edition". Destructoid. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  20. Cork, Jeff (September 24, 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition Review – Loyal To A Fault". Game Informer. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  21. "Mafia im Test: Ein Remake, das ihr nicht ablehnen solltet". GamePro. September 24, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  22. "Mafia: Definitive Edition Review - 'An offer that's relatively easy to refuse'". GameRevolution. September 30, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  23. Wakeling, Richard (September 24, 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition Review – An Offer You Could Probably Refuse". GameSpot. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  24. Spyiron, Sam (September 28, 2020). "Review: Mafia: Definitive Edition". HardcoreGamer. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  25. Reilly, Luke (September 24, 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition Review". IGN. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  26. "Mafia: Definitive Edition review". VideoGamer. September 24, 2020. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  27. "Dan Vávra Reacts To Mafia: Definitive Edition's Ending - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-01-04.
  28. "Two Mafia games break Top Ten, but Mario remains in charge - UK Boxed Charts". Games Industry. September 27, 2020. Retrieved October 20, 2020.
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