REVIEW : Mafia II: Definitive Edition (XBOX One)
For those of you who have not played the original game, Mafia II follows the ups and downs of Vito Scaletta in the 1940s and 1950s. When he was young, his family moved from Italy to settle in the city of Empire Bay. His family fought before Vito gets in with the wrong crowd and is caught stealing. As someone who could speak Italian, he was given the option of heading to jail or war against Mussolini’s Italy. After heading off to support the US in the war, Vito gets injured and is sent back home to recover. It is only then that he finds out that before his father died, he had acquired a large sum of money that his sister and mother were trying to pay back. To score some quick cash, he meets up with his best friend, Joe who sets him up with some more wicked work.
Mafia II: Definitive Edition is set in the fictional city of Empire Bay, which is an amalgamation of various real cities like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Even though Grand Theft Auto V came at the end of the last generation of consoles, you should not be expecting a map anywhere near that size in Mafia II: Definitive Edition. However, the map size was good back in 2010 and still works for the game to where things don’t feel too bloated at times. The design of the city itself is pretty typical but fits the era that the game is set quite well.
Being the Definitive Edition of the game, Mafia II looks better than ever this time around thanks to polished textures and just about everything about the visual style. While the environments look much more like what you would expect from this generation of games, the character models still feel a little left behind due to their stilted movement and overall the last generation look. There are some improvements in this area, but there is still a pretty large gap between the second and third entries in this department. On top of that, there are some problems with the loading of textures on time as well, at least in the console version.
GamePlay
The gameplay in these story missions usually consists of two different parts, the drive to and from a location in a car and then some sort of other on foot segment that leads to gunfights. Driving in Mafia II: Definitive Edition is pretty much as you would expect from this style of game, with the controls feeling a bit dated times, but still working well enough to get you from place to place. The game has its fair share of different vehicles to choose from that you can then take to body shops to change as a way to hide from the cops or just fix up for aesthetic reasons. Driving around is also enhanced with the inclusion of three radio stations that play classic songs from the era, which helps to add to the authentic experience for the period it is set.
Running into other vehicles and trying to run over people isn’t the only way to get the police to get after you here either, as even going over the speed limit around them can get them to try and pull you over, where you can simply pay the ticket if it’s a minor enough offence. This is a pretty neat feature that sets it apart from other series that would not allow you to do this. On the other side, this also means the driving segments are a little more boring, as police are very prone to try and chase after you just when you’re cruising around the town. You can rack up the stars and wanted level in the game though, which has cops following you like crazy everywhere around the town.
As the original Mafia II was a good game, those elements manage to carry over pretty well for the most part, albeit feeling a bit dated at times. Where the issues start to arise though are the numerous different bugs and glitches that plague Mafia II: Definitive Edition. These bugs aren’t just resigned to one place in the game either, as they are sporadic and may or may not be found in each playthrough. The aforementioned stealth segments are one area where we ran into more than one glitch when Vito would try and grab the enemy and seem to completely miss. However, the kill animation would still happen while the enemy would even turn around and look at you before falling to his death without him appearing to be touched.
Conclusion
Mafia II: Definitive Edition is the very definition of a mixed bag, as it brings back what is a very enjoyable story and overall game while also looking better than ever. Where the problems start to crop up though are with the countless bugs found during the game that can impact your overall enjoyment if you run into them. Hopefully, these are the types of issues that will be patched in the future, so this is one you may want to wait to get at a later date if happens.
Mafia II: Definitive Edition may have definitive in its name, but the numerous glitches that plague it hold back what is still a good game at its core from truly deserving that title.
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