The worldwide trend of remakes of cult games from the early noughties has finally reached one of the most important representatives of that time. The first "Mafia" finally got the opportunity to appear to the modern audience in the form of a project developed on the site Friv2Online scratch on a modern engine.
The original Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven was a unique friv game for its time. Originally conceived as a driving simulator in the criminal world of Driver level, it eventually grew into something more, being in unfair competition with GTA III.
But in the end, the small Czech studio was able to surpass both Driver and GTA in many aspects. "Mafia" was loved for its excellent plot, lively and very detailed characters. And in addition, players were shocked by the level of attention to seemingly insignificant little things.
And many people who think back to the iconic friv game often think of just that. After all, where else could you see so much detail? Shot wheels, damaged cars, realistically reloadable weapons, police that could write a ticket for speeding... All this, as well as seemingly crazy missions with long drives around the huge city and tasks in the style of "load 20 boxes" worked for one and only one purpose - uncompromising immersion into the world of the game and its history.
And that's why I, as a person who saw it all back in 2002, can say to all those who expected from the remake to recreate the nuances of the original - guys, of course, most of the chips are not here. No inventory, no fuel consumption of cars, no shot wheels, no shell casings left lying on the ground. But you know what? That doesn't make Mafia: Definitive Edition a bad friv game. And let's find out why.
The first thing that greets the players of the long-awaited remake is the main menu, made according to the original's precepts in the form of an apartment, where Tommy is clearly hiding. It looks authentic enough to please both new and old players.
But before we go any further, I'd like to mention the difficulty level selection, which the authors have worked on with special diligence. It's worth noting that some things, like the police penalizing for speeding, long trips and complicated car physics, are still in the game. And they can be turned on or off at the discretion of the player.
When the game intro starts, almost frame-by-frame repeating the original, it's really hard to convey emotions. It really looks like you've been transported back 20 years to your dreams of recreating your favorite friv games in photorealistic graphics.
The city of Lost Haven, created from scratch and shown in the opening video, is truly the pride of Hangar 13 Studios. Thanks to the huge drawing distance and an incredible amount of new details, it is now perceived in a completely different way.
The atmosphere of the metropolis of the 30's now feels even more vivid due to new advertising signs, fictional brands of food and other products, and also working out the clothes of the citizens. Looking at it you really believe that you found yourself in that era.
At the same time, although the general topography has been preserved, many places are quite problematic to recognize - so differently they are perceived externally. However, this does not prevent you from sighing in amazement when you find yourself on roads long lost in your memory.
Huge spaces are not fully utilized neither in the story mode, nor even in the "walkthrough", it did not prevent to transfer to the remake all the neighborhoods presented in the original.
As a bonus, a suburban area was added to the main map. In Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven it was available only in story mode, but now you can explore it to your heart's content by going to some picturesque lake.
Of course, modern players are spoiled with beautiful open worlds of all settings and sizes. But personally, wheeling around the city, I got a great aesthetic pleasure, comparable to the winter stage in Mafia 2.
This is especially evident at night, when the streets are illuminated by the few streetlights, and the asphalt of the main streets is illuminated by the light of neon signs. Indeed it has the power to mesmerize, evoking a genuine sense of coziness.
The few issues with Mafia 3 were the small number of interiors encountered throughout the story. And it has to be said that in Mafia: Definitive Edition, the writers at Hangar 13 have clearly made up for it.
Each accessible building in the friv game contains a huge amount of details. You can see a lot of handmade items just for the player to look at them once, perhaps without even paying attention.
Bread, fruits, vegetables, tires in garages, boards and building supplies are all present in a huge number of variations and work for exactly one purpose - to create a sense of reality of the world on the other side of the monitor.
For example, the famous Salieri's bar in the course of the story changes repeatedly, presenting itself as a cozy eatery, then ready for battle stronghold armed to the teeth group. I'm even afraid to imagine how much time and effort the authors spent on these transformations.
Designers and artists did a great job with attention and love to details. For example, sometimes in the world of the game you can find a map of the city, taken directly from the interface of the original. And such moments make you smile more than once.
I think that here you can tell about the graphics in general to close this question at once. The picture is ordinary and obviously does not mark for a technological breakthrough - which, however, was not required from the remake. Yes, there is destructibility, there is cloth wetting, beautiful lighting, shadows and other charms of modern games. But what modern AAA-action game doesn't have that?
The script of the original game is undoubtedly one of the biggest revelations in the industry, because it came out when the stories were just starting to mature. And the almost cinematic production with perfectly written characters of "Mafia" against the background of the stories of other projects was simply amazing.
Many players sincerely cried, empathizing with the heroes, and some still consider the moral of the story told one of the best games in the world for all time.
Therefore, players had every reason to be worried about how a remake might come out in this day and age. It is difficult to say in the end, to what extent the fears were confirmed, but also an irreparable disaster objectively did not happen.
What I would like to pay attention to at once is that the plot became much more emphasized on dark things. The narrative is as if draped in a translucent dark film, from which it lost some soulfulness and brightness of the original.
If "Mafia" of 2002 could pass even children, then I would never advise my child to play Mafia: Definitive Edition at an early age. However, this obviously cannot be considered a disadvantage, because the story about crime, in fact, and should not be a friendly fairy tale, which it looked like in the original game.
The overall storyline is pretty much unchanged, but it's heavily fleshed out with details and rearranged a few key twists and turns and motives for the characters' behavior. And to be honest, a lot of fans will be very unhappy about it, although the average player will hardly see the difference.
The new Tommy Angelo has become somehow insecure, always doubting and not knowing what exactly he wants. Of course, for his role in the story it may seem normal, but still, in my opinion, he loses charisma and strength of personality to the hero presented in the original game. After all, even the conclusions he draws are completely different from the ones Tommy uttered 18 years ago at the end of his story.
Paulie has become somehow quite evil and cruel, which is especially evident against the backdrop of his relationship with mechanic Ralph. It's not at all clear (or understandable) why these parodies of harassment were added, but they look out of place.
On the other hand, I was pleased with the role of Sam, who went from background scenery to a fully-fledged character with his own thoughts, desires, and motivations. In the original game he was pushed to the background, but now he got his share of "screen time".
Other characters have been transformed as well. The dialogs of many have been expanded, and characters have been practically created from scratch. I'd say that the biggest beneficiary is Sarah, who has had her share of bringing the progressive ideas of our time to the masses at the most inappropriate moments.
But as repeatedly stated above, I don't see the point in writing that it's gotten worse. This remake was made in a different time, by different people and for a different target audience. And from the perspective of someone who hasn't seen the original, the story will be coherent and complete.
In the first third of the narrative, everything goes pretty much frame-by-frame the way players saw it in 2002. Each mission begins with a trip to Ralph, where he gives out a car, followed by a visit to Vincenzo, who is in charge of weapons.
Toward the end, however, the gameplay becomes more intense and less routine. Travel is shortened, missions start often right in the middle of the city, and weapons are right in the inventory from the beginning.
This is done so that the dynamics of the narrative does not sag under the endless trips back and forth across the city. For the same reason, the third-party missions from Luca Bertone went under the knife, and their place was taken by the search for cars in the photo location.
The story missions have undergone a major overhaul. And although their essence and main meaning have not changed, and the places of passage remained recognizable, there are also enough new things here. Somewhere they added an opportunity to go stealth, somewhere they introduced a hurricane escape from the truck, and somewhere they added new details or even unexpected appearance of characters known to the hero.
But I definitely do not dare to say that the work with the tasks was done carelessly. The authors treated the source material very respectfully, making each story episode even more vivid, memorable and thoughtful.
For example, in the famous racing mission they added the narrator's comments, beautifully scripted crashes and even an opportunity to walk through the celebration in honor of the winner of the competition.
You can expect these missions to appeal to both Mafia veterans and those seeing it all for the first time.
To be honest, starting the description of gameplay mechanics you realize that there is almost nothing to tell, because the remake of "Mafia" is the most usual third-person shooter with hideouts.
If we compare with the original, we should note the disappearance of the inventory, divided into small and large slots, and its replacement by the usual system of one-handed and two-handed weapons. So now you won't be able to carry different types of guns.
It's worth noting the small amount of ammo in the player's arsenal. I more than once found myself with a single bullet, which had to put a headshot to avoid going to the nearest checkpoint.
The melee combat system is reduced to QTEs altogether. Only block and parry are available to the player, so you won't be able to organize a spectacular fight with a lot of combos and beautiful blows.
Starting to talk about cars, I would like to mention two positive things. The first is the appearance of two radio stations in the manner of GTA, which replaced almost all the music during trips. At the same time, one of them is conversational, often talking about real political events of the 30s.
The second positive moment was the appearance of a faded analogue of tuning: in the garage you can only change the color of the body and interior. You can't do anything else.
I played with physics simulation, and I can't say that driving local cars is too difficult or unfamiliar. Personally, I thought that the control is quite arcade-like even in this mode. Still, the original cars were much more difficult to control and not all players could pass even the first mission at once.
The famous procedural damage to cars also disappeared, and in addition to this local cars, turning over, can stand on the wheels, as if in some GTA V.
But it's still fun to drive, and it's quite breathtaking. And with so many missions based on chases, those who like to test their strength on the road will definitely be satisfied.
Also in the city kindly arranged the points of escape from the chase in the manner of Need for speed: Most Wanted. Passing through such marks, you are almost guaranteed to break away from the pursuit, although, of course, it looks a bit strained.
From the frank flaws of gameplay it is worth noting that the police is very weak. The officers of the law are not able to compete with the player at all, quickly falling off during the chases.
I was also confused by the very small safety margin of the cars. This leads to the fact that under enemy fire your vehicle can fail quite quickly.
Finishing the theme of the fleet, I would like to note the addition of motorcycles to the game. But we can't say that it has greatly transformed the game. It's not easy to control them, and the radio doesn't work, so they are just a one-time wow-fish, which will hardly be used often.
Thus, the gameplay of the "Mafia" remake is a strong modern action game with collectibles and a small amount of weapons, but it lacks any zest of its own. But whether it's good or bad, let everyone decide for himself.
As for the walk mode, there is almost nothing to tell about it. The player can freely explore the city, choosing any favorite skin and car. But there are almost no crazy missions, like the UFO search missions from the original, which, of course, is a bit of a shame.
Being a fan of the original 2002 game, you can tear Mafia: Definitive Edition to shreds for a thousand reasons. Except there's absolutely no reason to do so, I repeat: this friv game is from a different time, by different people and for a different audience.
You can complain about the weak and impersonal soundtrack, you can swear for a long time about other phrases in the ending or the attempt to slightly undermine the general moral of the familiar story.
Or you can rejoice at the possibility of a unique time machine that takes you back in time. At the very time when story games were innovative, uncompromising, and trying to embrace the vastness of the world by accommodating multiple genres.
Well, if you're a newcomer about to learn Tommy Angelo's story for the first time, you can have a great few evenings in the not-so-common setting of 30s America, which you'll want to tell your friends about later. Even though the remake lacks the uncompromisingness of that era, it's still a pretty quality game for our day, created with great attention to detail.
