‘Mafia: The Old Country' Review — A Great Game That's A Bit Too Linear

Forbes

5 days ago

Mafia has been around for decades, but we haven't seen a new game in the video game franchise in nine years. Mafia III took place in the 60s' in a fictional version of New Orleans, marking a major departure for the series. I really enjoyed the game, though the setting and tone made it feel like a different game altogether.
Mafia: The Old Country takes us back even further than the original Mafia, which was set in the 1930s, and across the Atlantic to Sicily in the year 1904 (though the game's story spans years). You take on the role of Enzo, an impoverished mine laborer who has escapes his brutal employers and, serendipitously, finds himself taken in by Don Torrisi, the head of a powerful organized crime family.
You start to work you way up the ranks, taking on both trivial and extremely dangerous jobs for Torrisi and his people. Shoveling horse manure is your first job, but soon enough you're helping collect debts around the countryside or escorting Torrisi's daughter, Isabella, on a picnic. There's a forbidden love angle between Enzo and Isabella that I enjoyed a great deal, as it provides some nice tension between Enzo and his new benefactor.
Eventually you'll leave the tiny room you're given at the Torrisi estate and move into grander chambers. You'll also find yourself taking out bandits, exacting revenge on enemies, and sneaking your way into nearby police offices on daring rescues.
All of this is extremely linear. Mafia looks and feels a lot like one of its oldest competitors, Grand Theft Auto. It's a third-person shooter with cover mechanics, stealth, and in this case both vintage cars and horses. In fact, this iteration feels more like Red Dead Redemption than GTA at times, with its older arsenal of rifles and revolvers and knives. But unlike those games, this is not an open-world adventure. Sure, there's a big map with various locations, and the Sicily of The Old Country is absolutely stunning, but you'll do very little exploring during the campaign.
I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, this is what I expected and I've enjoyed the no-frills linearity of past games, including the original Mafia and its excellent remake. There's something refreshing about a game that just takes you through the story without a million little side-quests to do along the way. The map isn't cluttered with exclamation points. It's a great story with memorable characters and I never felt bored despite many long cutscenes and driving or walking scenes that involve a great deal of dialogue. (One handy touch is the ability to skip drives if you want).
There is an exploration mode, tucked away in the main menu's Carcyclopedia, that unlocks after the prologue. You can pick a car and spawn on the map, fast-travel around, go to vendors, find collectibles and take photos at viewpoints. This is a nice feature, allowing you to free-roam, drive around, ride your horse, upgrade stuff and get a bit more mileage out of the game's world.
But I would like a better balance. I don't love that this mode is tucked away in a post many could very easily mix. I don't love that the exploration portion is totally divorced from the story. In the campaign, you move from one mission to the next with basically no time to do anything between. I expected to be able to at least familiarize myself when my living quarters were upgraded, but instead of getting to walk around my apartment and maybe try on a new outfit, I was plopped into the next mission. There are vendors that buy and sell stuff, but you're introduced to these early on and then never really get a chance to go back and visit them unless you go into explore mode.
I want the best of both worlds. Break up story missions with exploration segments. When a mission is over, let us do whatever we want until we go talk to the NPC that starts the mission. This wouldn't even have to be between every mission, but between a few would be nice. Have a few side missions to take on. Let us go do another race. Give us some side objectives in the various towns where we can get into some trouble, flirt with local girls, find upgrades etc. Put some bandits in the hills and let us go take them on. Allow us to customize our loadouts before each mission unless there's a good reason not to.
Other than this, I really enjoyed my time with Mafia: The Old Country. I played on Steam and it ran great. I didn't experience any major bugs and even the with the graphics cranked up to the max, I was getting a great framerate (though obviously your mileage might vary).
Enzo's story is compelling. The writing is solid and the characters are complex and interesting enough to care about. I really enjoyed the love story between Enzo and Isabella and the tension that created in the campaign, waiting for everything to go wrong.
The score by Brian Transeau (BT) is dramatic and lovely and really helps set the tone for the game. Between the score and the setting, you really feel like you're in the Old Country. I wanted to just kick back and drink some vino and listen to music and eat fresh-baked bread. They need a 'relax in Sicily' mode.
The third-person cover-shooter gunplay, while not revolutionary, is solid and fun. You have a pretty expansive array of vintage rifles, shotguns and pistols to choose from, though there isn't much in the way of crafting or upgrade options. You'll be able to upgrade some of your abilities and passive abilities with special beads and medallions.
Enemies are fairly challenging, moving about and taking cover, making it a bit harder to hit them, though they have a pretty tough time hitting you as well. You'll also get into knife fights with 'boss' characters. These involve dodging, parrying, and a handful of attacks. Some enemy attacks can only be dodged, while parrying others gives you the opportunity to riposte. It's a fun mini-game, basically.
The missions can feel a bit repetitive at times. Many involve sneaking into a location, silently taking down guards and, if your cover is blown, blasting your way through. Sometimes, even a successful stealth approach will end in a mandatory shootout. Some stealth portions won't let you get caught at all, forcing you to restart at a checkpoint if you're caught. These are my least favorite. More interesting combats are chases. I especially enjoyed one where you chase down kidnappers on your horse.
There are also races on both horseback and in the gorgeous vintage cars you come across. The car race brought me back to the ridiculously challenging race in the original Mafia. You had to win that one or start all over and do it again…and again…and again until you won. This game's big race is far more approachable. If you don't win the first time, you'll start at a check-point near the end of the race at the head of the pack. Thank goodness.
Finally, I played the game in Italian with English subtitles. I find this far more immersive and less distracting than listening to voice-actors with Italian accents. The only downside is when you're caught in some intense car chase or shootout and have to keep glancing at subtitles. Your passenger is giving you instructions on which way to turn in the race but you have to divide attention between the track and reading. I suppose you could turn it back to English for these challenging segments, but I just use it as an extra obstacle.
All told, I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a video game with a good story and setting. I love the Sicilian countryside. I love that this is set in the early 1900s. Very few games take place in this time period and it really gives it a unique feel. As a prequel of sorts to the later Mafia games, it's wonderful. It makes me want to go watch old mobster movies.
You should absolutely give this one a chance, especially since it's only $50 – much cheaper than the $70 most premium titles are these days. Yes, it's a shorter game that will take most players 10 to 12 hours to complete, give or take, but I think quality is more important than quantity and I'm always thrilled to get a new single-player title that's focused rather than trying to do everything all at once. While I wish it had a bit more openness at times, I'm happy that Mafia: The Old Country gives us such a riveting story, compelling setting and characters.
Score: 8.5/10