The year 2010 brought the world the sequel to one of the most compelling games about the Italian mafia of the first half of the 20th century. Mafia 2, which had been in development for 7 years, divided fans into two camps. Some praised the open world, the physical model of car behaviour on the road, and many atmospheric moments in the story. Others were dissatisfied with the lack of detailed work on the script and the superficial development of the characters. Today we are looking at Mafia II: Definitive Edition, which is part of the Mafia: Trilogy – a line of updated games in the series. Has it become better over time or have new problems been added to the old ones? Find the answer to this and many other questions in our review.

Deep Storyline

So, let’s start with the fact that Mafia II: Definitive Edition is the same game as it was ten years ago in terms of gameplay mechanics and story presentation. The protagonist is Vito Scaletta, the son of Italian immigrants who wants to achieve great success in life by any means necessary. After being caught by the police during a botched robbery, Vito escapes prison by going to the front of World War II. Upon his return, with the help of his old friend Gia Barbaro, he joins the mafia and begins to pave his way to respect and wealth.

In general terms, the plot of Mafia 2 is not much different from the first part. You are offered to take a look at several episodes from the life of the protagonist over the years, showing the growth of the protagonist in the ranks of the Italian mafia. The main difference is that the developers have allocated more time and opportunities to get acquainted with the city of Empire Bay, where the game takes place.

At the beginning and at the end of each chapter, no one forces you to go to complete the storyline tasks. You are free to explore the city. The list of additional activities is small. They allow you to collect various collectibles, including Playboy magazine covers and posters hung around the city, engage in robbery of various establishments, or spend the money earned on a simple customisation of the appearance of the protagonist and his car.

Return of the game to a new generation

Unfortunately, the porting of the game to modern platforms did not turn out well. The original Mafia 2 was released on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. And while in the case of consoles the need for a remaster is quite understandable, as the original ran at 720p and often not at a very stable 30 FPS, in the case of PCs the justification for releasing an updated version should be much more convincing, as resolution and frame rate on personal computers is a problem that can be solved.

What does Mafia II: Definitive Edition

Mafia II: Definitive Edition offers players higher resolution textures and improved lighting. And to be honest, there are no questions about these two aspects. The textures really do look nicer. Especially the faces of the characters and noticeable elements of the environment, such as the road surface, have been improved. Improved lighting also makes the picture better, offering better and more detailed shadows, particularly on the faces of the characters. The trouble is that this is the only positive aspect of the remaster. Literally everything else has either remained the same, which may raise questions given the age of the game, or has become worse. Already on the day of the game’s release, the Internet was filled with posts and videos showing numerous technical problems.

Problems on modern consoles

Let’s start with the small stuff. Owners of console versions still have to settle for a 30fps limit. Moreover, not all versions of consoles are able to consistently maintain this figure. For some reason, the situation is most difficult on Sony consoles, where the frame rate can drop to 20 frames. But even on Xbox One X, the game does not work at a stable 30 FPS, periodically dropping in cutscenes or other more loaded moments. Also, the console versions did not receive the advanced PhysX physics engine features that were previously available in the PC version. But what’s more disappointing is that the PC version of the remaster also lost them. Add to this numerous texture bugs, characters that occasionally fall underground, and other minor flaws, and you have one of the most shoddy remasters in recent memory.

As for the sound, not everything is smooth sailing. For some unknown reason, most of the sounds go to the left channel, which is most noticeable in headphones or on a high-quality audio system. Among the differences from the original are partially changed sounds of shots of various weapons. The rest is generally unchanged.

A summary of opinions on the game’s edition

The result is not the most pleasant picture. The developers had a great chance to allow console players to get a graphically upgraded game with the added features of the PC version. Instead, buyers got a product full of bugs and various technical flaws, and in the case of the PC version, one that is in many ways inferior to the original. Perhaps some of the problems of the remaster will be solved with new patches in the future, but it’s too early to recommend Mafia 2: Definitive Edition, so wait for the sale. Also, this game was given away as part of the Playstation Plus subscription in November 2023, which you can find in our Playstation Plus subscription review this month.