Am feeling a bit better for those who are wondering :) I hope you enjoy the video, I had a good laugh doing it but was left feeling very sad at how my beloved game has been butchered. I try not to think of how amazing this game would have been had they just left the voice acting and missions as they were, left the throwing mechanic, crouch, free ride and free ride extreme and took away cover shooting, fast travel and all the other garbage that this game did not deserve. Basically if it ain't broken don't fix it, just polish it to make it look nice. Sadly it's 2020 and we get a 2020 game with all the bullshit trimmings that ruin most other games and I totally blame these gamers that have no patience and these useless reviewers that would not recognise immersion if it knocked them out for this state of affairs. I get why some people still like this, it is Mafia after all and can be fun, sadly I am probably a extreme Mafia fan which is why I ran the largest Mafia fan site in Europe so it's bound to piss me off more than most, this is why I did not really want to review it, anyway am off to bed, cya in two days with Star Wars Squadrons review.

The stupid yellow diamond is even on the police truck in case you were in doubt of where to shoot 😁

That molotov animation was called out when they first showed footage of the game and it still looks like wank.

"...and I know I'm gonna take heat from the cops but I don't care coz I'll get rep" Haha... this is why we are subbed to you Mack!

Look how they massacred my boy...

They don't make enough popcorn to prepare me for this.

The most offensive thing about this, is that they took someone elses game, brutalized it, and call it "The Definitive Edition"

why do devs insist on mouse smoothing on as the default? im convinced they do not play their own games

For me the biggest disappointment was classic mode, why call it classic mode and add some of the original features but not all the way with it? The diamond popping up every five seconds was awful.

Remember when games were designed for the player to have their own fun instead of doing exactly what the developer wants you to do at all times?

That tram thing is INSANE. Why would they actively remove features for a remake?

6:00 taking cover behind a 3/4" piece of wood.. yea, that'll work.

I hate cover mechanics that glue you to the wall in any game, they just take away from experience

They really removed the heart and soul from this franchise.

The rant about gamers nowadays ending with " I know I'll get heat from the cops but I don't care, I'll get rep" ... PMSL 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I miss the old days of gamimg, when it wasn't mainstream.

We need a standalone release of the "Console Game" song please....

We all old school players feel your pain Mack especially all those of us who suffered from Remakes and grow up with what they think is the remake we wanted like Battlefront and now this this review made me go buy the original Mafia and it’s amazing fun I love immersion type games it’s why games for us where fun back in the day it pulled out from our reality so we can live in their reality thanks for your reviews Mack much love

Mack, I know you might not see this but everything you upload, I leave the ads rolling (even double ads, and I also run it from my phone, on my mobile data, so it's a different ip haha) I would love to be a patron ( or whatever it's called) but I lost my job thanks to (you-know-what) but as soon as I'm on my feet again, I'll be on there. Extremely long time subscriber, very spare commenter. I was going through some rough shit back in 2017, and in one of your streams you and the guys guys really picked me up and I can say I'm doing 1000% better for it. Just seemed like the time to share. Hope you and Cass are all well and good, wish you nothing but the best my man. Keep it up ❤️

7:38, when the door shuts down - " No immersion for you Sir "

I totally agree with your frustration with the diamond indicator. It really is immersion breaking and borderline insulting.

I’ve been waiting for this...

Enjoyed it alot but never played the OG version

It's the little things that count, graphics and sound aren't everything. It's a shame they remastered an original and took out aspects that were enjoyable and unique, and added the classic 2020 gaming experience! The lack of tram use did it for me! Ahaha. I can't stand when developers remove such a simple feature and mechanic. Yet another stellar "Worth A Buy" there Mack, thank you for making up my mind on this. 🙏

why recreate an unique experience when you can take the game name and make a general game out of it like the hundred others?

Expected nothing less than a screw job from Hangar 13

At least your opinion about Mafia: D.E. has the benefit of being honest and ye didn't hold back!!

Watched 6hrs stream with Dan Vávra playing Mafia DE and 3hrs interview with him recently. Well... what a surprise, he didn't like it. :) He admits some things are better in this one, saying even him would rewrite a lot in the original game and it's story, however, he was complaining a lot about some things (generally, "why are you putting THESE things in modern games", especially messing with immersion and story logic. In fact, many of them were similar to Mack's points), but what really pissed him off was the ending, that changed the message of the game by the biggest screenplay cliché one could imagine.

They patched the game with the option to remove the HUD, Objective Indicator and GPS Line on the Minimap

I personally think the most absurd thing about this game is even the possibilty to turn of the driving😂. It was like one of THE factors that made me enjoy the original one.

I wish devs would listen to this channel.... 1) I don’t want regenerating health - I want medkits (even medkits that slowly regenerate your health) 2) I want a living breathing world with details that are consistent. e.g Dead bodies and blood and bullet holes that don’t just disappear after a couple of minutes(or let’s face it a couple of seconds in most games!). 3) I don’t want an abundance of resources, I want to carefully manage the resources I have so as to make combat encounters more tense and strategic. So I want limits to how much Ammo, Medkits etc I can hold. I want resources to be more limited so exploring the world is more rewarding when you do find stuff! 4) I want a jump button 5) I want a crouch button 6) I want a reload button, not have my character automatically reload. I want a tense gunfight, and then hear my gun go click and have one of those oh shit moments! 7) I want to have dare I say, decent artificial intelligence. I want enemies that work together, that flank and even retreat. 8) I Want enemies to have hit zones. I want to shoot enemies in the arm, head or leg and have them react accordingly. 9) I don’t want enemies that are tethered to their spawn location, which means if you run away from them they will simply run back to the spawn location after giving chase for all of 5-10 metres! 10) As Mack notes in this vid. Give us an objective describe how to get there, and then leave it up to the player to figure out the rest. Some of us don’t need a golden breadcrumb trail on every game!

The game SQUAD came out of early access last week, you should give it another review, they have changed basically the whole game since the last time you reviewed it.

The original is in my top 5 games of all time. I miss the Django Reinhardt early jazz.

Finally a review from someone that absolutely loved the first game. Best review out there, no doubt about it.

You can now disable the GPSwaypoints in the new patch.

Navigation in maps was invented in 2005: People before that:

Sounds like the gaming equivalent of a modernised Hollywood remake. It wasn't made to be a superior version, but simply digging up a cult classic and reshaping it into a pale imitation aping the blockbusters of the genre so that it can make money from the current mainstream audience - coasting off the power of having a title people have heard of before. It's probably not an awful game, but I get the distinct feeling the more "remakes" are pushed out like this, the more people will start to avoid remakes and remasters in general.

For someone who didn't play the Original, I'm looking forward to this. Looks like a great action-romp with no filler, although I miss the more immersive qualities that Mack talks about. I hope they can fuse these things together in the inevitable Mafia 4.

Plus Tommy's stabbing speed and technique from the start like he have a 40 years criminal background before being taxi driver.

I remember the 3 disc original, posting the full size map next to my pc for quick references, my favorite mission in the original was that country side car chase after a massive shootout in the gas station or whatever it was. I did loathe the professional race mission on the old game.

"And I know I'm gonna take heat from the cops but I don't care cause I'll get rep." 🤣😂🤣

Best remake ever.

GTA with rules was what appealed to me about Driver. Driver also had the best approach to a minimap that I've seen in open world games. Your objective was marked and formed an isosceles triangle with your current position. The wider the base of the triangle, the further away your objective was. You had to work out your exact route, but the minimap gave you a general direction and basic distance estimate...which is pretty much all it's supposed to do.

That diamond thing is my death. I was 13-14 years old when these games came out. For example Morrowind, the predecessor of Oblivion and Skyrim had no fast travel (in the sense that today fast travel works, if you were clever, you could figure it out which transport system works for you the best) the game didn't held your hand, you had a map and a description and in the open world you have to find your way, wasn't that hard, if you want real immersion you have rely to your own orientation and skills. Mafia Definitive Edition is the same, overly hand holding and I'm 100% agree what is in this review, it lost it's immersion, the game became an ordinary mediocre game and it dumbed down... from few years now the movie Idiocracy will be a documentary not a comedy.

I feel sry for Mack really, this was his baby game :( stay strong pal

Great video Mac I’ve been watching a stream of father of Mafia (KDC) "Daniel Vavra" and even he said graphics are amazing but many things he don't like the things is they cut him off he didn't even know they gonna release Remake nobody was contacting him but ye we get what is trendy now but, I just don't understand why they do a Tram with opening/closing doors stopping for Tram stops and not allow to player to jump in ? it is 5 min. work jump remove invisible box collider on the doors and he can jump in at least... doesn't this game have a mod support? if not then Amen :/ p.s appreciate night upload

The worst part is that people seem to enjoy the new version, even though it betrays the fundaments upon which the first game was built. People swoon too easily over graphics :/

Excellent review Mack & I'm definitely going to pass on this. I remember the 2002 version being really frustrating at times but you really felt rewarded after completing a mission. It's such a shame that the remastered version turned out this way. PS I'm really glad you're feeling much better :D

it is sad that they did this to Mafia. hope this becomes steam workshoppy so it can be modded and saved !

"They made my dated game more modern, me no likey, me give bad review, whaaaaaaah, whaaaaaaaah, whaaaaaaaah" is pretty much what I got from this review. Game is great, game is fun. The actors either made me love their character or FUCKING HATE THEM (you'll know who I'm talking about when you play it). I was 13 when the original game came out and loved it, I'm 33 now and loving this new remake as well... The original game was the jankiest piece of shit with clunky controls and people saying otherwise need to remove their rose tinted glasses from their arse, like I said, I LOVED the original game, but play the remake, you'll enjoy the story more.

Played and loved the original back in the day, but cant remember much of the details.. playing the remake now, and i love it! Absolutely oozes atmosphere, and cant be bothered to be annoyed if its «dumbed down» ., its still an amazing mafia story and experiance

I really wish they didn't add the cover system, they should have went for a Max Payne style of gameplay.

I finished the original game back in the days. Don't remember anything about it And now i play this. i like it, but now i am disapointed that i can't enter the fucking Tram. dam it mack. I was looking foward to start a riot in there. I lost hope long ago with these remakes. It is fucking hilarious actualy when you think about it. Developers have everything ready. world, story, characters, everything. All they have to do is make new graphics and smoot some game play a little bit. I dont know how these people manage to do this over and over.

Hangar 13 are mediocre developers. The animations and gunplay looks identical to Mafia 3 and that are bad news. Great review!

You're spot on mate. I'm sick of dumbed down easy games, I want my brain to be engaged, I want to struggle and then prevail.

Tbh I’ve never played the original but I thoroughly enjoyed this going in blind

This is what I was afraid of. A remaster in name only. Bring back the original voice cast with the proper music and little quirks like indicators and remove the yellow diamond that might be a offer I can't refuse.

Mack, you’re one of my favorite reviewers because you’re brutally honest, but a review at the end of the day, is just an opinion. The voice acting is spot on and phenomenal. Everything else you mentioned, is on the money and agreed. I’m sure it’s just a cultural thing, but Tommy sounds just like me, I’m not a Mobster, but I am an Italian-American from Chicago with a lot of family in New York. Mack, what you heard is our accent lol. I played to original on PS2 as a kid, I’m sure the studio back then wasn’t too worried with the voice acting, considering the era, but again, remake-Tommy sounds just like me, my friends and family. It’s just a street-Italian thing. Fuhget abao’d it

Yeh i think very rarely does a remake not disappoint and especially in this case when too much has been changed/removed to adhere to the classic new game check list.

For those of you watching 4 years later I havent played the game but I read you can disable that diamond and the navigation on the minimap also I believe also? so theres that. There's also a mod that lets you ride the train/tram called Public Transport Restoration Mod

"YEAH. YEAH ITS A CONSOLE GAME!"

Watched a playthrough, looks passable but not great. I'll probably pick it up when it drops under $20, but your criticisms are on point. They probably disabled the map feature because no one knows how to read a map any more; they use GPS navigation on their phone and God help them if that goes out.

I agree so much with the way points and having a line showing you where to go. It means you don't even need to pay attention to your surroundings, you can basically drive by looking at the mini-map. In the original, you'd plan out your route, memorize it, and actually observe your surroundings so you know where you're going.

Why is every game so dumbed down these days as a kid growing up gaming in the late 80s early 90s games were very brutal and tough it was a challenge you had to use your brain to beat the game now the game beats the game for you.

You're pretty much the only reviewer I've found that's calling out any of the problems this game has. I hate how everything's been made into some big overblown set piece, with explosions going off everywhere and stereotypical gangster voices yelling in your ear. It just doesn't have the feeling of immersion that the original had, it just feels like playing another open world game now.

To be honest, I really enjoyed playing through this game, I thought the story, characters, driving and shooting mechanics were great. But I do agree with Mac how they have cut a lot of the immersion out, the city doesn't feel as free, not being able to go on trains and trams is annoying and I don't like that when you finish 1 mission it takes you straight to the next one, I always like the break between to drive about. Also, I think they should have added features from mafia 2 such as the clothes shops, bars and the custom garages. Overall I give it a solid 6.5/10.

There should be a law that no game can be released until Mac approves it.

Way dont rockstar remaster Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and Vice city it wood so good.

This broke my heart. Original Mafia is still one of my favourite games but this. It just blows my mind that they let someone make a remake without understanding original story at all. And because they didn't understand it, they changed it and the whole message got lost. I was about to cry during this new ending. Not because they killed Tommy but because they killed Mafia and I just can't figure out why. FU Hangar 13.

“...the tiniest of little flicks of his wrists and he can throw it 30 f***in yards with pin point accuracy, f*** off...” literally laughed out loud and replayed 5 times.

AAA gaming in 2020 is like a whore. It does look beautiful but its not involved, its pricy, its transactional. As much as you like, in any costumes you want but feels the same no matter how you dress it.

Tommy wasn't a gangster, he only wanted to work. He didn't wanted revenge for the cab. He was a good working men caught between mafia gangs. He wasn't a firearms expert, his reloads were slow like normal people. WTF have they done to him, to his face, to Paul and Sam Faces and voices jesus

I believe Mack is viewing this game through rosey tinted glasses. I’ve played the original and it had issues, not great driving. Dated mechanics. Etc...

boomer mad about a quest pointer

I loved the original, probably still my favourite open world game for the story. Gaming has moved on though and imagine the criticism it would get if the GPS wasn't on there. At the end of the day, gaming is made for what the teens/20's/30 somethings expect a game to be like. Us older gamers particularly in our 50's and beyond can only look in despair at what gaming is becoming, full of in game purchases and DLC that years ago, would have been part of the game from the beginning.

Tbh I feel like this was aimed towards people who never played the original mafia and it does a great job of that

Personally I thought it was fine for what it is. I played it for the story and completed it in just over 12 hours. I'm happy...

I hate that games are being dumbed down to suit the instagram/tiktok generation.

For anyone having frame drops on a higher than 60hz monitor, you can fix it by going to the games files, locate the games exe (not the launcher exe), go to properties and make sure that ignore frame rate combatibility is turned on.

Mac, Mac, Mac... To be a REAL GAMER you need to get them ACHIEVEMENTS! Driving cars through the city and taking rides on trams takes time that achievement hunting real gamers just don't have!

Mafia Definitive Edition is my favourite game of all time. One of the all-time great games in my opinion

What did they do to my boy paulie

I can understand a gaming company remaking a game adapting it to the modern gamer in order to sell more units, but not with Mafia. This game deserves the utmost respect and could *not* be redone this way. It's not about selling more but doing it the justice it deserves to maintain the legacy of the original. We're talking about art. Not mainstream junk. In any case, hats off to the graphics design team. The only department that met expectations.

Coming in as someone who missed this 1st time around, I can't believe you thumbed this down! I loved it, I didn't skip the driving because the dialogue is sometimes hilarious! The story is great & I'm just glad I got another chance to play something that I heard good things about! If certain gamers want to skip the driving, that's up to them! My mate finished it in a day doing that, it took me 3 days worth, but that's not the games fault!

After watching your review. I have come to the conclusion that you have good points & bad points. Good points: -the open world does sadly feel lackluster in free ride and it also doesn’t help that most if not all of the mission related locations like the airport & the docks are locked out. Even alleyways are locked out. - They definitely made a bad call removing the ability to hop on trains & trams. I honestly don’t know what happened there. But hopefully with the help of mods we can make that a reality. -While i loved this version Tommy Angelo, i do agree they sort of made him a badass rather than someone who has no clue what the mafia even is. But at least he had some hints of OG tommy like feeling remorseful for people and even caring for his family. Even though it’s not Michael Sorvino, Andrew Bongiorno did a fantastic job as new tommy. Bad Points: (I’ll probably be crucified but don’t care) -I can agree to an extent with the cops, but weren’t the cops in the original just as a pain in the ass as they are in the remake? I mean sure sometimes it makes no sense, but still. Realistically they’ll bother you a lot if you commit any crime in the city. -Again, Skip driving, Ramming & the car chase cutscenes and the Molotov are OPTIONAL. If you don’t like it, don’t use them. I understand freedom of speech but if it’s optional, why be so frustrated about it if the game doesn’t force you to use said features. -In terms of the story. Again mac, ITS A REMAKE. It’s based on the original game but not an exact 1/1 replica so they added their own spin on it and expanded on a few missions by adding a few twists. For example, in the mission “fair play” the last objective is to take drunk paulie to his home. Well secretly you can take him somewhere else if you listen to his dialogue and honestly that was something cool that Hangar 13 sneaked in. -Again, what’s the problem with cover systems? And just like the ram and skip drive. ITS OPTIONAL. I was playing you lucky bastard crouching and it works just fine. And don’t say “realism”. Mind asking a veteran soldier of they crouched during a gunfight instead of taking cover? Honestly this whole realism argument with crouching is getting old and we have to face the fact that most cover shooters (which was the type of genre the original was in terms of gameplay) require a cover system. And yes i have played old school games that had no cover systems like Max Payne. And i still love it. It’s as if Cover mechanics are a cardinal sin nowadays. -Mac, the original voice actors are significantly aged and some even dead like George DiCenzo who died back in 2010 & if you’re gonna say “they could’ve re-used the old audio”, first since the story is told differently how would the old audio fit well? It’s like placing a puzzle piece in a completely different puzzle set it was meant to be placed on. It simply won’t work. And the audio was probably recorded around 2000 so 20 year old audio wouldn’t exactly line up well with modern games. Of course this isn’t always the case, there are some games that their remakes re use old audio and they work fine, but with mafia it simply wouldn’t work. IN CLOSING: Does this remake have flaws? Absolutely, never said it’s perfect and i know nothing in life is perfect. But this remake in terms of narrative and some characters it does stay true to the original. And it was never gonna be an exact copy of the original, it’s basically mafia but for modern audiences and for the most part it’s fantastic. So to say things like “they ruined it” “they butchered it” is ridiculous and over the top. And for $40 dollars and the fact that this game was in development for 2 and a half years during a pandemic no less, it’s to a degree understandable why the end result is what we got. Honestly we need to set the past aside because nostalgia doesn’t help at all. Still Mac, it’s your opinion. I still like the remake and have absolutely nothing against the original. In fact i just got a gaming PC for my birthday at the time of this writing and can’t wait to play it. Would anyone in the comment section recommend which version i should get? Would be helpful. Thanks for reading and stay safe during these times.

Nope. The game is good.

I remember being 18 years old and playing this game on my creaking old PC that had scavenged parts. I think I had finished Hidden & Dangerous and then switched to this one. This game had me giving it hours on end driving around and by the end of the game I KNEW the city. I knew where Don Saleri liked to eat. I loved each and every character on there. Just wondering if I should buy this version now or wait for the sale and your review you helped. I really hope they come up with an option to disable the fsckin' yellow diamond. Also, that just does not sound like Tommy. Btw, Don Saleri sends his regards! ;)

I loved the original mafia for the immersion. It was I credible. The disc came with a paper version of the map which I had on my wall. It was the first game o ever completed all the way through.

i didn't care about any other Mafia: DE review than this one right here.

All this review was simply Mack waffling bullshit because developers didn't include what he liked in Original because they were either Obsolete or didn't match well with today standard,I came here for a real review and all I found was a grown ass man's tantrum

That molotov thing cracked me up hahahahahaha

When I saw you play the first mission and the fact that you HAVE to go through those accident points to loose the chasers....nope I had to load the 2002 Mafia and get my fix by playing the first mission my way

I'm enjoying it for what it is. But it has some pretty shit gunplay and a lot of graphical glitches. Character models can also look terrible sometimes

The original creator of Mafia doesn't like this remake too.

every gangster movie has one guy named Paulie

There's an achievement called heat from the cops, must be dedicated to Mack

Mac is wrong. It's a good game for a decent price. Don't get me wrong, I like Mac's opinion and his compass is sound usually but you can tell when he pre-hates a title in advance. Also, he thumbed up a shitload of worse games than this.

Tbh the game looks fantastic, visually I mean but I'll probably wait until I can pick it up for a bargain in 6 months time, i hated the 'stick to the cover' shooting element in mafia 3 too, it's awkward to deal with and yes the gold diamond is totally unnecessary, we have got brains and can work it out ourselves but great review as always Mack

I have many happy memories of the original Mafia game. Even though the graphics weren't great, it was good to explore the city with the Gypsy jazz music playing in the background. Perfect to capture the feel of 1930's America. It was great hopping on a tram to explore or just walking around the streets. The game was based on crime and mobsters, but it had a real unique charm which made it endearing to the those that played it. The original intro music evokes nostalgia when heard now years after,, which is strange for a PC game. Looks like the game developer responsible for this remake, really didn't understand or care what made the original so popular. The graphics may have been improved but the gameplay isn't for me and the 30's charm of the original has been lost.

Just wanted to buy this game thinking that it is just the old one HD......