Is this a mafia game you cannot refuse?
Uncover the origins of organized crime in Mafia: The Old Country, a gritty mob story set in the brutal underworld of 1900s Sicily. Fight to survive in this dangerous and unforgiving era, with action brought to life by the authentic realism and rich storytelling that the critically acclaimed Mafia series is known for.
The Mafia series has had a mixed reception with 1 and 2 being rated well, but the third didn’t quite connect with fans. The Old Country acts as a prequel to the entire series, set in the 1900s in Sicily. It tells a superb story and has plenty of dramatic moments from beginning to end, but how does the rest hold up?
The actual story takes roughly 10+ hours to complete, after that you’ll only have to mop up collectibles in the “open world” which feels empty at the time of writing. It has been confirmed that activities will be added over time in updates, but I do wonder why they didn’t just hold it back until then. I also cannot fathom why you can’t place waypoints on the map; it just seems crazy to me.
The third-person shooting mechanics work well, without doing anything you wouldn’t expect. You do get certain areas where you can choose to be stealthy, while others force you into an open gunfight. Besides these are knife battles that feel like boss fights, including a health meter that makes it portray like Street Fighter/Mortal Kombat. You know when one of these fights are coming a mile off due to your character approaching an arena-type area.
The Old Country has taken a risk by focusing more on the story than having things to do post-game, at least at the time of writing. I did really enjoy the story and connected with the characters, loving and hating the right ones. The cutscenes are very well done and besides one or two scenes glitching on me while playing, but they worked after rebooting the game.
It has a few buggy moments but nothing major, while the framerate was mostly consistent unless you entered a big town while driving, then it started to drop sporadically, I’m not entirely sure why that was the case, but I’m hopeful it will be sorted out with a patch. The visuals themselves are stunning, voice-acting is truly believable, and the soundtrack is superb.
The Verdict
Mafia: The Old Country does well in telling a story and provides decent gunplay and knife battles, but the actual open world is currently very empty, leaving little reason to explore it once the credits roll. I know they are going to add content there over time, but I can’t help feeling it would have benefitted more from a delay to implement it to begin with before launch.