Mafia the Old Country Game Review; Returning to the roots or the opportunity lost? • DigiKala Meg

Mafia: The Old Country Return is a popular collection that has been silent since 2016 (excluding reconstructed versions). Now Hangar 13 and 2K Game Studios, after the Mafia 3 worldwide, who made a lot of noise in his time, have returned to the main roots of the series. In this game we travel to Sicily, Italy, to experience a compact cinematic experience that strives to revive some of the basic elements of the series. Loyalty, revenge and family are in the center again.

In this review of Mafia: The Old Country, as a work that wants to be reminiscent of the Mafia Parts, I will tell you how to face Italian conspiracies in this game! Is this return to the roots the best route for the series? How did the Engine Engine 5 engine do? Is the open world vacancy feel the previous part? Are there important innovations in gameplay? And most importantly, is it worth the experience?

The first two episodes of the Mafia, published in years 1 and 2, were able to do a very difficult mission, and there was nothing but the transmission of the Mafia films, especially the masterpiece of Francis Ford Coppola to the world of video games. They created a unique experience using the styles and stereotypes of the genre without becoming a superficial imitation. The result was two linear but deep and delicious adventure action games made with high skill and were able to engage the player in their exciting stories.

It took six years for the publisher of the game, 4K, to find a new developer to continue the route. This effort eventually led to the Mafia 3 -people; The game that made great changes to the collection formula: the story of America, but in a different region (urban swampy similar to New Orleans), and gameplay was clearly similar to a classic open world like GTA. Although the game succeeded commercially, the old fans felt the main identity of the collection was lost and they wanted nothing but a original continuation.

Storytelling and space; Power battles in the style of Kosa Nostra

The Mafia series, which takes place about thirty years before the events of Part One, abandons America and takes us to the early twentieth century. The story of the game departs from the Italian American gangsters and brings us into the complex world of the island’s criminal families, or Koza Nostra. Here, in the form of Enzo Favara, a young minerian sold by his father to a local master to work in sulfur mines all the time, because of a set of unpleasant events, we are supporting one of the people in the area, the “Godfather of Torizi”.

Like the past, the story is the main column of the game. The story narrates the adventures of the main character, Enzo Favara, with a cinematic, realistic, and slightly dark spirit; The orphan boy who rely on violence is raised in the Torrisi family. Without details, fortunately you didn’t have to play this collection before to enjoy this. The story is completely an independent story. However, old fans find small references and connections with other parts. It can be said that the story of The Old Country is lower than the previous versions in terms of narrative power, but it still has a coherent structure that goes slowly. The main problem is the lack of ambition and innovation, and in fact you feel that you have seen most of the game events in movies or mafia games.

From a young man who falls in love with the daughter of the boss to the characters who are trapped in familiar form, the story is full of the stereotypes of the Mafia genre. However, if you are interested in the classic works of this style, you will easily be fascinated by each season of the story, especially the second half. The first part is more involved in bringing the player into the young man of Anzo, and this makes it a little slow. Overall, The Old Country is a criminal-romantic melodrama that moves on a safe route and has overwhelmed me. This success is largely due to restoring some of the main features of the series.

Sicily at the peak of beauty

Space is one of the main strengths of the game. This time, instead of Emperor B and big cities, we go to the villages and plains of Sicily with a dramatic and pleasant change. With the volcanic mountain of Athena in the background, the rural scenery of Sicily looks great. Like the first two episodes, this game is not a world -class game, but it has a relatively large map that can be explored throughout the story and then in the open mode (after the game is over). The busy streets have replaced the dirt roads and the skyscrapers have been replaced with small villas.

This linearity has allowed Hangar 13 to revive every view, village and region, and gives a precise image of a world that wants to rebuild. This is not limited to the details. From the show of the first cars of the early 1900s to the stylish Ms. Isabella dresses and the classic weapons of that era, such as the Haft Tire Buddu and the Carkhano gun, have all been carefully recreated. The game development team has also done a valuable work in the field of historical documentation; In fact, they have dealt with issues such as anarchism, the first trade unions, the bold influence of Catholicism, and the expansion of organized crime. The law of silence, the values of Koza Nostra, and even the specific rituals of these groups, are depicted with carefulness.

Familiar

If you have experienced the first two games in this series, in The Old Country you will expect something. Here we are with a third -party stories -based action game that is the first word of shooting mechanics. Driving, tight campaigns and a little surfing are next to the shootings to form a simple, ambition -specific gameplay in these sections; The game sometimes brings you into small missions to get more involved with the world.

There is nothing in this part of the mafia that you haven’t seen before in dozens of games, and the same sense of acquaintance sometimes becomes too heavy. Although the game is never boring, The Old Country in the gameplay section is too superficial, even more than its previous parts! In year 4, seeing simple mechanics such as shooting with asylum or an elementary and quantitative hideout system, with severe restrictions on things you can do, and the same dry behavior of NPCs that have not changed for three generations, is not very exciting.

However, Mafia: The Old Country also has a more cinematic combat fight that emphasizes the use of knives. The problem is that we had seen this in games like Anchard, almost a decade ago, and it was better. In other words, the battle with the knife is repeated after a while. In the meantime, the chase and competition with the Carrosla are also the classic elements of the series. Driving with those magnificent but heavy and slow cars is really fascinating, although the not -so -good impact system sometimes ruins the sense of drowning in its space.

Beyond those original mechanics, with a variety of weapons, various blades (each with a special motion and the limit of the number of dagger kicks that are recharged with sharpening rocks), the ability to customize the horse, as well as the map surfing, the depth of the gameplay is created greater through the equipment with Enzo. If you want to raise money to buy a weapon, clothing or color for the car, you must loot the enemies’ body or look for a treasure; In an environment that is not a world, but in some areas it tries to make itself similar. This is, of course, one of the well -known features of the Mafia Collection; The game world is not that open. Almost most of the time you can rotate freely on the map, but there is no special incentive to do so. Of course, I personally waited for the moment to open my game completely so that I could enjoy those beautiful scenery.

The problem is that the story of the game is prioritized and you will eventually find yourself in a bit of a strange situation. For example, the game wants you to change your clothes, buy new equipment, or invest in magical necklaces to get the benefits of passive, but the linearity of the story makes these don’t care much. On the other hand, the beautiful and delicious world of the game invites you to discover it like a world of Sandbox.

But the problem is that if you decide to do this, you will soon deal with the limitations because it is not explored everywhere and your movement on the routes is limited. The combination of shooting, hiding and driving is somewhat acceptable, but the gameplay is the latest part of the mafia far from staying. In other words, the gameplay of this game does not do anything bad, nor is it a boring experience, but it does not try to expand or change the things we have seen for years.

Graphics, music and more

This review is based on the computer version of the game and, given this, the game has poor optimization. Of course, this is an old problem for the collection that has re -shown itself and provided an experience that could be much better. Throughout the story, I experienced the decline in constant frames despite having a proper system. Whether with high settings or settings that were optimized to achieve the most stable frame rate, it was not easy to reach 4 fixed frames.

The change from gameplay to the scenes inside the engine caused a severe frame drop, and the frame rate was even below 2, and at best, the frame remains. Also, there were sudden logs in vibrant moments such as racing by car or surfing in more open areas. Undoubtedly, on some weaker systems, the situation has been even worse. In terms of bugs, there are not many problems in the game, and in general I hope that updates will be released because although it is not a terrible experience, it affects the player’s experience somewhat.

Despite all this, in some moments, the game is really impressive. The lighting of the Anriel Engine engine is great, but it still has problems with optimization that has even damaged visual quality. For example, in faces and tissues that should not have tooth edges, this problem can be seen as well as delay in loading different tissues.

Beyond that, there are other parts that could get a little better. Animations of the unexpected characters look a bit rude in some movements and facial expressions, and some gestures are not good outside of the cinematic scenes (which are really spectacular). However, the soundtrack in general has powerful pieces that convey Italy’s sense of well -being with a traditional rural space. Environmental sound effects, cars, horses, as well as weapons are also very good. In the meantime, the excellent Sicilian dubbing should not be overlooked.

Missing opportunity

Almost a decade, the Mafia has returned again, but this time with a cautious and slightly limited game that is more reminiscent of the series than it wants to reach a higher category among the big names of video games in the organized crime genre. To some extent, Mafia: The Old Country looks like an opportunity both due to technical problems and because of the gameplay that is overly conservative and slightly superficial. However, the wonderful atmosphere and a classic story that progresses with simple and fascinating mechanics may gradually attract your attention.