Story is king. This is something that I have vehemently believed in throughout my decades of experience playing video games. A sentiment that has only gotten stronger as the years have passed, especially now that we’ve gotten past the early days of shock and awe when seeing developers push the boundaries of what this medium is capable of; maturing into an understanding of defined genres and gameplay mechanics to where the mere existence of a cover system no longer impresses. Though those formative years were incredibly fun to witness, gamers now require a bit more to feel moved by a game. That something more, in my opinion, is a story.
Whether they be the bespoke stories created by the player through their misadventures in the lands of Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom, the non-traditional ones that echo in the eerily atmospheric alleys of Dark Souls, or the more traditionally cinematic ones from the likes of Metal Gear Solid or The Last of Us, our nature as humans has always been about telling and experiencing stories. Sure, as a writer of fiction myself, I may be biased in thinking so. Still, I truly believe that a game’s narrative has the ability to either propel it to the upper echelons of gaming greatness or keep it basking in mediocrity. I would go even further by saying that a well-written and presented story can leave such an impact on a player that it can turn a blind eye to even the most glaring of gameplay woes. Which brings me to the primary example for this thesis: Mafia: Definitive Edition.
The first time I played a Mafia game was with Mafia II on the Xbox 360 back in 2010. I remember binging the entire game with my uncle in just a couple of days as we passed the controller back and forth between missions. From start to finish, we were engrossed in this world and the story of Vito Scaletta. From the intro that begins with a melancholic piano tune which backdrops a camera slowly panning into a shot of a lowly lit apartment as its window shields a ponderous protagonist from a rainy night, with his narration telling us the first line of the game, “My name is Vito Scaletta,” to the harrowing last cutscene, every beat in Mafia II kept both my uncle and I glued to the television. Not only because of its well-written script and charismatic vocal performances, but because of its understanding of traditional cinematic storytelling. An understanding that not many games (even modern ones) have. From blocking and shot selection to pacing and transitions, having this filmic understanding of mise en scène when telling a video game story through traditional cinematic methods is crucial to effectively engage players in the narrative.
It’s this very understanding that the team over at Hangar 13 have proven to be incredibly well-versed in, as their remake of 2k Games’ original Mafia is nothing short of a triumph; at least from a narrative presentation perspective. It took mere seconds as the intro to the Definitive Edition got going that I felt myself getting back into the mood of the Mafia franchise; a franchise that I haven’t touched since my time with Vito in 2010. The game does an impeccable job of setting up not only the key players of the game – all of whom are voice-acted terrifically – but also the fictional city of Lost Heaven, Illinois, set during the prohibition era of the 1930s. Driving through the city inside these classic cars inspired by the time, seeing the old-timey adverts on billboards while listening to the high-pitched voices of fast-talking men calling a baseball game on the radio, it’s all a joy and truly feels as if you’ve been transported to a time long gone.
Even though the world itself doesn’t allow for much interactivity like other modern open-world games, Hangar 13 have masterfully set the tone with the art design of the open world so that it acts as a beautiful backdrop to this thrilling story. The story itself sees you take the role of a cabbie by the name of Tommy Angelo, who on a fateful night sees himself get wrapped up in a conflict between two of Lost Heaven’s biggest crime syndicates: the Salieri and Morello families. Throughout the twenty chapters, you’ll witness Tommy come into his own as a part of this family, although through means he slowly begins to question as the years progress and the conflict between the families reaches a fever pitch. Each chapter plays out more or less the same: drive somewhere as NPCs talk, kill a group of Morello’s goons, maybe plant a bomb or sneakily steal something until something inevitably goes awry which leads to some more killing or a car chase – rinse and repeat. The formula has existed since early Rockstar games, and it’s one that still proves effective as I never once felt it be repetitive. However, this isn’t because I found the gameplay to be enjoyable.
Mafia: Definitive Edition, by any metric, doesn’t have great gameplay. I don’t even think it has good gameplay. Frankly, the gameplay is barely passable and at times even terrible. Tommy’s movements are frustratingly slow, clunky, and imprecise; the gunplay looks and sounds satisfying but barely works on a tactile level unless you turn the aim assist to its highest setting (which I ended up doing); and some of the set-pieces are incredibly frustrating and led to my death numerous times. The only aspect that somewhat works is the driving, which seeing as you don’t have many places to go aside from mission objectives feels like a moot positive. Reviewers called the game dated mechanically, which I think is a little more forgiving and a tad unfair to older games. Mafia: Definitive Edition isn’t just dated gameplay-wise, it’s simply stiff and not good.
Yet, never once did the gameplay experience take away from my desire to see a mission through or my love for this world and characters. Honestly, I couldn’t keep my hands off the controller or my eyes off the TV; and whenever I had to take a break or needed to go to bed I was constantly thinking about what was about to happen next. Hangar 13 were able to present this story in such a manner that it took me right back to the way I felt more than a decade ago when playing through Mafia II. Not just because they were able to showcase this story from the early 2000s with a modern coat of paint, but did so with an astute understanding of tone and cinematic presentation.
Many modern games are written well and have talented voice actors lending their voices to interesting characters, but they lack the presentation needed to accurately set the emotional heft their narrative may hold. Just like how a good joke falls flat with improper timing and inflection, an interesting narrative or character beat can be botched due to poor shot selection, music cue, player-character placement, or environmental design. Hangar 13 has not only remade a classic game with updated visuals, but did so all the while enhancing every narrative and character moment with an impressive understanding of cinematic presentation that makes this story, these characters, and this world shine; so much so that even a subpar gameplay experience isn’t enough to take over its spotlight.
