Mafia: The Old Country has caught the attention of gamers by removing the series’ signature open-world and focusing on its cinematic story. This move was met with positive responses, as the current gaming climate is filled with bloated open-world games. However, some new gameplay footage has since been released, suggesting that this linear action-adventure title will be a mixed bag.
In other words, it’s another standard Mafia game release, but without the open-world dragging things down.
The folks at IGN were able to spend some time with 2K’s upcoming release, and everyone has mixed thoughts about what they saw. As usual, the crime story was well-performed and captured, even if it's a bit cliché at this point. However, once gameplay started, some fans couldn’t help but notice how dated it looked.
Seeing the action in Mafia: The Old Country will be familiar to fans because the animations look a bit similar to previous games. A lot of the shooting mechanics also look similar, and stealth skills reuse many of the same old animations. None of it looks horrible by any means, but it doesn’t look like this latest title is going to take the franchise to new heights, either.
At $50, this is probably seen as an acceptable linear game, especially with good graphics and decent enough gameplay. However, games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are the same price and offer so much more than what we’ve seen here. Even indie titles that cost less than $20 have shown more innovation than this.
We’re going to see Mafia: The Old Country released on current-gen consoles and PC early next month. It’s not clear if this was just an early gameplay build, hence the reused animations, or if it's going to be the final released product.
For better or worse, this looks like another standard Mafia release. There will be fans who enjoy the story and even like the gameplay. Reviews could end up being more positive than we think, but fans aren’t impressed with what they’ve seen from developer Hangar 13. Let’s hope they have some surprises down the line to restore hope.
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