2K GamesMafia: The Old Country drastically improves on its predecessor, delivering a gripping mob tale that hits harder than a punch from Tony Montana. It’s just a shame that it’s a much better movie than it is a game.
The Mafia games have always nailed the story. While always taking place against a stunning backdrop, from the mean streets of the NYC-inspired Empire Bay to the bayou of Louisiana, the real hook is the rise, and usually fall, of its central family.
2016’s Mafia 3 mixed things up by jumping on the open-world gravy train, which turned out to be a serious misstep that only diluted the excellent narrative with repetitive activities.
The Old Country is a course correction, taking the franchise back to its roots by ditching the open world fluff and taking more cues from Mafia: Definitive Edition. It pays off thanks to an unforgettable journey with beautifully written characters, even if the sneaking, shooting, and stabbing connecting the cut scenes is a bit of a chore.
Mafia: The Old Country screenshots
What is Mafia: The Old Country about?
Set in Sicily’s sunny Valle Dorata (or golden valley) in 1904, Mafia: The Old Country follows the journey of Enzo Favara, a miner sold to the pits as a child by his father.
After escaping, he’s rescued by Don Torresi, leader of a powerful crime family, who controls much of the valley. Enzo soon works his way up from a vineyard worker to one of the Don’s most trusted soldiers.
2K GamesA story you can’t refuse
Mafia: The Old County’s plot is exceptional. What starts out as a fairly standard tale of a young man from nothing making his way up through the criminal underworld soon evolves into one of the most genuinely affecting mafia stories I’ve witnessed in any medium.
While I’d never sit here and say it’s better than classics like The Godfather or Goodfellas, when it comes to making you root for its characters and care about their fate, it’s right up there. If you’re not a little misty-eyed by the time the credits roll, maybe you should take Omerta yourself.
The second half boasts some of the most shocking and spectacular sequences the series has managed to date, including a frantic chase across the rooftops of San Celeste and a brutal assassination during a live opera.
This is all thanks to the immediately likeable (or sometimes hateable) characters. From Enzo’s calm and collected mentor, Luca, to the intimidating Don Torresi himself, I would have happily sat in a car for hours just driving around Sicily and listening to them monologue.
Speaking of Sicily, the main setting is gorgeous. I initially thought I’d miss the bustling cities of past entries, but after a couple of hours driving across cobbled streets or looking out at the clear blue waters of Porto Almaro, it didn’t take long for me to embrace a slower way of life. I mean, seriously, just look at it:
2K GamesKnife and knife again
Unfortunately, the action between the story beats is fine at best and outright boring at worst. Most missions follow a fairly similar pattern: drive to a place, silently kill a few guards, get dragged into a big old shootout, rinse and repeat.
The shooting is satisfying enough, with the expected selection of pistols, bolt-action rifles, and shotguns. Meanwhile, the stealth loop of throwing objects to distract hilariously blind gang members, stabbing them from behind, and hiding their bodies in boxes is as old as a vintage Italian wine.
The problem is that it doesn’t evolve in any meaningful way, and each encounter is painfully easy. You can purchase different knives to unlock certain effects, but none of these drastically change the way you play, and even the prettiest of knives doesn’t save the rinse and repeat gameplay.
Then there’s the knife combat. These one-on-one showdowns are introduced early on in the 12-hour runtime, and they’re clearly the feature the devs are most proud of, as they’re how every major fight is decided. Every. Single. One.
While the simple rhythm of blocking, hacking, and slashing is pretty novel at first, it becomes repetitive when it’s the only way that a mission seems to end. It hit the point that after around nine hours, when I chased a target into a sealed room for a long-awaited confrontation, I let out an audible “please don’t” when Enzo pulled out his trusty knife once again.
2K GamesVerdict
Mafia: The Old Country is one of the most gripping and emotional mob tales you’re likely to find in any game. Its memorable cast of characters had me itching for the next cutscene, and the serene Sicilian valley is stunning.
The gameplay that breaks it all up might not be anything to write home about, and the repetitive knife fights would be better off sleeping with the fishes, but the story Hangar 13 has put together makes it well worth powering through. It’s slick, snappy, and exactly what a Mafia game should be.
Let’s just hope the next game is as fun to play as it is to watch.
Review of Mafia: The Old Country
3/5 = Okay
Mafia: The Old Country tells an exceptional mob story with incredible characters, but it's a shame that it's so much better to watch than it is to play.