Taking a quick look at the likes of Grand Theft Auto and even the Saints Row series, you would be forgiven for thinking that these sorts of crime epics have always been anchored to the open world design that we so often take for granted. 2K’s Mafia series is no stranger to open-world shenanigans either, what with Mafia 3 unfolding against the sort of design blueprint that players have seen many, many times over. Taking both the not-so-great commercial and critical response to Mafia 3 into account, while also being emboldened by the success of Mafia: Definitive Edition, which very much went back to the series’ roots, developer Hangar 13 looks set to once more embrace the linear cinematic design that has defined the best entries in the franchise with its latest offering. This is how Mafia: The Old Country looks set to bring back the linear cinematic gaming blockbuster with aplomb.
A Much Tighter, More Guided Narrative
In contrast to the broader, more expansive approach of Mafia 3, which some found unevenly paced, Mafia: The Old Country is a prequel that instead explores a much more focused narrative set around the genesis of the mafioso crime families that would become so prominent in the other games in the series. As Enzo Favara, a resourceful young upstart caught amidst a brutal mafioso family war, players must fight their way to prominence across a gorgeously realised take on 1900s Sicily. This much more streamlined and focused narrative also has a direct impact on gameplay structure, too, with each mission being designed to progress this central story rather than throwing a bunch of side content to slow things down and unnecessarily distract from said narrative.
A Linear Driven Game World Built For Appreciation
Much more akin to the first two Mafia games, the game world of Mafia: The Old Country is a far cry from the freewheeling, massively open world design of Mafia 3 and other similar games. Essentially, Mafia: The Old Country operates on a sort of limited open world principle where there are seemingly open areas that you can traverse through (either on foot, on horse or by early, turn of the century motorcars) to reach your mission objectives, but such routes are generally more focused, and the usual array of optional objectives, map icons, and endless collectibles aren’t a major design priority here.
As such, with the shift in focus to making the game world appear more as a backdrop to the story and on-screen action, rather than some huge geographical sprawl stuffed with side activities and all manner of other distractions, this means that developer Hangar 13 has been able to make the most of its production budget. The result is a meticulously crafted take on turn-of-the-century Sicily that provides players with a lens through which to experience a time that has long since vanished. From verdant vineyards to crumbling ruins, gorgeously architected opera houses, dusty tree-lined trails, cobbled streets, subterranean crypts, and so much more besides, every aspect of this digital, early 20th-century Sicily in Mafia: The Old Country has been deftly handcrafted and begs to be devoured by both your eyes and ears.
An Emphasis On Core Moment-to-Moment Gameplay Systems
Though traversing by foot, horse, and motorcar are all important ways to get around the game world of 1900s Sicily, Mafia: The Old Country is much more about the moment-to-moment gameplay than spending way too much time travelling from point A to point B with little else to do than just gawp at the scenery rushing by. More specifically, Mafia: The Old Country shifts the emphasis back to the core gameplay systems that attracted gamers to the Mafia series in the first place, in addition to the inclusion of a few new ones to boot.
Naturally, as you might well expect from a third-person actioner such as this, cover shooting is very much a key tenet of the core gameplay, as a good chunk of the mission design centres around you hiding behind the cover of various durabilities, returning fire and shifting to a more advantageous space to outflank your foes. In addition, stealth is also very much part of Mafia: The Old Country, with some missions requiring you to remain undetected, while others encourage the use of flashy, though highly violent, stealth takedowns to quietly neutralise the enemy.
Entirely new to Mafia: The Old Country, however, is the gameplay mechanic of knife fighting. Paranza Corta (Sicilian Knife Fighting) is the traditional knife-fighting style of Sicily, with the endlessly sharp stiletto knife being the weapon of choice. By adhering very much to this tradition, knife fighting in Mafia: The Old Country is all about parry, counterattacks and evasion. Rather than just wading in with your knife swinging around haphazardly, success instead comes from reading your opponent’s movements, reacting in kind, and slowly chipping away at their health by making them pay for every mistake.
Mafia: The Old Country Marks A Return To The Classic Mob Movie
Taken as a whole, ultimately everything that Mafia: The Old Country does by eschewing the increasingly shopworn open world template that other crime epics so readily embrace, marks a return to an earlier time where the Mafia games evoked the cinematic presentation and palpable feel of classic mob movies across the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and beyond.
Indeed, according to developer Hangar 13, Mafia: The Old Country is supposed to play out like a ‘classic mob movie’, and that appears to be evident in every aspect of its striking presentation. From the ultra-detailed character models to the eye-openingly ornate yet authentic take on early 1900s Sicily and an overabundance of cinematic flair that at once echoes Francis Ford Coppola’s seminal Godfather Part II, Mafia: The Old Country is essentially performing two feats. Not only is it the next in a celebrated line of gaming crime epics that ditches conventional open world design, it is also very much a stunning celebration of classic blockbuster crime cinema, where you can practically smell the tomatoes hanging off the vines and smell the vino poured into glasses between uneasy allies as you race, shoot and stealth your way through a very traditional tale of mafioso crime families at war in early 20th century Sicily.
