Though I wouldn’t say the story experiences diminishing returns throughout its twelve hours, though Empire Bay never again looks as striking as it does during the bleak, midwinter first act. Mafia II came at a time when these games were still in a stage of infancy and while the lure of scantily clad, classical Playboy centrefolds will have ‘horny on main’ type operators trawling Empire Bay, it’s not likely most will stick around once the twelve hour story wraps up. It’s because it’s grounded that Mafia II’s plot lands harder than its contemporaries and, even a decade later, there’s value in that. It’s hard to concede that the game’s newfound fidelity does enough to justify the asking price for this remaster, especially if you’ve ruled over Empire Bay before. There’s a sombre cloud that hangs over the opening and I feel it best encapsulated Mafia’s tone, though Vito cruising around in an open-top to the late, great, and a little anachronistic, Little Richard is one of the game’s smaller pleasures. It’s certainly an odd choice to release the trilogy out of sequence, though given Mafia II’s definitive offering serves up little more than spit-shined graphics and the extra content from a decade ago, it decision begins to make a little sense. Mafia II: Definitive Edition also benefits from improved facial animations to give cutscenes an even more cinematic feel. Mafia II is up close and personal a lot of the time and focuses on Vito’s time in the nick, though at range the game is uniformly unflinching. There’s a whole open world on offer, though it doesn’t do a lot to encourage exploration. Mafia II: Definitive Edition Review. What started out as a means to clear his family’s debt grew with Vito’s misplaced ambition, and his mother died with her only son behind bars. There’s always been a bit of confusion about Mafia II, a mob-epic released at a time when the mere act of driving from one side of a digital city to another was viewed as a riff on Grand Theft Auto. Even the best remasters aren’t without their hang-ups and Mafia II’s definitive outing doesn’t defy the rule. Vito can duck and weave through the beautifully designed, tight arenas. What follows isn’t a standard tale of ascension free of consequence, Vito’s rise is offset by the alienation of those closest to him. Though it pulls a lot of the punches today’s open-world games freely throw, Mafia II is a time capsule in a lot of ways. Though for those new to Mafia, you could do a lot worse. HDR and 4K resolution are supported on PC as well as on PlayStation®4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles. A lowly thief, out to steal back a book of stamps soon led to Grand Theft Auto, a hail of gunfire at my fingertips.