As a die-hard fan of the original: Yes.

"Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'" (otto-the-croatian)
09/26/2020 at 07:41 • Filed to: mafia, gaming

I’ve only finished Better get used to it last night, continuing tonight. But for now this seems to be a beautiful recreation of the original Mafia.

The cars and driving are gorgeously done, and the city feels very much alive. This is the first game where I can say that it looks exactly like in the trailers. The streets are always busy and full, there are newspapers being loudly sold on corners, people are chatting on the streets which are full of carts, stands etc, trams, ferries and trains whistling away, ahooga horns tooting, cars’ suspensions creaking, even cobbled streets have a cool noise when driving over them. The map is absolutely beautiful.

Some things from the original are so hardwired into my brain though, that it’s hard to get used to the small changes - I keep getting disorientated after leaving Salieri’s bar, looking for that alley - and then realizing that it’s a few blocks down lol. I also find it hard to get used to the new faces as well, but the acting is very well done so I will hold my judgement on that one. The mo-cap is justified in this - all the subtle facial expressions genuinely add to the dialogue. The motorcycles are new - clunky at first but sooo much fun once you figure out how to slide. the rear end out.

The original Mafia is such a huge part of my life that it’s very important to me and I feel very strong nostalgia. For now I think this remake is exactly what I wanted - minus the original voices and faces.

Anyone else playing this?

If you are at all interested in this game, be it for the time period, story or just the cool cars - I’m pretty sure I can already recommend it even after just a few hours in. I would definitely recommend playing the original first - but since it’s such an old and outdated game (in some ways, at least), I cannot judge people for not wanting to give the original a go. This is the next best thing, though!

DISCUSSION (10)

BeaterGT > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 09:06

May have to pick this up. I remember playing the original and being surprised by how cool the cars were.

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 13:22

I’ve heard it’s mostly linear, thoughts on that? Is there much to do outside of the main plot? Anyone you can pick a fight with who aren’t the police? I had a demo for Mafia 2 I think and I played the crap out of it, the gunplay and driving was great. My method was to slam 10 beers in my house and try and get pulled over for speeding

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 13:45

I’m playing it for the first time. I started with 2 and loved it, I just never went back to 1. I will say the shooting system sucks.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick)
09/26/2020 at 13:51

Haha I haven’t yet found a way to slam 10 beers in this game...
It is very linear, I think you should approach this just as a story driven game. Even the level design is pretty linear, too. But the story is worth it, in my opinion.

There is a “Free Ride” option, where you are set free to explore the city and find some collectables and special cars. Out side of that, sadly no small mini-missions like there might be in a GTA game. I find pleasure in just driving around the city, exploring the back alleys and testing out different cars and trucks. I don’t know how much that will satisfy you though, if you are indeed looking for an open-world experience.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
09/26/2020 at 13:58

Sad to hear, I’m , I am a fan of it. I like that it’s sort of vague and imprecise, it adds to the experience I think.

However Mafia 2 had much better shooting, and the metal sounds of the shotguns were amazing there, this isn’t as good, I admit. And Mafia 1 set a veeery low bar for the shooting (it was terrible there, even then), so I guess anything’s an improvement.

MKULTRA1982(ConCrustyBrick) > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 15:09

That’s not a deal breaker, I may still have to pick it up, thank you!

404 - User No Longer Available > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 17:17

Finished downloading it yesterday, but had an exam this morning so I only tried out a track test for the Bolt B.

Sad there isn’t Free Ride Extreme though, that was actually my favourite.

404 - User No Longer Available > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
09/26/2020 at 17:18

And Mafia 1 set a veeery low bar for the shooting (it was terrible there, even then)

I dare you to go and post that on /r/MafiaTheGame, or the YouTube channels where the Czech fanboys are prevalent, lol.

Some argued that was teh best system out there, just because it was ridiculously hard.

PS: Were you playing in Classic mode? I told the vague and inaccurate was intentional. They mentioned this was due to the fact it uses the Mafia 3 system, but the difference being Lincoln was a veteran and Tommy wasn’t.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > 404 - User No Longer Available
09/27/2020 at 04:48

Hahah I daren’t post that there for sure. I do have some nostalgia to that system, and it sure was very hard. I remember the double tap right or left that would make you roll to that side, and how often I would do it by accident, rolling straight out of cover into my death.

It’s one of those oldschool game systems which is so shitty but also very predictable, making you learn it by heart and learning to play to it’s weaknesses and strengths .

And yep, I’m on classic mode - I heard that they did this on purpose too , props to them for that.

I think that enemy AI plays a role in the shooting as well - they seem to be pretty smart here, changing covers often and they always seem to be advancing towards you and slowly trying to flank you - making it impossible to go very slow and very methodically like you did in the original Mafia. It adds tension, I like that.

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > 404 - User No Longer Available
09/27/2020 at 04:51

I know! I miss Extreme too. But they somehow merged the two, you have some collectibles and a few prototypes to find in the regular free ride, which is nice. You can also change the weather and have a garage of cars to use. But it doesn’t seem to be as involved as Extreme was, sadly...

Fingers crossed for the exam.