it's a competent, if extremely derivative mob story in the shoes of an also competent if extremely derivative 3rd person cover shooter that fulfills the potential of the source material while abandoning the mechanics that've made the original release stick out to people for over twenty years

this is not a game developed by army sim devs, it's a game that's aping mafia 2
that's probably the best perspective to have when going into why this remake (reimagining, whatever) changes what it does
mafia 2 itself was a way to streamline and take advantage of its predecessor's narrative potential, smoothing out the rough simulationist gameplay into something that played like an intensely focused gta
hangar 13 chose to do the same, and it definitely succeeds in that regard
if people who have played the original and didn't outright dislike this watering down of a very unique experience are to be believed
i haven't played that game so my frame of reference are the other mafia games

speaking of watered down, the moment to moment feels a lot like diet mafia 3
it maintains 3's flaws while removing the speed and brutality that made 3 compelling
however, because it plays perfectly Fine and it completely lacks the structure that made 3 a complete slog i don't really have a big problem with it
it's clear that this was done intentionally as well, given that there's a greater focus on making the player less a sheer unstoppable force of power and more like a regular human being
elements like medkit style health recovery and "classic" difficulty making any fight extremely lethal make that obvious
though i think that these elements are out of place in this game - i gave it a whirl but had a much better time when i turned the difficulty down
i normally like very lethal shooters (i can't play metro on anything other than ranger hardcore it doesn't feel right at all) so take that as you will
driving is hit or miss - it nails the sluggish handling that the original game specifically wanted to recreate in its simulation setting, but because this game has a much more modern approach to set pieces and the sort i found that
much like the aforementioned combat
it was more frustrating than immersive when i was actually meant to put my skills to the test
the best example is this game's attempt at addressing The Race, the part of the 2002 release that was so fucking infamous that it was later patched to allow the player to skip it
i really disliked it, it's what made me take the game from the moderate difficulty and simulation handling i was using and turn everything to its easiest setting until i was done with it
and i kept the driving there until the car chase in the rain when i decided to make that regular handling as well
i like the day to day mundanity that the game is striving for - which is why i kept the police response on simulation - but i suck at driving in a lot of games and i'd rather have a good time than just be mad at a video game
difficulty selection exists for a reason
because of that i'm not gonna really critique it much though, you'll probably dig it as it's a lot of the point
but this is all to say that i don't think the game loses much thematically in the translation between the hardcore and the streamlined

that's because the narrative is incredibly strong and maintains what made games previous as engaging as they were
it's less about the telling and more about the material and its context that's given to you
much of what makes mafia an interesting series is the thematic detail that the game is never subtle about but also never draws a ton of attention to
it forces the player to put two and two together while putting two and two right in front of your face
the end result is a game that's easy to interpret but takes a little bit of legwork to truly appreciate and i respect that about these games
that despite having "i've definitely seen goodfellas" energy it still manages to feel unique and fresh
that it maintains a focus on this narrative instead of capitulating to the trends of open world contemporaries results in a condensed and evocative crime story that is greater than the sum of its parts, lacking in any of the bullshit that a game like mafia 3 had
this is not an open world game, it is a game that uses an open world style hub to emphasize time and place
the commute is the point, the lack of anything to do outside of the objective you are given is the point, it's all the shit that mafia 2 did and it does it fairly well

but it isn't nearly as compelling
its story is a lot simpler, its protagonist is a lot less nuanced, its gameplay isn't q u i t e as good in spite of being the same on paper (the melee combat is better i'll give it that lol)
it's not as cohesive with its themes as even the original game could be (while i haven't played it i know what happens in the narrative)
but the end result is a very competent and enjoyable game that is a lot more interesting to talk about than the overwhelming majority of its AAA contemporaries
but i have a feeling that the legacy of the original mafia will overshadow this release the more time goes on just because of how unique it still is
i can't name another gta style game that goes as hard as that one does in immersing you in the world you're progressively making worse
which is a reality that i think hangar 13 would be okay with
it's clear that with all the changes made, there was a deep love for what the original game was able to capture
you gotta respect that with a AAA remake, we're kinda spoiled with the REmakes and we might not remember just how bad we normally have it with remakes