Happy birthday to the @undertaker! Yes, you burned down the family home, encased my real father, Paul Bearer, in concrete, and set me on fire...a couple of times...but otherwise you're the best big brother anyone could ever hope for!
๐ฎ Mafia: The Old Country done! ๐ฎ
Loved my time with this game. It's not perfect, but I don't think a single chapter bored me and I found everything from the plot to its setting and cast captivating.
From the jump, the visuals were gorgeous. Hangar 13 did a fantastic job with San Celeste as the main city, tons of detail in the architecture, vineyards, towns and homes peppering rolling hills across the landscape, and beautiful clouds dotting the sky that all came together to make me feel like I was in early 1900s Sicily.
Everything from the technology to early automobiles, horse riding, etc went a long way towards a deeper sense of immersion and I loved that. I do wish the game provided time to actually go around and explore to my leisure, as it's technically an open world but the game is chapter/mission based so you're not really exploring.
The only gripe I had with audiovisuals was when it came down to performance. It's not a well optimized game. Playing on my PS5 Pro in performance mode, the image quality was sharp but there were frequent framerate drops, whether walking around, driving, in combat, etc. They were pretty noticeable even with VRR on. Unfortunate, but ultimately not enough to keep me from having fun.
I really enjoyed the overall narrative. Even though it was somewhat predictable - a story of resilience, tragedy, betrayal, and most of all love, the execution was believable and well paced. The buildup in conflict felt like watching an car crash in slow motion, like you're trying to contain it but the endpoint is an inevitability you're powerless to stop. Well done stuff.
The cast of characters are excellent and I became quite attached to them and constantly worried about their fates. Enzo (main character) obviously does bad shit throughout the game, but coming from an extremely bad childhood and tossed to the wolves, it's hard not to empathize. The love story between him and Isabella was both incredibly heartwarming and tragic. The ending killed me. Damn you Hangar 13.
Likewise, the supporting characters were so well acted. Luca is a charming mentor figure, Don Torrisi is proper menacing with that classic Godfather voice, Cesare (Don's nephew) becomes Enzo's brother in life and the two feel inseparable. It had my attention the entire time.
The gameplay is an aspect I'd say was just fine. There are typical mission designs like high speed car chases or on horse, stealthing your way through compounds, avoiding enemies, or getting into shootouts. There's nothing really new or revolutionary to it all, as gunplay feels like fairly standard third-person shooting, there chest high walls and containers everywhere, etc. There wasn't a ton of enemy variety, as they mostly boiled down to regular guys, guys with shotguns who try to flush you out of cover, and longer range sniper guys.
It's not bad by any means, it's serviceable enough, but it didn't evolve or introduce many new mechanics throughout the game. The knife fights are the newest addition to the series, and while they're fun at first, they sort of wore out their welcome by the end as again, there was nothing new or surprising.
Still, all things considered, from the visuals and music to the great cast and story, it had me hooked. There's no multiplayer, no MTX, and nothing to get distracted with - just a good ol' fashioned 10-12 hour action adventure game. And that was just great by me ๐
#MafiaTheOldCountry #PS5Pro
The most-controversial kitchen question of them all: Do you wash your chicken? ๐ @guarnaschelli has thoughts and weโre taking notes.
Catch a new episode of #AlexVsAmerica Tuesday at 9|8c!