Mafia: The Old Country

Mafia: The Old Country looks backward, both in its setting and design ethos. Combining gorgeous visuals, strong character work, and scrappy action set pieces, the outcome is a confident, understated crime game that does exactly what it's supposed to.

Mafia: The Old Country is at its best when things slow down, letting you take in all the sights and sounds of Sicily. Like previous Mafia games, it nails the look and feel of its real-world counterpart by investing heavily in the details. Unfortunately, generic gameplay and dated mission design hold Mafia: The Old Country back, making it feel like a relic of the early 2010s.

Mafia: The Old Country is a conventional but effective return to the linear and tightly story-driven format of the original Mafia and Mafia II, and it boasts a wonderful eye and ear for detail.

Mafia: The Old Country doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it does take players to a beautiful new locale for a full-fledged Mafia game like any other - and possibly the best one yet. The Old Country makes for a sublime addition to the series.

The core gameplay in both of these now-vintage titles outshines Mafia: The Old Country. It’s still an enjoyable enough journey through a spectacular environment, but not a single gameplay system stands up to scrutiny, resulting in a series of shootouts and cinematics platforming the least interesting character in his own game.

Mafia: The Old Country harkens back to the old days in more ways than one. While the gameplay is more of a standard third-person action affair, it’s refreshing to play a game that doesn’t require you to wade through padding to find the good stuff. With a stirring narrative that commands your attention and visuals that fully capture your gaze, The Old Country is exactly the place to holiday as the summer comes to a close.

Mafia: The Old Country isn't a bad game, just a tepid one. Its gameplay is flaccid and restrictive, its narrative is dull and predictable, and its world has no more charm or presence than an Unreal Engine tech demo. It nails the bare minimum, but a game like this, from a franchise as beloved as Mafia, should have gone beyond that.

All in all, Mafia: The Old Country is a perfectly decent action game. It's clear that the ambition was to offer some kind of hybrid between linear and open world gameplay. The developers wanted to tighten up the experience to make it engaging, well-directed, and grandiose, but even though I personally worship open worlds, I would have preferred to see them lean even more towards streamlining this.