Mafia: Definitive Edition is probably the most approachable way to get the story of Tommy Angelo if you're a fan of Mafia II. It takes the combat mechanics of Mafia III and uses the same engine to recreate the original game's map and storyline. The problems the game has in being a mafia tale akin to The Godfather lay in the game copying the story beat for beat of the original game which is excusable as it exists more to preserve the story of the 2002 original in reference to the series trying to continue. The devs at Hangar 13 did an excellent job of turning Lost Heaven into something realized on a modern engine without losing the structure of anything. I played the original Mafia (2002) and I recognize many of the streets. It's very cool to explore in Free Ride mode the realized 1930s combination of Chicago and San Francisco, reading the newspaper clippings of Germany electing a new chancellor, crashing through Hooverville's, and feeling the consequences of the repeal of prohibition. A couple of complaints on the historical tourism come from the cars having radios (Motorola first displayed their in-car radio in 1930 at a trade show, but it would not have been in many cars even in 1938 near the end of the game, and certainly not in the older cars or early parts of the game) but it certainly adds to the feeling of the time and the use of the term Molotov Cocktail, which comes from the Russo-Finnish War (1939-1940) and would not be a known term to the Italian Americans of the criminal enterprises in 1938. Other than that, it's cool to see the old cars and I'd almost consider it essential to play the game with manual transmission turned on. (sometimes, for some reason, when you get in a car after a cutscene the vehicle will mysteriously be in 3rd gear and won't really accelerate despite the context demanding you to) In terms of gameplay, it's serviceable. The gunfighting borrows a lot from Mafia III, which is a good system but I don't feel was appropriately translated to the setting, as Tommy Angelo(An Italian immigrant cab driver) should not fight the same way Lincoln Clay(A 6'4" orphan trained to be a Green Beret in Viet-Nam) but he shares animations nontheless. The aiming is certainly less precise which adds to the idea he's not as combat capable, but the lack of any substantial reduction in sensitivity when aiming makes fighting frustrating, particularly on the higher difficulties where body shots are a joke. It's impressive to play a mafia game where the shotgun isn't good in close quarters, and I am using the Tommy gun as a semi-auto carbine instead of the chopper that it is known to be. The movement largely suffers from some degree of unresponsiveness, and whether that's some animation confusion or some sort of hangup on an input overwrite I don't know but every once and a while you will lose on account of the game more than the enemies. Sometimes the game will even see you do too well in a combat sequence and spawn more enemies than might appear on another run in a scripted linear gunfight section. The enemy AI does fight, and though they can be a bit slow to engage advanced tactics, they're there. Pushing as a group, getting in firing lines to maximize suppression, flanking, throwing grenades and firebombs to flush you out of cover, and they even continue to fight towards your last known position if you maneuver out of their sight. The driving is pretty good and I really like the implementation of motorcycles as a first for the series. The only oddity seems to be that you will have tighter turns when accelerating than when slowing down, and the different gears effect traction in different ways which you don't properly grapple with until the mission where you're asked to win a race in a car you've only driven once before with 0 player advantages(You are not faster than anyone else. If you want to catch up, the straightaway isn't your friend, the corners are. You have to properly race in a way that a lot of modern action-racing games don't ask of you). The stealth exists, which is better than the original simply not really having those systems, and only really come into play during the 2-3 stealth sections which are decent.
The story is one that I had "spoiled" on account of playing Mafia II first then playing the original so I can't say I can appreciate the impact of the reveals, especially given the oddities of audio in the voice acting sometimes, but it's animated well and the modifications to the story that exist clearly are the product of taking the original's focus on gameplay and understanding that this game isn't going to play out the same. These gripes I've mentioned are frustrations I've experienced playing on the Classic difficulty, the game's hardest, and it certainly reminds me of the difficulty of the original game. Probably the biggest disappointment of the game is that they didn't add anything to make the world more fun to play in, but that gives me hope that the new assets they've made for this tale will be the basis for a new entry in the Mafia franchise which is set back in the 20s and 30s at the height of the age of the zoot-suited mobster. I don't know that I'd recommend this to someone new to the series, but perhaps on a lower difficulty where the few jagged points can smooth out over the forgiveness that provides. I would highly recommend to someone who played Mafia II, did the mission towards then end where you randomly gat a dude on his front lawn, and want to see the story behind that without dealing with 2002 jank. I would not recommend this as a sequel to Mafia III if that was your entry point and what you liked, but if this game is where you go before doing Mafia II, you'll transition really well. Overall, generally a good game and I'd recommend at the $30 and below price point given the limits of the content.

Mafia: Definitive Edition is probably the most approachable way to get the story of Tommy Angelo if you're a fan of Mafia II. It takes the combat mechanics of Mafia III and uses the same engine to recreate the original game's map and storyline. The problems the game has in being a mafia tale akin to The Godfather lay in the game copying the story beat for beat of the original game which is excusable as it exists more to preserve the story of the 2002 original in reference to the series trying to continue. The devs at Hangar 13 did an excellent job of turning Lost Heaven into something realized on a modern engine without losing the structure of anything. I played the original Mafia (2002) and I recognize many of the streets. It's very cool to explore in Free Ride mode the realized 1930s combination of Chicago and San Francisco, reading the newspaper clippings of Germany electing a new chancellor, crashing through Hooverville's, and feeling the consequences of the repeal of prohibition. A couple of complaints on the historical tourism come from the cars having radios (Motorola first displayed their in-car radio in 1930 at a trade show, but it would not have been in many cars even in 1938 near the end of the game, and certainly not in the older cars or early parts of the game) but it certainly adds to the feeling of the time and the use of the term Molotov Cocktail, which comes from the Russo-Finnish War (1939-1940) and would not be a known term to the Italian Americans of the criminal enterprises in 1938. Other than that, it's cool to see the old cars and I'd almost consider it essential to play the game with manual transmission turned on. (sometimes, for some reason, when you get in a car after a cutscene the vehicle will mysteriously be in 3rd gear and won't really accelerate despite the context demanding you to) In terms of gameplay, it's serviceable. The gunfighting borrows a lot from Mafia III, which is a good system but I don't feel was appropriately translated to the setting, as Tommy Angelo(An Italian immigrant cab driver) should not fight the same way Lincoln Clay(A 6'4" orphan trained to be a Green Beret in Viet-Nam) but he shares animations nontheless. The aiming is certainly less precise which adds to the idea he's not as combat capable, but the lack of any substantial reduction in sensitivity when aiming makes fighting frustrating, particularly on the higher difficulties where body shots are a joke. It's impressive to play a mafia game where the shotgun isn't good in close quarters, and I am using the Tommy gun as a semi-auto carbine instead of the chopper that it is known to be. The movement largely suffers from some degree of unresponsiveness, and whether that's some animation confusion or some sort of hangup on an input overwrite I don't know but every once and a while you will lose on account of the game more than the enemies. Sometimes the game will even see you do too well in a combat sequence and spawn more enemies than might appear on another run in a scripted linear gunfight section. The enemy AI does fight, and though they can be a bit slow to engage advanced tactics, they're there. Pushing as a group, getting in firing lines to maximize suppression, flanking, throwing grenades and firebombs to flush you out of cover, and they even continue to fight towards your last known position if you maneuver out of their sight. The driving is pretty good and I really like the implementation of motorcycles as a first for the series. The only oddity seems to be that you will have tighter turns when accelerating than when slowing down, and the different gears effect traction in different ways which you don't properly grapple with until the mission where you're asked to win a race in a car you've only driven once before with 0 player advantages(You are not faster than anyone else. If you want to catch up, the straightaway isn't your friend, the corners are. You have to properly race in a way that a lot of modern action-racing games don't ask of you). The stealth exists, which is better than the original simply not really having those systems, and only really come into play during the 2-3 stealth sections which are decent. The story is one that I had "spoiled" on account of playing Mafia II first then playing the original so I can't say I can appreciate the impact of the reveals, especially given the oddities of audio in the voice acting sometimes, but it's animated well and the modifications to the story that exist clearly are the product of taking the original's focus on gameplay and understanding that this game isn't going to play out the same. These gripes I've mentioned are frustrations I've experienced playing on the Classic difficulty, the game's hardest, and it certainly reminds me of the difficulty of the original game. Probably the biggest disappointment of the game is that they didn't add anything to make the world more fun to play in, but that gives me hope that the new assets they've made for this tale will be the basis for a new entry in the Mafia franchise which is set back in the 20s and 30s at the height of the age of the zoot-suited mobster. I don't know that I'd recommend this to someone new to the series, but perhaps on a lower difficulty where the few jagged points can smooth out over the forgiveness that provides. I would highly recommend to someone who played Mafia II, did the mission towards then end where you randomly gat a dude on his front lawn, and want to see the story behind that without dealing with 2002 jank. I would not recommend this as a sequel to Mafia III if that was your entry point and what you liked, but if this game is where you go before doing Mafia II, you'll transition really well. Overall, generally a good game and I'd recommend at the $30 and below price point given the limits of the content.