Mafia: The Old Country – “I will make a proposal that he cannot refuse.” (“I'm gonna make him an offer he can refuse The Godfather Not only depicting the power of the mafia world, but also a guideline for the spirit of the game series Mafia For more than two decades. Launched for the first time in 2002 by Illusion Softworks (later 2k Czech), this series was associated with the childhood of many 8X generation gamers, including the writer.

But at Gamescom event in 2024, Mafia: The Old Country Suddenly appeared as “an undeniable proposal” Hangar 13 To the fans, a promise to bring the brand back to the core values ​​of the game series, promising to completely recreate the stifling, tense and magical atmosphere of the mafia organizations, where every decision comes with a proper price.

As the name, Mafia: The Old Country Will bring the player back to the “cradle” of Mafia: Sicily Island, Italy in the 1900s, the time when the family in the dark began to reach the ball power throughout Europe and cross the ocean.

So Hangar 13 really regains the trust of long -term fans of the game? Let MarkGame learn through the following article, okay.

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A movie “party”

Mafia: The Old Country Opening with the chapter “Tremori” – in the meaning of the meaning “shock”, both impressing and reminiscent of the immortal start of the immortal point Mafia The first part.

Instead of the noisy streets, the player will step into the stifling darkness of a sulfur mines, where Enzo Favara, a poor miner and friend Gaetano, daily life. But in the fateful moment, a fierce vibration caused the tunnel collapse, and from that moment of life and death, the fate of Enzo turned his turn, swept him into the bloody vortex of the mafia family on Sicily Island

From an unknown who entered the underworld, with a reckless and ambition personality, Enzo gradually became an effective right arm of the organization, but was also caught up in a cold and cruel machine, from the purge of the opposite gang to the money printing money to reach the “octopus hose” to the American empire, the entire journey appeared as a classic mafia film, the more the story of the story was soaked with the story of the story, the more the story of the story was soaked with the story of the story, the more the story of the story was soaked with the story of the story, the more the story was soaked with the story of the story, the more the story of the story was soaked with the story of the story. End out.

The picture of the underworld in Italy is more and more colorful thanks to the depth of the supporting character, each is a piece of enzyme fate. Luca Trapani, calm and wise, is a solid fulcrum in the early days. In contrast, Cesare Massaro, impulsive, aggressive, always plunge into danger but wholeheartedly for the family, reminiscent of Sonny Corleone shadow in The Godfather.

In the center of power is a true “godfather” – Don Torrisi, with a deep voice, each saying as an order engraved deeply into the mind, making the writer not ask the legendary Don Vito Corleone by the screen icon, Marlon Brando, once incarnated.

The whole journey appears like a classic mafia, with a story telling the artistic story “slowly but absorbed”, the deeper it makes it difficult for players to stop out

However, overtaking all the plots and powerful battles, the heart of the story is not in the sealed cigar and gunpowder, but Isabella, Don Torrisi's daughter. The horizontal love between her and the sweet and bitter Enzo, the fuse for the tragedy and also the emotional soul soaked in the whole game.

In order to complete the formula for a “movie party”, the facial and facial activity technology (Facial Animation) becomes an indispensable piece: from the moving gaze reflected in the inner heart, each furrowed eyebrow, to the husky, thick voice of Don Torrisi. Comes with the elaborate voice, whether choosing English voice or native language, all shades are depicted delicately, leaving an unforgettable echo!

Experience seamlessly, immutable spirit

The interesting thing is to play Mafia: The Old Countrythe more the writer remembered his childhood in the early 2000s, when the game was still pure as single players, single adventures in front of the screen, never existing concepts such as “live service”, “Microtrans action” or “season pass”.

The experience here also has that spirit, as if watching a VHS tape that was colored, a testament that just maintained the core values, no need to follow the time, can still create a experience that is enough to hold the player. If you separate each mechanism, indeed the game is nothing new, even many features writer have “fallen in the neck” in other games, but when blended, they suddenly become a complete chord, so that Mafia: The Old Country Ngan up like a nostalgic music, bringing players back to the golden age of “offline game”.

For example Mafia 1 Now being reproduced, it is still tense enough to make “heart beating, trembling hands”, but the game company has been observant to a few temporary saving points so that the player no longer has to “bitter” racing from the beginning as the old.

On the other hand, the way to build the game screen, despite having a large map, the game reminds The last of us part II With linear gameplay divided into chapters, allows returning to collect collectors.

The shooting mechanism also feels heavy and full of weight: The barrel of view never stands still and swaying with the character's breathing, forcing you to hold the steam and calculate each engraving to pull the trigger. Each shot has a separate bounce with each gun, as if the player can feel the weight of metal and gunpowder right in the palm of the hand.

But the game does not stop at fire, most of the bosses turn into … stressful hand -to -hand knives! Players can flexibly use the “parry” skill, slash, dodge and counterattack in dramatic faces, creating a fierce battle rhythm that is both fierce and dense. Alternating with these are dramatic “sets”, giving Enzo the right to choose: silently ending in the darkness, or exploding with the “fire -blooded” gunfire.

Ai who is difficult for Hard is generally formidable, although sometimes he still makes a mistake to choose a silly location or a “bewildered” response to the explosive, they know how to “ribs” and press you from hiding immediately after detection. Sometimes, players will hear the opponent screaming sentences like “Flush Him out!” – Escape is “put him out!” Just before they throw grenades or lure a few names on the back to … “hook tire” enzo.

Once you have been revealed, you are forced to fight to the end or … to recharge the scene, not to run around a few parts and the enemy suddenly … forget your presence (as often in a series of “killer topics” – NV). But it is that harshness that makes Hard's difficulty become the choice that the writer recommends that you should try from the beginning, both keeping the stressful atmosphere and a mandatory condition to “unlock” an achievement (Trophy/Achievement) of the game's longest.

And yet, the game also dotted a little bit of role -playing through the “charm” system, charms the charm allows you to tweak “build” (build) of the character. Each pendant attached to the string will open a few intrinsic effects such as increasing items when “loot”, healing after each willow finishing with a knife or supporting more accuracy.

In terms of graphics, the first participation of Unreal Engine 5 is like putting on the game a “new layer of shirt”, opening up many significant improvements in the image. The character model is sharper and more soulful, the matte yellow dust strips evokes the desert, every mechanical detail on the mechanical vehicles with the old appearance appears to be vivid. The space is also enriched by the typical color of Sicily, where the bustling ancient harbor and the bustling markets contribute to a picture that is both classic and modern material.

Not stopping at the scenery, the development team also cares for the details such as the character must start the engine of the cars, the blade must be honed regularly with Whetstone grinding stone, until adjusting the focal length and aperture on the classic camera, not only makes the game world more realistic, but also retains the identity of the game series.

Mafia: The Old Country Bank up like a nostalgic song, bringing players back to the golden age of “offline game”

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There are still many limitations

As the writer mentioned, the gaming company chose a classic play with a slow rhythm is actually a “double -edged sword”, because it can make many gamers familiar with the type of action -to -breaking action from the beginning feel depressed and easily depressed.

Different from the previous three games, in Mafia: The Old Countryplayers must be patient until the end of chapter 3 to be … touching a gun, until the end of chapter 4 to try the driving feeling. Also want to unleash the exploration throughout the map? You can only select Explore mode from the window selecting the chapter “Chapter Select”. Fortunately, the developer promises to update an additional mode Free Ride Free and have more things to “play” more.

Building the context on the island of Sicily in the early years of the 20th century also made the bustling avenue and familiar cars of the previous parts only replaced by a few small, sparse houses. Unfortunately, there was no longer the scene of launching the car and then being horned by the police according to the record, nor did the animal drove and turned on the radio to listen to the music “Chill Chill”, simply because that period did not … exist those things.

Most of the time sitting behind the steering wheel or on the horse's back will be difficult to encounter any interesting elements. Perhaps because of that, the default game adds the “skip ride” feature for players to ignore the trips in the plot, even if it is hard to drive by themselves, you can still listen to a few more small conversations between the characters.

Not only that, besides the old and extremely sparse vehicle on the way, the arsenal in the game caused a feeling of poor and lack of charm. Compared to the common ground of the third -person shooting titles today, the player is easy to heart when a series of familiar “spices” suddenly disappears: There is no ribbon to act stealthily, no sniper guns to defeat from afar, no legendary Tommy Tommy, no “bear hands” Brass Knuckles, even petrol bombs Molotov are also empty, only strange lanterns to burn the enemy!

Finally, the language barrier can easily become an obstacle for many gamers when the game spends a lot of time playing for conversations and cutting scenes, in which the character often blends English and local language (even when choosing English lines). Many times the writer had to ask “Google to translate” to realize the phrase “Tutto Bene”, repeated throughout actually simply means “everything is fine” or “all good” in English.

The fact that the gaming company chose a classic play with a slow rhythm is actually a “double -edged sword”, because it can make many gamers familiar with the type of action to bombard the “riot” from the beginning feel depressed and easily depressed.