A small trip to Sicily that doesn't outstay its welcome, but one that is far more linear than I expected, and didn't surprise me all that much.
I am not a long running fan of the Mafia video games series. To be honest I do feel a little bit of cultural cringe when I see organised crime and that style of Italian culture portrayed in media. It's definitely something that hung over my head growing up, so it never appealed to me to revel in this world. Kids used to call me "Don Giovanni" without really knowing what it meant.
My Nonno would bristle at the mention of Mafia, he was someone I deeply respected, and it felt relatively taboo to mention it. I never, ever wanted to disappoint the man who cared so deeply about the man I would become.
But with him no longer around, my connection to the country of my ancestors definitely feels a little bit severed. I do find myself drawn to "the old country." I have a nostalgia for the lives my grandparents told me about, their lives in Australia were somewhat frozen in a time capsule of cultural practice from the mid-fifties, one that hadn't really changed for half a century before that really.
MAFIA: THE OLD COUNTRY is the prequel to the long running series realigning it with its roots in more ways that one, and that I found a lot of comfort in playing it, despite the fact that it's roleplaying fantasy game of behaviour my Nonno would have apsoolutlye despised.
It was just looking at meals, cars, buildings, food, costumes and scenery that took me back there. You might not connect to it in the same way, but if you do, you'll understand what I mean.
THE OLD COUNTRY is a funny sort of game, it feels pretty modern with fast action and thrilling set pieces including big gun fights, stealthy infiltration missions, and a lot of fast car and horse chases.
It also feels like an older style of action game, with a relatively linear experience from start to finish. I get the feeling that the team at Hanger 13 were trying to make THE OLD COUNTRY as close to a playable movie experience as possible.
Each of the missions when you aren't racing unfolds pretty much exactly the same way. You enter an area, stealth until you make a mistake, then blast your way out.
There is also a pretty core knife fighting mechanic in which actually every single major confrontation ends in. Like all of them do, it's like ok you've reached the end of each setpiece it's slicing time.
By the end of the game I kept thinking to myself someone was very proud of this system, because when it comes to final battles everyone is knifing their way to victory.
There is some very minor parkour and manouvering through spaces, mostly during chase or escape scenes. While this game is open world at a certain stage, there are really only a handful of locations to visit and where most of the action takes place.
It's very pretty to drive or ride through the environments, but the game lets you skip that very easily too so you just pop to the next location, almost as if you've just loaded the next level in the sequence.
That's not to say you should do that, but there isn't that much need to stray from the path, when relatively late in the game you're given the option to do so. You could go get a bunch of collectibles but they are pretty inconsequential 'open-world' busywork I often rail against. So don't bother with that.
The art team lead by Steve Noake have done a lovely job capturing each location and the vibes are great, there just isn't much reason to stick around and soak it in.
One thing this game does really well is the action, gun fighting enemies or sneaking through taking them out is really enjoyable. It's just fun to work your way through each location in often what feels like insurnountable odds to come out victorious.
It's not subtle though, there isn't any grey aside from one small choice that gives you a bonus achievement if you refuse the call to violence. Most of the time you're killing your way out of or into each area.
There are a few mandatory stealth sequences in the game which always feel annoying to fail, and the checkpointing in that area took me back pretty far requiring me to complete quite a sequence to return to where I was. That always feels unfair.
Most of the stealth is optional though, in one sequence where I needed to infiltrate the estate of a wealthy landowner, I took my time working my way up choking out rival mafiosi, until when hiding a body in a conveniently placed crate I was spotted, and had to start blasting my way out.
There are a good number of weapons to use, and it's pretty straightforward to keep switching through them as you move through combat. It's a bit like a simple version of the gunplay in Uncharted if you're looking for a touch stone, with some cover based combat. Pop your head above the parapet at the wrong time and you'll be quickly ducking back to heal up.
There are a few little diversions though, with a nice racing sequence through the surrounds of San Celeste, but that wasn't entirely without frustrations as you have to find the perfect shortcuts to pull ahead. When I finally pulled that off in the final checkpoint it felt like relief, but frustrations were definitely building along the way.
The narrative arc isn't exceedingly complicated, there are ties to the broader world of Mafia and nods to future characters you might encounter later in the timeline. It doesn't take that many risks however. I wasn't particularly surprised at any point until nearly the end, but only because they took the largest swing after mostly predictable sequences. It's not that it's terrible, far from it, but it's just similar story beats you migh have seen before unfold as you’d expect. The tale of a character who descends down a dark path and eventually faces the consequences of their actions, is a pretty well established one.
I do like some of the relationships that build and unfold over time, in particular the parental mentor character Luca Trapani who shows our Enzo the ropes of this whole crime caper. Leone Galante and Cesare Russo as your two crime buddies are fun. Isabella Torrisi who is Enzo's great love isn't as well developed. It feels like these two characters are simply adjacent to each other and broadly the same age and single. There is more in the interplay with other characters which give the romance some depth, but it's all very quick and convenient, like a Disney romance.
Oh we are the only two eligible single people in this story? Guess we're in love now.
For me, the fun action and lovely design of the world was enough to keep me going. The story itself wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it was servicable enough to get me from one bit of fun to the next.
I loved visiting this island and seeing the world portrayed here, it's clear there was a love and sense of detail when building the actual locations, so it was a little bit of a shame that we don't really have much reason to linger in each area.
If I showed my Nonno this world, especially walking the streets of San Celeste or the vineyards surrounding Casa Torrisi, he would feel that connection back to the country of his birth. He's not here to share it with anymore, but I'm glad I got to visit this recreation and feel that again.
MAFIA: THE OLD COUNTRY is a small holiday, it's not going to take up too much of your time, and it's quite fun to visit, but you won't be making plans to buy a €1 home and move in. Sometimes a short voyage is enough.
A copy of MAFIA: THE OLD COUNTRY on PlayStation 5 was provided to SIFTER for the purpose of this review.
