This story takes place a long time ago and most video games don’t age like fine wine. The rare, great ones do but most don’t. The ones that are merely good have a shelf life before they turn. Playing an open-world shooter from 2002 leaves about the same taste in your mouth as chewing the bubblegum that came with 1950s baseball cards.
Mafia: Definitive Edition is a prime example of how those good games can have great foundations. A lot of all-timers like Final Fantasy VII, Link’s Awakening, and Resident Evil 2 have gotten the remake treatment lately, and no one is surprised when they’re excellent the second time ’round. Mafia, which had to live in GTA III‘s shadow back in 2002, gets its first chance to be truly excellent in 2020.
Source: Destructoid Review: Mafia: Definitive Edition