Mafia: The Old Country

Try to change Enzo's outfit at the start of a mission in Mafia: The Old Country, and you're given the option to "disable story outfits" – to use costumes that you might have obtained by purchasing the Deluxe Edition of the game or that are specific to other set-piece levels, such as the helmet and jodhpurs Enzo wears in a motor race.

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As in Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and the other open-world (or quasi-open-world) games that partially inspire the new Mafia, you can dress your character how you like. But here, it comes with a warning. Disable story outfits and you are told "your appearance may not match the tone of the story". It's an example of how Hangar 13 sometimes places aesthetics, character and dramatic consistency above mechanics.

And herein lies our central conflict. To actually play The Old Country, it feels unoriginal, the gunfights, car chases and sneaking sections certainly no different to those of Hangar 13's most recent series entry, Mafia: Definitive Edition, and not that dissimilar to the action in the very first, Illusion Softworks-built game from 2002. Beyond that, barring a few showpiece levels that are helped along by their settings (a shootout during a street party, an assassination at the opera), the car- and gunplay feel stuck-on and tertiary, a concession to the crime and third-person shooter genres Hangar 13 appears to regard as mere connective tissue between its prized story beats – something for you to do, and something to occupy time, but not something that will come to bear on the plot very much. There are times when The Old Country feels like it's a videogame begrudgingly.

But there are also occasions where the narrative will surprise you, when the game is confidently romantic, tragic and mindful of consistent characterisation to a degree that is still uncommon in mainstream games, especially shooters. For example, you don't get a gun until mission four (of 15), when you use an empty revolver as a prop to intimidate an aged farmer into handing over protection money.