If you compare Mafia II with the original, of course it will fall short. Mafia was a masterpiece, and the way it was remade for Definitive Edition did not disappoint. Mafia II does not feel like Mafia anymore, so rating it as a standalone sandbox mission-driven shooter makes much more sense here. However, even keeping that in mind, it is disappointing, and pretty average. The story is pretty generic, the missions are average at best, and the game-play is unbalanced. A lot of times, it feels like the tasks that you are doing have no purpose, and could be skipped without any harm. On the top of that, the Definitive Edition version is poorly remade for PS4, with numerous graphical glitches, crashes, and lots of loading times, even on PS4 Pro. In the end, finishing the main story feels like work, and you don't really care anymore about the outcome, as there are no relationships built between the player and the characters in the game.
- Some nice new mechanics
- Still a story-driven game
- Open world/mission style hybrid
- Complete diversion from the original Mafia
- Short, unimpressive story
- A lot of pointless tasks
- Uneven difficulty at times