Mafia: Definitive Edition is great

 Martin · 5 years
Tommy Angelo

I played the original Mafia a lot when I was in college. The game had many faults: it was brutally difficult, driving around was tedious, and it was sort of a technical mess. But it was Grand Theft Auto in the 1930's, and when it all clicked, it was still fun.

So when Mafia: Definitive Edition was announced last year, I was excited. I still have the original PC game discs, and I'd tried to get them to run on my modern machines, but it would never work. Finally, I'd get to relive one of my favorite games of old!

I finally got around to playing it in 2021, and honestly, the game is just great. Even though the game has been rebuilt and changed around a bit, it has all the missions I remember from the original - and everything is much more polished and thoughtful.

Mid-mission save points take a lot of the frustration out of the more difficult sequences, so one mistake doesn't mean you have to carefully redo the entire level. The game physics are also a lot more forgiving - to the point that, if you accidentally flip your car over, you can press a button to right it. Sure, that can break the immersion a bit, but I don't mind. It's too convenient for me to get mad.

This particular game engine seems a lot more robust than the original as well - I played the entire game, from start to finish, without one problem. I even left the game running over multiple days, using my Xbox's quick resume feature to continue from the same point each day.

The game is beautiful as well; the city of Lost Heaven (and its inhabitants) never looked so good! Everywhere you go, there is careful detail to be found - I could go on and on about how much care seems to have gone into this game world. Even though the scope is a bit smaller, it's on par with games like Grand Theft Auto V or Red Dead Redemption 2, in my opinion - and the team who made it should be proud.

The cinematic cut scenes are particularly great. I never found myself wanting to skip them because they are so well done.

I have a few minor gripes, of course. The music, though good, is one of the only parts of the game that seems to have been completely changed from the original. I miss the original music, even though it was quite repetitive.

I also miss the original voice acting - but not nearly as much as the music. The new acting is actually really well done, and by the end of the game I didn't miss the original voice work at all, but if you played a lot of the original (and you remember it), the new voice acting might take some getting used to.

Anyway, I really enjoyed this game, and I'm glad that, thanks to this remaster, it wasn't lost to time.

Now I need to get on Mafia 2 and 3 - both of which I've never really played before!

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Pony Tale

 Martin · 5 years

After the pandemic began last year, I decided I wouldn't get my hair cut again until we had gotten over the hump with it. I wear my hair long anyway - and only get the end lopped off occasionally at home - so it was one part solidarity, and one part laziness.

Now that my wife and I are fully vaccinated, and she's finally been able to safely go get her own hair cut, it seemed like it was finally time for me too.

So last night, I let her have at it, and my hair is about 8 inches shorter now! No more double hair ties. It feels good.

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Memory Lane

 Martin · 5 years

I've used OneDrive as a centralized place to keep all of my work for a while now, and it's great. Everything I do gets uploaded immediately, and it makes syncing up devices (and refreshing my computers) easy. I got rid of my old backup CD's a long time ago, instead opting to keep all my old projects in the cloud.

OneDrive surfaces my old work occasionally, and I low-key love it. Each day it creates a new "on this day" album, which will contain all of the visual stuff I made that day - photos, renders, etc. - on the same day throughout time. It can be a real blast from the past!

Yesterday was one such day, with the render above, which I created in trueSpace more than 20 years ago. My intent was to use it as a backdrop for an adventure game I was planning to make, but I had no idea how to actually make games back then, and so, like many projects back then, it was over before it even got started.

Still, I got a kick out of seeing this. My skill as a 3D artist has come a long way since then!

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Taming Gutenberg

 Martin · 5 years

My work on the next iteration of this website is coming along well! My to-do list has been steadily shrinking, and most everything is looking just how I like it. As always, I've started having misgivings about the new color scheme, but I can tweak that as I go - no use getting stuck on that at this late stage of production!

Really, all that's left now is to tie up a few loose ends here and there, make some last-minute adjustments to my template names, make sure everything works alright on mobile... and hit the big, red Activate button. The closer I get, the more tempting it is to just push it and clean things up later, but I will control myself (for now).

I know nearly nobody is reading this, but I don't care - I like shouting into the void. If you're out there and reading this - thanks!

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Jib Jabbed

 Martin · 5 years

I got my second COVID-19 vaccine shot yesterday - and though I'm feeling quite tired today, that seems to be the extent of the side effects for me.

Even though I've been lucky to work from home during all this (that's my normal routine), and my family and I have remained safe, it's been a long road to this point. It feels like the world has turned a corner on this and I hope things will get back to some semblance of normal soon.

If you're not vaccinated yet, please do so, if you can. And please continue following safety guidelines until it's safe to stop. We are getting there!

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Octopath Traveler is a fun game with a weird name

 Martin · 5 years

I started playing this game, Octopath Traveler, in earnest after it got added to Xbox Game Pass. Lately I've been hesitant to get into RPGs, because I know they'll require time that I might not be able to afford.

I'm really enjoying this game though, and I'm glad I finally played it. I almost picked it up on Switch, where it launched initially - but I just don't spend enough time with that system to buy many games for it (plus, I have a crippling addiction to Xbox achievements).

It's good fun, and maybe thanks to it releasing on Switch first, sessions with it are very reasonable in length - save points abound, boss fights don't take an hour, and the overworld is easy to traverse. I'm happy for that, because it means I can take small bites out of it when I can, or extend my play sessions when I have more time.

The stories introduced with each new character are also very well done and help establish why each joins the party. I like how varied they are.

Anyway, I recommend it. It doesn't seem like it's going to be a short game (I'm about 25 hours in and still on "chapter 1", whatever that means), but it can fit into just about any schedule. And if you like role-playing games of old, it certainly scratches that itch.

Update: So, uh, some of the boss fights do take a second to finish. Luckily, the game plays well with Xbox's ability to suspend/resume games. I imagine the experience is similar on Switch. Anyway, something to note.

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Working on WordPress

 Martin · 5 years

Making new themes for WordPress is fun and always a surprisingly complicated affair. The amount of pages you have to edit seems like not so much at first - and then you start tearing into the logic and stuff that's going on behind the scenes, and things really start getting crazy.

Anyway, the new theme for the website is coming along. I hope to have it done in... a month? We'll see.

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The new Xbox wireless headset kicks ass

 Martin · 5 years

I picked up one of the new Xbox wireless headsets that just came out after a friend ended up with an extra pair. After almost a week of use, I'm happy to report that they're awesome.

Previously, I'd been using a wired pair of headphones - an open-air Audio Technica set - and was mostly happy. The sound quality was excellent, and my only complaints were the cord getting tangled up all the time and the drain on the controller's battery.

The Xbox wireless headset alleviates those issues, with one caveat: the sound quality is a little lower. After a week of usage though, I don't really mind the minor step down. The new headset lets me hear my game audio without being tethered to my Xbox controller, and doesn't draw power from it, so it lasts longer. And I can charge both via USB-C, so it's easy to keep each ready for play. I'm really happy with this thing!

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Immortals Fenyx Rising is just too much sometimes

 Martin · 5 years

After completing Assassin's Creed Odyssey (along with all its DLC) late last year, I've been sort of put off starting any new long games. Aside from a semi-brief Watch Dogs: Legion run, which was largely just about putting my new Xbox Series X to the test, almost everything I've played so far in 2021 has been smaller indie titles and adventure games.

Except for Immortals Fenyx Rising, which I became intrigued by after watching people play a bit on Twitch. I downloaded it and played a while right after completing Odyssey, but it felt too similar to that (and I was suffering from an overload of Greek mythology) so I shelved it until a few weeks ago, on a quest to finish it anew.

I actually really like Fenyx - it is very obviously built on top of Assassin's Creed tech, and so it feels quite similar - but the cartoonish style and silly humor suit it well. The combat is fun and once you gain more powers, it's a blast to vanquish hordes of enemies and traverse the terrain quickly.

At 47 hours, I'm at the point where I could trigger the end sequence and finish the game, but for now I am picking through all the stuff I missed and collecting achievements. I'm probably about 80% done with the content in the base game.

My problem is that, at about 20 hours in, it felt like the game could've been more focused - and that feeling has stuck with me since. Fenyx never gets boring really, but as I unlocked yet another map region full of icons to visit and complete, I couldn't help but wonder how much better the game could have been if Ubisoft had just kept the scope a bit smaller. Like, why not cut a region or two and spend the extra time/money on a more cinematic story? Better animation?

It's mildly frustrating because I feel like this game could've given The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a run for its money. It's a good game that is so, so close to being a great game.

Sadly, Ubisoft seems unable to help themselves when it comes to giant maps and too many objectives. It's cool that they can create such expansive content for every one of their franchises - but I wish they'd just show some restraint sometimes. It makes me think that games like Splinter Cell haven't seen new entries in a while just because they haven't yet figured out how to drop Sam Fisher on a Skyrim-sized map.

Anyway, that's my rant. I shall continue my enjoyable slog now.

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