Piscatella went on to call Rockstar Games “their own thing”, since they have the capability to launch industry-shaking games. He brings up Nintendo as another example of this, thanks to the company’s rich history and its famous franchises. These companies, he said, follow an entirely different set of rules from the rest of the industry.

“It’s a different set of rules, a different set of expectations. They’re gonna do their thing, and they’ve earned every bit of that, just based on what they’ve done. Nintendo is its own thing, too. They are unique, and I know people hate that and go, ‘They’re competing just like everyone else.’ They are, but with the IP and their history and how they’ve developed how they go to market, it is a unique proposition.

“That’s why they can do things other companies can’t, and they have a relationship with their players that other platforms don’t. These are companies or developers that are doing their own thing, blazing their own trail, and a lot of other people try to follow.”

The Elder Scrolls isn’t unique in not being able to fill Grand Theft Auto’s shoes, says Piscatella. Other franchises like The Witcher and God of War also can’t really compete with juggernauts like Call of Duty and NBA 2K. “No shade to them, they’re all great games and perform very well. But we’re talking about a secondary tier to those real mass-market hit drivers.”

Bethesda Game Studios officially announced that The Elder Scrolls 6 would be titled Sentinel after much speculation. The title was unveiled with a new trailer that, while light on details, managed to include a quote from Yazar to High Queen Iradne of Hammerfell, indicating that Hammerfell might end up being the main setting of the RPG. Along with this, the company has also confirmed that Sentinel will take place around five years after the events of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

Despite the title reveal, reports indicate that the game is still quite some time away. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier said that it is “still more than two years away.” While he wasn’t able to offer more details, his report indicates that we might see the title come out by around 2028 or 2029. He also noted that The Elder Scrolls 6 was officially announced back in 2018 to “soften the blow of Fallout 76 – ‘Don’t worry, even though we’re making a multiplayer game, we’ve got single-player stuff coming too!’”

Bethesda itself has noted that it still needs “some time before we’re ready to share more” details about The Elder Scrolls 6: Sentinel.

Of course, Borderlands 4, which launched last year to strong reviews (check out ours, where we scored it an 8) and extensive technical issues, is far from the end of the franchise. In its celebration post, the developer said it’s taking a “bigger look at the franchise as a whole. Where can we take it next? What characters do you want to spend more time with? What stories deserve a payoff?”

It noted that a “huge part” of that process is listening to the fans. “Keep the conversation going – we’re listening. Tell us what you think!” But even if there’s an overwhelming direction that the team should take, Gearbox noted that “big plans take time, and we need some room to work. You can trust that we’ll talk more when the time is right. Now is your chance to influence what we’ll say. We’re listening, and we’re working hard for you.”

If you haven’t revisited the latest title in the franchise, it received a pretty hefty infusion of new content last September, including Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort. This added the second new Vault Hunter, Loveless the Hacker. Bounty Pack 5: Amara and the Vile Shadows also debuted with a new boss rush activity.

This wraps up Year 1 of the looter shooter, but Gearbox is far from done. It’s “cooking hard on more Borderlands 4 content for next year,” so stay tuned for more details on what that could look like (though maybe don’t expect that Nintendo Switch 2 port anytime soon).

Mafia 3: Definitive Edition for PS5’s latest update sharpens up the visuals and brings a new layer of polish to a title where things could get quite janky.

I booted up the PS4 version just before I dove into the PS5 version, and those limitations were so easy to find. The lighting would often fail to keep up with the rendering, leaving sections of buildings noticeably darker than the rest of the structure for a couple of seconds. The grass under Lincoln’s feet would render in real time as he walked alongside it, making it look like he had some weird command over nature aside from his extensive training as a Vietnam Special Forces veteran.

Well, I’m happy to say that the PS5 version of Definitive Edition does well to iron out all those little problems, while delivering 60 fps that works wonders on the gameplay front. Speeding along a highway with Bad Moon Rising blaring on the radio brought back fond memories of my first playthrough, while the responsive driving made it just as enjoyable this time around. That many such moments were waiting for me as I played along with a story I’m quite familiar with by this point is a testament to how well the franchise has managed to withstand the test of time. The much shorter loading times are also a welcome improvement, making it quicker to get back into the action.

It does bear mentioning that the story in Mafia 3 was a heavy hitter back in the day, and is probably even more potent ten years later. Lincoln’s story isn’t afraid to dive into some dark material, and is certainly something you’re going to want to do some homework on if you’re a first-timer and are affected by violent or sensitive material.

It’s a roller-coaster, and a critique of how a life in organized crime can be hard to leave once it pulls you in, a sentiment that Lincoln echoes with grim determination and almost zealous fervor as he seeks to remove the corrupting influence of the man responsible for the deaths of his adoptive family.

It might sound like a revenge story on paper, but every examination of Lincoln and his enemies comes with so much nuance that you find yourself challenged to place anybody into a simple good-or-bad category, as the choices each character makes at any given moment are directly influenced by circumstances that make them feel like either choice is a road to further suffering for themselves or their loved ones. Everybody’s human and fallible in a story where the slightest mistake can come with serious consequences for those involved, and you feel empathy for people who make horrible decisions under the strain of the situation.

New Bordeaux’s size isn’t the limit of Hangar 13’s ambitions in Mafia 3, and the story might have had a few players who didn’t appreciate what it was trying to do back in the day thanks to the departure from the franchise’s established narrative premise, but it’s still one that showcases how it handled a shift in perspective without losing any of the narrative flair that lent it a unique identity among action games.

It helps, then, that the gameplay is well-served by that story. Lincoln’s military background immediately makes him a very believable protagonist for the kind of story this game is telling, and his proficiency in combat makes him a threat anybody should take very seriously. It’s great that his unique expertise is constantly reinforced even as he’s often faced with odds that would deter any other lone wolf. It makes his crusade to take over organized crime feel more engaging as a result.

However, the heady combination of stealth and cover-based shooting on offer has always been among the best features of this game, and that continues to be the case this time around. With that being said, your mileage with the game’s open world design is going to vary based on how much you enjoy the way its missions and side content are structured. It’s a loop that typically has you gathering information on a target, disrupting their operations, and eventually confronting them.

You assign captured rackets and districts to your underbosses, who help Lincoln maintain control over his growing criminal empire. I was personally okay with the grind thanks to how well it’s been framed and contextualized by the narrative, but I can see many of you dropping off thanks to how repetitive it becomes, especially if you’ve already played through the game before. It was a problem in the original game, and is one that’s sadly outside the scope of the current-gen update’s improvements.

"It’s a shame that, despite the narrative context and enjoyable mechanics, the underlying activities remain so repetitive, and I’d have certainly liked to see some variety on that front."

That’s because while the activities themselves are dressed up in differing contexts and situations, they largely come down to visiting a place, selecting a loadout from an Arms Dealer, and using either stealth or an all-guns-blazing approach to achieve your goals in there, rinse and repeat.

It’s a shame that, despite the narrative context and enjoyable mechanics, the underlying activities remain so repetitive, and I’d have certainly liked to see some variety on that front. However, this isn’t a remake, and that would be asking too much of an update that’s aimed at addressing other, specific issues.

Yes, you do get access to an ever-expanding set of tools, each of which can add interesting wrinkles to the existing gameplay loop, but the repetitive activities can outstay their welcome despite those additions if you’re the type who likes a bit of variety thrown into the mix. Still, it’s easy to see how the routine that Mafia 3 does place you into is a lot of fun from moment to moment.

Of course, it’s where the improved framerate shines best, as it’s made lining up headshots or manoeuvres in traffic look and feel a lot better. That’s obviously a big plus to the gameplay, and this is an excellent way to experience Mafia 3 if you’re looking to catch up on what you’ve missed from the franchise over the years. The changes also extend to the NPC AI, which is noticeably better than what was in the original release.

My time in the PS4 version had me clocking NPCs who would dive out of the way of my car even though I was nowhere near them to pose a threat, while enemies would run straight into my line of fire on the game’s easier modes.

Known issues around NPC behaviour, sometimes being the biggest obstacle in Lincoln’s way, have also been addressed in a long list of patch notes. I did find my companions were more stable in missions where they accompanied Lincoln for the most part, while NPCs on the street reacted way more believably to my speeding sports car when the situation called for it.

The result is an experience that looks and feels so smooth in action, while benefiting from the native PS5 version’s adaptive triggers on vehicle pedals and weapons, along with the hardware’s improved capabilities that see the lighting system finally feel like what it was supposed to be all those years ago. There’s tangibly different resistance on your triggers between vehicle and weapon types now, and it makes driving and combat even more immersive as a result.

"The cover-based gunplay is the best it’s ever been too, and Lincoln can seem overpowered quite quickly once you get the combat’s rhythm down."

The Definitive Edition continues to include all of the game’s DLC in one package.

The cover-based gunplay is the best it’s ever been too, and Lincoln can seem overpowered quite quickly once you get the combat’s rhythm down. That takes away a lot of the original release’s friction while improving areas of the experience that players directly interact with or look at in-game.

Reflections off the paint of your car, or from puddles on the ground in rainy weather, are excellent, moving along with the camera to make New Bordeaux a very pretty place indeed. Mafia 3 was an already stunning title even with those visual issues, and having them more or less erased makes Lincoln’s world even more alluring as a result. The grass and foliage were all ready and waiting for me in this version, while the world’s cinematic quality was brought out astoundingly well, just as it’s always been with the franchise.

Rays of light now feel authentically recreated in the game, their glow emphasizing the scene they illuminate, and the results are stunning. Exploring the city means you’re more than likely to just stop and take in the sights, and walking the streets is also viable thanks to so many well-written conversations between the city’s residents for you to listen to.

The soundtrack’s a definite highlight of the experience, and always has been. I was as annoyed about having to step out of my car right in the middle of an absolute banger on the radio in the latest version as I was in the original. Some minor issues from the original game do persist, though, such as repetitive enemy dialogue. There were instances of NPCs jaywalking right in front of the same cops who are willing to chase you down at the slightest provocation with nary a reaction from them, while I was expected to follow traffic rules lest I risk a chase or confrontation. That broke the spell for me a little, and it happened often enough for it to be an annoyance. There was also a bit of pop-in that’s going to be there for those of you looking hard enough for it. Each of these little issues reminds you that this title’s a decade old from time to time.

The mission structure also hurts the pacing. Systematically weakening each target’s operations before confronting them can stall the story’s momentum, particularly when the required activities become repetitive.

"With all of the bug fixes that the patch notes have detailed, along with the update’s polish and visual tweaks, this is the version of Mafia 3: Definitive Edition that I’d recommend without a moment’s hesitation."

It could be an obstacle to your enjoyment of a story that does well to justify the grind it demands of you, but how well you’re able to fall into that loop is a matter of personal taste.

With all of the bug fixes that the patch notes have detailed, along with the update’s polish and visual tweaks, this is the version of Mafia 3: Definitive Edition that I’d recommend without a moment’s hesitation if you’re looking to experience the game for the first time. It’s a title that feels like a current-gen version of the original game, but doesn’t iron out the fundamental issues that held it back from true greatness the first time.

Nevertheless, it’s a title that hits hard and encourages you to do the same to some very bad people. And with all its new improvements, it’s now the finest it’s ever been.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

The release also brings several improvements to the title, including improved Trophy and Achievement tracking, and fixes for progression blockers in the campaign and DLC. The visuals have also improved with fixes for visual artifacts caused by lighting, vegetation streaming, and more.

Other improvements abound for stability, NPC behavior, animation “reliability” in cutscene dialogue, and the UI. PC owners also benefit from a variety of fixes and improvements. For example, if you couldn’t progress in certain missions or encountered “dead ends” in the story, those should be addressed. Furthermore, certain characters should now behave as intended and not block mission progress.

The PC version has seen its share of graphical fixes, including lighting draw distance improvements, and you can finally turn off those annoying borders on the game window. Higher frame rates, including 120, 144, 180 and 240 FPS, are also finally supported. Check out the full patch notes here for more details.

And while Mafia 2: Definitive Edition is conspicuously absent despite the recent ESRB rating, 2K says this update is “part of our ongoing efforts” to bring Mafia: The Omertà Collection to current-generation platforms. As always, stay tuned for updates on that front in the coming months.

Of course, this news comes from a now-pulled Entertainment Software Ratings Board listing (reposted by Wario64 on Twitter). We’d still wait for official confirmation before we bust out the ice cream, but given his reputation and how official it looks, we’re inclined to believe it’s legitimate.

If so, it wouldn’t be surprising. The first game’s PS5 version was certainly fun to play as a nostalgic return to the franchise’s early days, and it held up pretty well under scrutiny. The few complaints we had with it also applied to the original release anyway, and what we got was a polished, engaging experience where the story still shines.

Vito and Lincoln are as compelling as Tommy in their respective stories, and for players who have just jumped into the franchise to see how the next two games evolved, its formula could be a tempting offer from 2K and Hangar 13. Stay tuned for more updates, and in the meantime, check out our review for Mafia: The Old Country’s Man of Honor DLC.

https://x.com/Wario64/status/2107811798141505573

This guide for NBA 2K27 lists everything you can do to earn Virtual Currency (VC) as quickly and efficiently as possible, without dropping a dime.

Daily Challenges

While relatively low in VC payout, simply logging in every single day and dedicating a few minutes towards completing your Daily Challenges will net you 1,500 VC, which will undoubtedly add up over time to your benefit.

NBA 2K27 Mobile App Rewards

Another source of free stuff related to the game is the mobile app, and once again, simply logging in each day can net you a variety of rewards over the course of a week. In particular, Day 1 grants you 50 VC, and Day 5 an additional 500 VC.

MyCAREER Bonus VC

A specific choice during the MyCAREER story can net you a bonus of 20,000 VC early on. After starting ‘Fire & Concrete’, simply select the Beginnings milestone to skip ahead to entering the NBA proper. Upgrade your build and collect your 20K VC. 

Fast Game Modes

Street Kings and Open Court Athletics are relatively quick modes, wherein you can rack up leaderboard points fast for the Daily Rivals board. Ideally, you would aim for the first rank in your daily pool of 40 players, with its 10K VC prize and premium ticket to the million-VC lottery opportunity. However, even lower placements will net you scaled rewards ranging from 5K VC for second place to the low hundreds of VC for the bottom rungs.

If you are wondering, CPU matches do count, but naturally they will never quite yield the kind of points that someone else who is grinding out online matches would accumulate in the same time frame.

Crew Level VC Multipliers

Simply being part of a crew in NBA 2K27 and leveling up that membership can have a passive impact on your VC grinding, in the form of multipliers to earnings from any game mode:

• Crew Level 8: 5% VC bonus
• Crew Level 13: 10% VC bonus
• Crew Level 21: 25% VC bonus
• Crew Level 27: 50% VC bonus

That is everything you can do to grind for free Virtual Currency fast in NBA 2K27.

This NBA 2K27 guide is all about how you can shoot better without a shot meter, and what settings to tweak in order to do so effectively.

Optimized Settings

Before even setting foot on the courts, tweak your game settings:

• Turn Off the Shot Meter under Options/Quit > Customize HUD > Shot Meter Shots > Visibility for Shots
• Set Shot Timing Visual Cue to Push or Release under Options/Quit > Controller Settings
• Set Shot Feedback to All Shots for immediate textual feedback.
• Disable trigger vibration to eliminate unnecessary distractions, though some players find tactile feedback is actually a positive.

Button Versus Stick Shooting

Shooting with a single button as opposed to pushing the stick around has been a point of contention since the previous game, with regards to which is more effective, but it ultimately boils down to which one feels more natural to you as a player.

Button shooting remains a single input, while stick or rhythm shooting requires the double input of both pulling back on the stick and then pushing it forward with an eye for perfectly timing the latter.

This naturally makes button shooting much more reliable for accurately timing your shots.

Visual Cues For Release

If you’re trying to discern what to look out for, it depends on which of the shot timing visual cues you have selected:
For Push, release the input right when the player is pushing the ball away from their head.

With Release, let the input go at the very apex of the jump, right about when the ball breaks contact with the player’s hands.

Note that fatigue can have an impact on the speed of animations, so you will need to factor that in as well.

That is everything there is to know about successfully shooting without the shot meter for a greater advantage in NBA 2K27.

This year, with noticeable gameplay tweaks and some significant changes to MyCareer and MyTeam, virtually everything on and off the court has taken a step up, making it more interesting whether you’re a developing superstar or an aspirational owner. While lingering annual problems persist, I was more engaged with the minute-to-minute gameplay of 2K27 in a way I haven’t in some years, with one of the better all-around experiences the franchise has put together on every front.

"Player movement is enhanced overall with some new animations"

That starts on the court, where 2K27 feels markedly improved, particularly on defense. Defenders are more influential over the ball handlers, and you have more minute control over your defenders’ movements, which means that you have more of an ability to lock down your matchups as a user. You can more easily control your posture and arm position with just a push of the right stick, so it’s simple now to put your hands up to block a shot without fouling or get in the way of a pass.

Player movement is enhanced overall with some new animations, and the improvements really show themselves when you’re contacting someone else, whether you’re posting someone up on offense or closely guarding them on defense. On the offensive side of the ball, ball handling has gotten the most notable upgrade, as the more refined movement system translates to allowing a more dynamic feel, like how it now shows you with a highlight on the floor which direction your weight is leaning. That allows you to better use the left stick to either commit to dribbling one way or switch directions for a potential ankle breaker, which I felt were more common this year.

The universal green or miss shot meter is back again this year, feeling like it requires more precision than ever. The meter feels even more closely tied to the shooter’s shooting motion, which means it’s widely variable from player to player and the timing required to get a perfect release changes constantly. The green part of the “green or miss” meter also grows and shrinks based on the shooter’s stats as well as how heavily they are covered and whether they’re standing still or on the run, and while this can make it frustrating when you’re struggling to pin down someone’s timing, it alternatively makes it that much sweeter when you’ve truly nailed a shooting motion and can start to hit virtually any shot on the floor.

What plays well into the refined movement and deeper control is the takeover system, which has been expanded from a single bar to incorporate each of the tools in a player’s arsenal: shooting, finishing, playmaking, rebounding, and defense.

Each attribute moves independently based on how a player is playing within the game, and when an attribute reaches its threshold, the takeover abilities more directly match the attribute that’s been activated, like the shooting meter improving accuracy and the defense meter improving your chances at a steal. I like this change because it allows takeovers to be more common and more directed at what a player is actually good at, rather than having to fit the mold of every player at the cost of more targeted boosts.

"The universal green or miss shot meter is back again this year, feeling like it requires more precision than ever."

Where the takeover abilities come into play most noticeably is in MyCareer, alongside the GOAT abilities that provide only your MyPlayer with a significant stat boost after reaching a certain in-game goal. This year’s MyCareer, which is now playable in both single player and co-op, puts a couple new spins on the formula. First, you can play MyCareer Eras, which lets you play in various decades that represent different eras of basketball, similar to MyNBA Eras.

Playing across eras is interesting, if a little anachronistic for how the actual game plays, but playing in any era except the Modern Era precludes you from playing Fire & Concrete, the story mode that represents MyCareer’s other big draw. You play, as you do every year, as MP, this year as a highly-recruited high school prospect whose college prospects are dashed when he gets severely injured in a car accident. The journey through Fire & Concrete, then, shows MP two years later, rehabilitated and playing basketball at a high level again, making his way through a G League season to try and reclaim his spot atop the prospect rankings and become the number one overall pick in the draft, above real-life top pick AJ Dybantsa.

Fire & Concrete is longer than most MyCareer stories in the past, totaling 11 chapters that span both your season in the G League and your first season in the NBA itself. For the most part, it’s a run of the mill story of this type, and throughout the early G League portion I was a little bored by how predictable and repetitive the story became, especially because it didn’t seem to matter how I performed on the court as long as I could fulfill some arbitrary story-based goal, like getting a teammate a certain number of points. But as the story progressed, it ultimately won me over.

Seeing MP get back to the top of the draft board and have the opportunity to continue building his legacy as the top pick was never overly emotional, but I found myself rooting for MP and the people around him, as well as rooting against the flat but very dislikable antagonists he faces.

One of those people around MP is his so-called Running Mate, Trace Miller. Trace and MP meet early in the story as teammates and become fast friends, and Trace plays a major part in Fire & Concrete both on and off the court. He is a major character and the most well-written and well-acted part of the story, showing a real personality and motivation for both he and MP to make it in the NBA. MP and Trace are best friends on the court, too, and the new Running Mate meter allows you to activate a skill that affects both of you in-game, in the same way that the GOAT skills activate. These can be activated after achieving certain combined goals, like having a total of 10 shots made or 20 points and rebounds, and the abilities boost attributes that allow you both to improve your game.

Of course, you have direct control over MP’s progression, which continues to have a pay-to-win structure, but this year you also have control over Trace’s progression and build, which allows you to mold him into whatever type of player you most want to play with. I made Trace the Nikola Jokic to my Jamal Murray in the pick-and-roll, but it’s also possible to create two big men that own the paint or two shooters that mimic the Splash Brothers. While I wasn’t always engaged with the story in Fire & Concrete, I found the relationship between MP and Trace, as well as how that played out on the court, to make it a legitimately different experience, and it became one of the highlights of 2K27 overall.

"Trace and MP meet early in the story as teammates and become fast friends, and Trace plays a major part in Fire & Concrete both on and off the court."

Of course, MyCareer also blends with The City, where MP can again explore to play in PvP or PvE games that mostly live in the realm of street ball and pickup. These include the traditional modes like Street Kings and the 3v3 pickup games you can play almost anywhere, but new this year is the more developmental mode Casual Corner, which gives players a PvE experience meant to ease you into PvP with a similar style but easier opponents. It’s not particularly substantial, but it adds to the feeling in The City that you can play virtually any type of street ball you can imagine, and I found myself bouncing around different game modes to match my mood, or just riding around the square on my hoverboard, more so than in recent years.

The other major updates live in MyTeam, though these are more superficial. MyTeam menus have been overhauled to make it easier to jump into online matches or offline challenges more easily, and the card shop, while still predatory in its implementation of microtransactions, is at least more navigable. What’s more interesting this year is the opportunities with the cards you don’t need anymore.

There’s been a major update to The Exchange, which lets you have more opportunities to trade in your cards in on a weekly or seasonal basis in ways that don’t require a ton of cards to trade in or a specific matching set. There’s also an ability to send your cards on asynchronous missions to develop, where they won’t be available to play on your team for a certain amount of real time.

The actual gameplay in MyTeam follows a largely similar track as it always has, forcing you to play game after game to level up and earn card packs that you hope will improve your team. But the modes themselves feel somewhat improved, particularly in single player.

Gauntlet and Breakout have both been expanded significantly to allow you more variety in how you play each bite-size game, and they complement the more comprehensive Domination that forces you to beat every NBA team. The overall MyTeam experience still feels as deflating as always when the weight of the microtransactions becomes apparent, but the highlights are a little bit brighter this year and made me a bit more interested in continuing to organically improve my team.

I wasn’t blown away by NBA 2K27, if that’s even possible anymore, but the expected marginal improvements this year feel somewhat meatier and more meaningful than normal. The streamlining of MyTeam makes it somewhat more enjoyable, but the improvements to MyCareer, in both the addition of eras and the Fire & Concrete mode, make the experience really come together.

What starts as a milquetoast experience ends up housing one of the better create-a-player modes in a 2K game in some time, with largely differentiated gameplay and a surprisingly unique set of characters. This all complements noticeable gameplay tweaks that make you want to continue finding a way onto the court, however that may happen.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

I remember jumping into the Definitive Edition on my PS4, the original being one that I was too young for at the time of its release. Tommy Angelo’s story and the way his relationship with the Salieri family turns out is the obvious draw here, and I’m going to assume that if you’re here, it’s either out of nostalgia or interest in a chapter of the franchise you might not have gotten around to yet.

If it’s the latter, I must say that replaying the adventure on my PS5 came with the knowledge of how things turn out in the latter half of the story. While you might think that it made things boring, it was even more interesting to see how the story plants the seeds of future events, the threads leading Tommy and his cohorts down paths they can’t avoid. There’s a melancholy that underlies the relationships Tommy builds as he rises through Salieri’s ranks, and while the blind euphoria of living as a kept man shines through in the moment-to-moment gameplay, there’s enough emotional depth to make this a mature take on life in the Mafia.

But with so many additions to the franchise that have followed it, is this a story that’s still worth diving into if you haven’t experienced it? That’s a resounding yes, as it is written, paced and executed so well that you can’t help but feel for Tommy, Sam, and Paulie in the moments where the tension unfolds, even as you’ve witnessed their friendship evolve from a chance encounter and a wealth of shared memories between them.

"While the blind euphoria of living as a kept man shines through in the moment-to-moment gameplay, there’s enough emotional depth to make this a mature take on life in the Mafia."

It helps that the campaign is broken down into neat little chapters, each of which gives you enough of the game’s mechanics in short bursts before some great cinematic cutscenes take over to let the story unfold. The city of Lost Heaven works as a sort of open-world stage where the objectives let you wander and find your own way to markers, but there isn’t really much to do unless you accidentally collide with other vehicles and end up in a police chase.

Even the many collectibles strewn about aren’t enough of a reason to go out of your way, as they don’t really add to the lore or story. There are a few notes and letters around when you’re in a mission that help lend context to everything but they’re only little snippets to flesh things out rather than a storytelling device that the game leans on. The art direction is incredible, though, with distinct vibes for different parts of the town that the game goes out of its way to show off when you first roll in. Chinatown’s a great example.

With a very impressive stage and a cast of characters that capture you right off the bat, you’d hope that the gameplay is then good enough to bring them together. The answer to that is a mixed bag considering how easy things are once you get the hang of it. In a scrap, Tommy’s fists, knives, or baseball bats are more than enough to overcome single opponents with deadly force. However, there’s little nuance to the whole thing, as waiting out an attack, countering it with Triangle, and then launching into a combo of your own is all you need

It’s repetitive pretty quickly, which is probably a good reason to whip out your guns and go all out thanks to the gunplay being a whole lot better. Great cover and aiming mechanics across the available roster of weapons coupled with the boost to performance makes this one shine as an interactive gangster movie on the PS5. Those shootouts feel ever so satisfying even when the enemy AI often felt like it was designed to eat our bullets and make Tommy feel like a mafioso who belongs in legends.

Of course, the former cab driver is also the best wheelman Salieri’s got, and you’re going to be driving between your objectives more often than not. The driving mechanics are excellent for the most part, with different cars coming with a distinct feel to them. Varying top speeds, ease of handling, and other factors such as rain on the roads make driving feel quite involved, although I would have appreciated some more tuning on turns with most cars spinning out of control way too easily for my liking.

"The PS5 upgrade definitely feels worthwhile thanks to how the improved resolutions help reflections, lighting, and shadows feel all the more authentic."

That was especially true during chases where you can’t really be sure of the car you’re getting, or in that race where it took me a whole lap to get used to the sudden change in responsiveness from the race car I was driving. I placed first, of course, but that shift was jarring even after I was driving a beast of a car around in the preceding objective. That shift from the street to a track is something to watch out for when it’s your turn to win the Salieris a bucket of money.

The PS5 upgrade definitely feels worthwhile thanks to how the improved resolutions help reflections, lighting, and shadows feel all the more authentic. Along with the improved framerates, that makes Lost Heaven look incredibly immersive and realistic, and it’s a city that pulls you in thanks to how well it mimics the vibe of the time period it’s based in. It all works so well with the presentation, a very catchy soundtrack that’s well implemented into every scene, and a detailed rendition of the Prohibition era.

With blazing fast load times, excellent 60 fps performance that manages to hold even during intense chases or gunfights, and cinematics that also run at that frame rate other than a few exceptions, this is the definitive way to experience the game that started it all. Of course, the remake was itself a very good looking title, but its textures and facial models now look a tad outdated in the wake of modern remakes that have vastly improved things on current-gen hardware.

Its stunning visuals clashed with textures and faces that felt too stiff to be current-gen. This one shows its age on the PS5 but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s already such a polished experience that it’s easy to live with those flaws. However, the same dated approach to its gameplay makes even the clever mission design unable to hide the fact that fighting and driving are just there to service the story rather than being deep and fleshed-out.

"The underlying art direction in Mafia helps it manage to stay relevant and justify its existence on current-gen, but that’s sadly not the case with its gameplay systems."

It’s also interesting that while this one’s a free upgrade for owners of the PS4 version of the remake, the fact that your save files and trophy progress aren’t transferable is an annoyance I’d rather not have. It’s also disappointing to see no use for the DualSense’s haptics or adaptive triggers, something that could have helped this version of the game stand out. I’d say that the underlying art direction in Mafia helps it manage to stay relevant and justify its existence on current-gen, but that’s sadly not the case with its gameplay systems.

They’re serviceable, sure, but we’ve all seen better in the years since this one took the world by storm. It’s limited in what it aims to achieve on the gameplay front, a facet of the experience sacrificed on the altar of a controlled, cinematic experience that brings fairly limited replay value outside of the Free Ride mode that unlocks right after you’re done with the story’s first chapter. Minor bugs such as enemies getting stuck in animations around corners are also present although, they’re rare enough to not be too much of an issue.

If you’re a new player wanting to experience the iconic first chapter in a franchise that has managed to stay great over the years, this is the version of Mafia to get. It’s the console version of a crime story that continues to be among the best of a whole generation. But if you’re coming to this from the PS4 version, or have perhaps played the original, it all depends on how enjoyable you found it all the first time around.

If you don’t mind replaying a linear story just to experience it all again, perhaps with a new perspective thanks to the remake’s improvements, I’d recommend picking this one up on sale as it’s good, but isn’t going to justify paying full price for it. It has been fun, though, and for that I’ve been rather happy to start things over from scratch. It’s been great to see Tommy again, even with the knowledge of the highs and lows of his life. And that’s Mafia: Definitive Edition’s biggest strength.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

FL4K and the Last Resort will take place in a tropical resort that is turning into a warzone. Players will get to team up with FL4K – the Beastmaster from Borderlands 3 – and help them save their loyal skag companion Mr. Chew. Along the way, players will also get to face off against the forces of the Tediore corporation.

The story pack will take place on the remote island of Providence, which once served as a luxurious resort surrounded by lush wilderness. Tediore has decided that the island, which also has an active volcano, is better off as a source of Ordonite, leading the gun manufacturer to send out an expeditionary group led by five elite managers, all working under the ruthless Lieutenant Harmony.

Providence has been designed to be quite distinct from the main setting of Borderlands 4 – Kairos. Players will get to explore a dense jungle and find its many mysteries. The zone is also the perfect place for FL4K to continue The Hunt. Verticality is said to play a key role in the design of Providence, with many ziplines being made available to make traversal less complicated.

Among the enemies players will have to fight against are a variety of Tediore troops, ranging from soldiers in bulky precursor exo-suits to high-end Deadframe exo-suits. Players will also quickly learn that simply killing the pilots of these exo-suits isn’t enough.

Clearing Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort will reward players with plenty of items from a new pool that consists of 2 Pearlescent-tier weapons and 18 pieces of Legendary gear.

Bounty Pack 5: Amara and the Vile Shadows revolves around the corruption spread by Shards of Ordonite and things getting worse due to the recent appearance of unstable Phase rifts. Players will team up with Amara to take out a potential source of the instability – an old laboratory that once belonged to Vile Lictor.

Rewards from clearing the repeatable missions in Bounty Pack 5 include a Pearlescent weapon – AeroDramatic (Torgue Shotgun) and six new pieces of Legendary-tier gear, that in cludes the Triplicate Vladof Assault Rifle, the Wind Skimmer Jakobs Sniper Rifle, and the Outburst Torgue Repkit.

A new Vault Hunter is also making its way to Borderlands 4 through the release of Story Pack 2 and – Loveless the Hacker. While no details about the new Vault Hunter have been revealed yet, Gearbox will be showcasing her gameplay on September 3rd.

Borderlands 4 is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. The most recent bit of content it got came just last month – Bounty Pack 4: Murders and Acquisitions. In the meantime, Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has said that the company plans to continue its support for the looter shooter.