Fans have been keeping an eye on Mafia: The Old Country, especially since it abandoned open-world gameplay for something more linear and cinematic. Unfortunately, this has led to plenty of gamers being overly critical of small things that don’t matter. One of the most prominent talking points has been the game’s lack of swimming, which isn’t needed in a linear adventure like this.
While there are definitely aspects of the game that should be criticized, small details like these are nothing to get worked up about. That hasn’t stopped fans from being overly critical, and shows why publishers don’t take certain fan complaints seriously. It’s not as bad as puddle gate from Insomniac’s first Spider-Man game, but they’re on the same level.
No Swimming? No Problem
Like we mentioned above, fans on X are too obsessed with the lack of swimming physics in Mafia: The Old Country. As a lot of younger fans would say, this criticism is a nothingburger since there are no swimming missions in the game. Considering the time period, it wouldn’t make any sense to have swimming in this game.
GTA 6 has teased extensive swimming mechanics, with fans hoping for even more underwater activities for that game. But Mafia isn’t Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, and these games shouldn’t even be compared, especially since the latter has left the open-world genre.
Must Chop Wood?
Some fans also tried to make a big deal out of the wood-chopping animations in Mafia: The Old Country. Compared side to side with Red Dead Redemption 2, the Western title does look better, which is admirable. While a bit sad for Mafia, no one is playing this game for the wood chopping mechanics, as that isn’t a major part of this experience.
Admittedly, the animation could be better, but those flaws are only noticeable if you nitpick at every frame just to prove your favorite game did it better. It’s also worth noting that Red Dead Redemption 2 was a game that crunched its devs and made them work on unnecessary things for the sake of realism, which wasn’t a big deal in the long run.
No one talks about the horse poop or fox skinning; Arthur’s story is still the biggest talking point of the game, and that didn’t need all of these realistic details.
Do We Want Linear Games or Not?
There was a huge talking point about wanting shorter games that are slightly cheaper and don’t overload players with content. For all its flaws, Mafia: The Old Country is very much that, and there are players who are still angry about it. This is a shame, too, because the game has been well-received by most fans and critics, showing that people do want linear experiences.
In the end, a lot of these nitpicky complaints don’t help anyone and just make fans look bad. There are bigger complaints to be had with the games industry as a whole, but this new title from Hangar 13 isn’t guilty of them. We don’t need another puddle gate controversy, so some of these fans need to get a grip.
After all, they don’t want gamers to be seen as whiners with nothing legitimate to say, especially when microtransactions and rushed titles are still a major problem. Celebrate and criticize Mafia: The Old Country for what it is, not what it isn’t.
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