Mafia: Definitive Edition im Benchmark-Test : Test |CUP | Specs |Config

tl;dr: Mafia: Definitive Edition is not just a remaster, but a remake of the popular action game from 2002. And a successful one, both in terms of the game and the technology. The benchmark shows that a fast graphics card is required for this.

There have never been as many remastered versions of old games as in the last few months. However, it has always only been a matter of small upgrades to the originals, there have not been any major changes. However, Microsoft did it differently with Age of Empires, whose Definitive Editions were real remakes and were therefore developed more like completely new games from the start.

And Mafia: Definitive Edition also goes this way. While the Definitive Editions of Mafia 2 and Mafia 3 are only remastered versions with mini upgrades, the first part of the Mafia series was programmed from scratch as a remake. Not only has the technology completely changed, the gameplay has also undergone numerous adjustments compared to the original from 2002.

A new graphic with the basic technology of Mafia 3

Mafia 3 developer Hangar 13 is responsible for Mafia: Definitive Edition, so it is not surprising that the in-house technology from the third part is used as the engine. However, there have been numerous updates that are good for Mafia: Definitive Edition. Because unlike Mafia 3, the new edition of the first part does not have to struggle with technical errors and also looks much nicer. So much nicer that the DirectX 11 renderer looks good even by today’s standards.

Especially in the numerous night missions Mafia: Definitive Edition can convince with a chic appearance. The lighting is absolutely successful, the SSR reflections are chic, the car journeys look just great in dry and rainy conditions. The developers have also put a lot of effort into the character models, even if the animations look a bit stiff at times. The city of Lost Heaven is provided with numerous details, so that there is enough visual variety. Visually, Mafia: Definitive Edition looks completely different from the original, but the remaster captures the charm just as the original from 2002 did.

Unlike the graphic, the graphic menu could also come from the original. There is nothing more than graphic presets and graphic options. There are no detailed descriptions of the individual menu items, there are no screenshots and the same applies to any convenience functions. If you are looking for an FPS limiter or in-game up- and downsampling, you will not find it.

Three graphic presets with small effects

Mafia: Definitive Edition offers three different graphic presets with “Low”, “Medium” and “High”, whereby “High” also represents the maximum level of detail. However, the effects of the presets are small, both in terms of quality and performance. Above all, the medium setting hardly brings any more speed than the maximum, but it doesn’t look any worse. And even on “Low”, Mafia: Definitive Edition is still pretty chic, but it only works a little better. If you need more performance in the game, you should reduce the resolution accordingly.

The test system and the benchmark scene

All of the following benchmarks were carried out on an AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT (test), which is operated with the standard settings. The Asus ROG Strix B550-E Gaming (BIOS 0802) with the B550 chipset was installed as the mainboard, graphics cards can be controlled accordingly with PCIe 4.0. The CPU was cooled by a Noctua NH-D15S with a centrally installed 140 mm fan. 32 GB of memory (4 × 8 GB, single rank, DDR4-3600, 16-16-16-38, optimized secondary timings) were available to the processor. Windows 10 2004 with all updates was installed on an NVMe M.2 SSD with PCIe 4.0.

The Adrenalin 20.9.2 and the GeForce 456.55 were used as drivers. Both are not officially optimized for Mafia: Definitive Edition, at least officially.

Test sequence and settings

The 25-second test scene takes place during the “Omerta” campaign mission and shows a short walk through one of the Lost Heaven parks. You can see some houses, non-player characters, reflecting puddles and above all a lot of vegetation, which in the Mafia series traditionally costs performance. This is also the case in Mafia: Definitive Edition, so that the frame rate is slightly higher in most areas without much vegetation.

The high preset and thus the maximum graphic detail level is used for the resolutions Full HD, WQHD and Ultra HD, since the performance gain is only slight, especially with the medium setting.

On the next page: GPU benchmarks, frame times, game review and conclusion