I tried running the original release of mafia II (which I got with the purchase of this game), but found it having many issues (slowdown, Fps issues and no shadow rendering). Having to switch to this almost three times as large install, here is what i think: The graphics are marginaly better, for me not having a shadow bug on my AMD system is a plus. The character models look a lot better, but sometimes their eyes don't move in the cutscenes. So if you want to play Mafia II with no headaches, this is the way.
I played through the original release using a wheel for all the driving you do in that game. For this remake that was no longer an option, but rumble and a controller are still enough. While the methodical and oftnen difficult original is really fun, I must say I still enjoyed the cover shooting and simplified driving in this remake. The minimal story changes are only made in sesible areas and in my opinion do improve the narative. So if you like action games, good stories and old cars, this is a must in my book.
I really enjoyed my time with this title. It played great with my flight stick and opentrack. The story was fun and conquest mode is great replayability factor (although more mission variety in the conquest mode would be welcome...). So this is definitelly on par with Ace Combat 7 as my favorite arcade fighter jet game.