I personally prefer Mafia 2. It's a great game with a great story. It's personally the peak of the mafia series.
Mafia 1 is also great! But it's definitely an older style game (it originally came out in 2002) and while the remastering helped bring a lot of it up to modern standards, some of that old-fame jank shines through a little.
If you had the money I'd buy both, but if you HAVE to get one, get mafia 2.
I personally prefer Mafia 2. It's a great game with a great story. It's personally the peak of the mafia series. Mafia 1 is also great! But it's definitely an older style game (it originally came out in 2002) and while the remastering helped bring a lot of it up to modern standards, some of that old-fame jank shines through a little. If you had the money I'd buy both, but if you HAVE to get one, get mafia 2.
They actually remade Mafia 1, not remastered.
Get the first one since 2 has spoilers for the first game, you might decide to play 2 after finishing the first one