Title: Video Game Review: Mafia 3
Author: NiteFenix
Recovered Author: NiteFenix
Published Date: 2016-10-12
Original URL: https://geeknode.co.za/2016/10/video-game-review-mafia-3
Wayback URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20161223213652id_/http://www.geeknode.co.za/2016/10/video-game-review-mafia-3/
Recovery Confidence: high
Categories: Video Game Reviews
Tags: 2k games, hangar 13, mafia 3, video game review

- Developer Hangar 13
- Publisher 2K
- Distributor Prima Interactive
- Where we got our copy Prima Interactive
- Genre Third-Person Shooter
- Game modes Single Player
- Players 1
- Reviewed on

- Available on

- NiteFenix

- 2 months ago

- 0 0

As a big fan of the open-world genre, I have been quite amped for the release of Mafia 3 and I’d even go so far as to say that the trailers that have been released had strengthened my resolve to get my hands on this title. To say that I have been more excited about this than even Gears of War 4, is saying a lot. So let’s find out if the wait has been worth it.

Taking over from 2K Czech on development duties, Hangar 13 has put together Mafia 3 (with 2K Czech’s help of course). Mafia 3 feels entirely different to its predecessor. Sure, it’s set in the 1960’s, whereas the previous title was set in the 1940’s and 1950’s, but that’s not what I mean. It feels a lot more polished in ways that I can’t describe. It’s a visually beautiful game. But again, that’s not what I’m referring to. It just feels different. Like it’s not a Mafia game. It feels more like a whole new IP with several elements thrown in to make it appear to be a Mafia game. Not that that’s a bad thing mind you. I would instead venture out and say that change is welcome.

Mafia 3 was developed with a very distinctly 60’s feel to it. Everything about the game screams 60’s. From the music to the hairstyles and clothes, to the racism. Yep. There’s a hell of a lot of that in there, and I feel that it’s very culturally relevant, especially in today’s day and age. Hangar 13 gained my respect by doing what I’m sure a lot of developers would not dare to do, and that is to depict racism as one can only imagine it really was in the 1960’s. They were ballsy enough to do it, and they state right off the bat in a disclaimer at the start of the game that they were gonna do it.

But what is Mafia 3 about? It’s definitely NOT a coming of age story. It’s more of a revenge story, which follows, protagonist, Lincoln Clay, fresh out of the army, as he guns for the head of the New Bordeaux mafia, one Mr. Sal Marcone, by hitting him where it hurts most – the rackets run by Mr. Marcone’s lieutenants and associates. Several racket types exist, from drug running, to prostitution, with each requiring different methods to dismantle and reassign them to your own, new lieutenants (who we’ll get to in a moment).

The format of the story in Mafia 3 follows that of a true crime television program. It’s an interesting concept and I quite like how they show one of the characters saying “that’s not how it happened” when you fail a mission. Quite a nice touch. I must say though that the story itself is nothing new in terms of concept and it is really just a classic revenge story with a few interesting twists and turns thrown in for good measure.

From a gameplay perspective, Mafia 3 is a solid beast. I felt that the controls were not at all hard to master, with varying aids and assists to help amp up the game’s difficult. The previously mentioned assists, of course, refer to the aiming for your weapons. Speaking of combat, it feels sublime. I quite like how the bullets actually do the intended damage. Shoot an enemy in the head and he goes down, shoot an enemy in the leg and he grabs it and reacts.

Whereas driving is concerned, Hangar 13 has introduced a simulation setting to enable you to make your cars behave more realistically, which is a nice touch. Vehicle combat as well as been well thought out with targeting reticules appearing over tires allowing you to shoot them out if pursued by enemies or police. The interface also reminds you that you can switch between tires to shoot them out at your leisure.

Each time you complete a district (and assign it), your lieutenant will give you a new perk which you can call in from your abilities wheel. These include calling in a consigliere to collect money for your bank (yep if you die you lose half of what you’re carrying), a weapons merchant which does exactly what you think he does, as well as a car delivery service (with several unlockable cars to choose from) and one that calls off the cops. Each of these perks are upgradeable by assigning their respective lieutenants more territory to run.

The activities mentioned above have a certain repetitive nature to them which can be fatiguing if you’re going to be spending extended periods of time playing the game and being an open-world story-driven title, you might just find yourself doing just that. Some buildings and locations in the game have exactly the same layouts and furnishings which ultimately proved to be a disappointment to me, however on the other side of the coin there are truly unique and beautiful locations strewn throughout New Bordeaux.

The city itself feels very shallow in comparison to other open-world games, and I dare say it, even the previous Mafia games. Gone are the customization options such as buying new clothes. This in particular, had me puzzled. The citizens of the city as well did not seem like they have a purpose either, just ambling along and doing nothing in particular. While we’re on the subject of characters though I must say I found it quite amusing to stand a listen to some of the voiceovers that were recorded for some of the citizens and even the enemies. I heard some characters mumbling to themselves about some of the most random and funny things.

The main characters seem to have quite a nice depth to them whereas backstory is concerned, however, I must say that in the game itself they come across as incredibly shallow, with the only real show of proper emotion during their introduction as well as when you assign districts and rackets to them. A pleasant surprise for me personally was the introduction of one Vitorrio Scalleta, which eagle-eyed readers may recognize as being the protagonist of the Mafia 2. So yes, he does make an appearance. Further details I will not spoil in order to keep the game’s premise fresh for those of you who still want to pick up Mafia 3. The game is filled with ugly, game breaking bugs. I say game breaking lightly though because you can rectify on the things that cause them but it feels incredibly unnecessary. Case in point, if you’re driving a boat and just a small piece of your boat touches land, it gets stuck and you can’t physically move it back into the water. This is a problem especially if you’re doing the drug run missions. It prompts you to restart from the last checkpoint, which could be miles away from where you need to go. Graphically several glitches happened with me while I was playing.

Graphically several glitches happened with me while I was playing. At one point during the campaign, straight after a cutscene, Lincoln’s character model just stretched out and remained that way (screenshot below). Another thing that happened to me was the cloud effects. Let me tell you, Hangar 13 did a stellar job with weather in the game, it looks amazing, but with me, I noticed the clouds moving a little faster than their real life counterparts, thus causing very weird, very apparent changes in the lighting in the game. It goes from light to dark in seconds. And when I say dark, I mean almost night-time dark. Speaking of light. The lens flares in this game are enough to make JJ Abrams proud, but it goes from standard lens flare when you exit a dark place to full on screen-filling glare, and it doesn’t dissipate nearly quick enough which could hamper gameplay severely, especially if you’re in a car chase. This does however only happen from time to time so it didn’t hamper my gameplay too much.

Lincoln…Are you ok? You look a little spread thin. #mafia3 #PS4share pic.twitter.com/cT3vJpeUPB

— NiteFenix (@NiteFenix) October 10, 2016

Lastly, and this isn’t really a bug. More of an annoyance. When you park your car before entering into a racket HQ or a mission zone, you expect it to either be parked where you left it or somewhere where you can easily find it. This is just not the case at all as I had spent a lot of time looking around for my car after a mission. I end up having to call one of my associates to deliver a new car. This shouldn’t be necessary. Maybe I am just entitled, since delivery of a new car is free. I dunno.

From an audio perspective I could not find much wrong with Mafia 3. In fact it scratched all the right itches with its ambient sounds and voice acting. I was quite thrilled that they managed to bring back Rick Pasqualone as the voice of Vita Scaletta as the character would not have made any sense with a different voice actor. On the music side, Mafia 3 shines above any other title I’ve played this year. I was raised listening to a LOT of the music they utilize with the in-game radio stations and it was just such a pleasure listening to old classics such as Jumpin Jack Flash and its ilk.

Overall, Mafia 3 is a fun game, but definitely lacking in a few areas. If you have an open-world itch that needs scratching, give it a go, but don’t expect a mind-blowing experience. There’s a lot of fun nods to previous games and it certainly has its own flair and panache that will be pleasing to some.

As a big fan of the open-world genre, I have been quite amped for the release of Mafia 3 and I'd even go so far as to say that the trailers that have been released had strengthened my resolve to get my hands on this title. To say that I have been more excited about this than even Gears of War 4, is saying a lot. So let's find out if the wait has been worth it. Taking over from 2K Czech on development duties, Hangar 13 has put together Mafia 3 (with 2K Czech's help of course). Mafia 3 feels entirely different to its predecessor. Sure, it's set in the 1960's, whereas the previous title was set in the 1940's and 1950's, but that's not what I mean. It feels a lot more polished in ways that I can't describe. It's a visually beautiful game. But again, that's not what I'm referring to. It just feels different. Like it's not a Mafia game. It feels more like a whole new IP with several elements thrown in to make it appear to be a Mafia game. Not that that's a bad thing mind you. I would instead venture out and say that change is welcome. Mafia 3 was developed with a very distinctly 60's feel to it. Everything about the game screams 60's. From the music to the hairstyles and clothes, to the racism. Yep. There's a hell of a lot of that in there, and I feel that it's very culturally relevant, especially in today's day and age. Hangar 13 gained my respect by doing what I'm sure a lot of developers would not dare to do, and that is to depict racism as one can only imagine it really was in the 1960's. They were ballsy enough to do it, and they state right off the bat in a disclaimer at the start of the game that they were gonna do it. But what is Mafia 3 about? It's definitely NOT a coming of age story. It's more of a revenge story, which follows, protagonist, Lincoln Clay, fresh out of the army, as he guns for the head of the New Bordeaux mafia, one Mr. Sal Marcone, by hitting him where it hurts most - the rackets run by Mr. Marcone's lieutenants and associates. Several racket types exist, from drug running, to prostitution, with each requiring different methods to dismantle and reassign them to your own, new lieutenants (who we'll get to in a moment). The format of the story in Mafia 3 follows that of a true crime television program. It's an interesting concept and I quite like how they show one of the characters saying "that's not how it happened" when you fail a mission. Quite a nice touch. I must say though that the story itself is nothing new in terms of concept and it is really just a classic revenge story with a few interesting twists and turns thrown in for good measure. From a gameplay…

Video Game Review: Mafia 3

Video Game Review: Mafia 3

2016-10-12

NiteFenix

Total - 6

60

6

Mafia 3 is fun look at the 1960's world of New Bordeaux's criminal underworld, including the racism, sexism, and violence that goes with it. It's a tad repetitive and has a LOT of bugs, but overall isn't a bad outing.

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