Mafia III, probably one of the most controversial games this year. Even before its release, they managed to call it a failure. Like, the main character is a black man, the action takes place at the end of the 60s, and not in the 30s-40s, as before, the cars drive somehow wrong, the developer is not the same, and the plot about revenge seems too banal and predictable.

The community was especially upset when the PC port turned out to be less than perfect on the first day. The game ran at 30 frames per second, noticeably slowed down even on the most powerful hardware, producing a mediocre picture and often crashing. I won’t lie – some of the problems affected me, but this is not a reason to give up on the game and write negative reviews. The technical component is, of course, important, but do not forget about the quality of the gameplay, the plot and the interestingness of everything that happens. And this is where Mafia III’s problems begin..

My name is Lincoln Clay.

“This city has survived the War of 1812, the Civil War and God knows how many hurricanes.”. But Lincoln Clay, who declared war on the Italian mafia in 1968, caused more damage to the city than all these wars and hurricanes combined…"

©Jonathan Maguire

Unlike GTA, series Mafia has always been a hero-centric work. Take, for example, Tommy Angelo from the first part – we literally lived his entire life from an ordinary taxi driver to a respected family member. The threequel, on the other hand, moved to a more world-centric narrative and began to look more like GTA.

The characters are not without charisma, but not all are well developed.

The plot of the game is simple. Lincoln Clay – mulatto, orphan and part-time main character, returns to his hometown after the Vietnam War – New Bordeaux (fictional equivalent of New Orleans) to a black mafia adoptive family. After some plot twists, Lincoln agrees to take part in the robbery of a federal storage facility. Helps him in this matter Sal Marcano – head of the local Italian mafia. After a successful robbery, Sal takes all the loot for himself, and his men wound Clay and kill all of his relatives. Luckily, Lincoln is saved by a saint father James and, after regaining his strength, our protagonist promises to commit a vendetta against the Marcano family, as well as to take over their entire business. They will help him in this matter: John Donovan – a CIA agent who took part in the Vietnam War with Clay, the mysterious head of a Haitian gang – Cassandra, Irish alcoholic with a difficult fate – Thomas Burke, and known to us from the second part – Vito Scalleta. The narrative itself is presented in a rather original way – in the style of a documentary film, where a former agent Maguire reports everything he knows about the adventures of Clay and Donovan.

The story, although simple, does not allow you to get bored and quit the game due to the monotonous gameplay. I was especially pleased with the cutscenes. They are staged very well, and the facial animation of the characters can be compared to L.A. Noire.

This isn’t Vietnam, this is New Bordeaux, there are rules here.

“In fact, I only want one thing: for everything to become the way it was. Until that night"

©Lincoln Clay

And if in the plot field Hangar 13 Things are going relatively well, but problems are already starting to arise with the gameplay. No, it’s not about shootouts at all, or even about car physics. Shooting in the game is interesting, and you really feel every hit on the enemy. Before death, the enemy does not lie down like a sack of potatoes, but continues to writhe in pain, while gushing out liters of blood. Moreover, primitive stealth appeared in the game for the first time, a la Watch_Dogs. Now some missions can be completed without unnecessary shooting, although this is not so interesting. Finishing moves look spectacular and brutal, but if you don’t like Lincoln’s excessive bloodthirstiness, they can be replaced with non-lethal ones in the game settings. Unfortunately, artificial intelligence is stupid. Enemies do not know how to simply go around the main character from behind; they often hide behind gunfire zones and do not raise the alarm, even if at that time you cut half of the warehouse with one army knife. This disgrace is compensated by the fact that the enemies shoot accurately and hurt, although this does not change the weather – the game is very simple. In general, the combat system leaves a positive impression and provides motivation for further progress.

Similar explosions from collisions will not occur as often.

There were huge concerns about the physics of transport. At the first gameplay presentations, the cars behaved too unnaturally. The explosions of enemy vehicles during a collision looked especially strange. These fears were confirmed, but only partially. The cars themselves handle quite well, especially if you enable the “simulated” driving mode in the settings. You can feel the weight of the cars; they skid slightly when cornering. Yes, the car explodes upon collision, but this happens very rarely and at prohibitive speeds (in 50 hours of play, I encountered this only 2 times). But the physics of damage is a problem. To kill your swallow in the trash you need to try very hard. Only the hood falls off, and pre-prepared dents remain on the rest of the car. After great physics Mafia 2, there is a bias towards the arcade, but driving around the bayou is still pleasant.

Simplifications are visible in many ways. The police no longer pay attention to the fact that you are speeding or running a red light, but if you crash into their car, they will immediately organize holy jihad and shoot you. The developers are trying to explain this by saying that every cop in New Bordeaux was bought by the Marcano family, but this does not change the weather. The open world is empty. The only thing you can do there is collect collectibles (yes, magazines Playboy stayed) and rob stores. Life in the city is rather sluggish. The townspeople are just milling around, sometimes reading newspapers and talking to each other. If they see you breaking the law, they will try to run to a phone booth and call the police. Sometimes you can stumble upon interesting scenes, but this happens very rarely.

An https://mintbingocasino.co.uk/ offer you can’t refuse.

“You know, I think that in everything you need to know when to stop. Yes, measure, that’s a good word. Anyone who wants too much risks losing absolutely everything. True, those who want too little from life may get nothing at all. »

The main Achilles heel of the third Mafia is the seizure of areas. There are a total of 9 districts in New Bordeaux, governed by the Marcano family. Each family member must be killed in order to finally get to the main antagonist. But before we kill one of them, we need to complete a number of similar tasks and only then will we be released on the mission. Unlike standard side missions, these tasks have their own setting and are at least somewhat interesting. After killing one of those close to Marcano, we transfer the territories to one of our three underbosses – Vito, Cassandra or Burke. You need to choose territories wisely, otherwise if you completely ignore one of them, he will get angry with you and try to take revenge on you.

Sometimes you will be faced with a difficult choice – give the area to Burke for the sake of a cool gun, or hand it over to Vito because of personal sympathy.

The underbosses themselves also bring their own benefits. For example, Cassandra can turn off telephone communications so that enemies cannot call for help when they spot you, and Burke can send you a car from the garage. Over time, you upgrade your underbosses and they offer you new services, as well as additional tasks. Alas, apart from capturing areas, Mafia III has nothing interesting to offer. After completing the storyline, there is simply nothing to do in New Bordeaux. IN GTA V, In addition to robberies, there were many interesting things to do, be it the opportunity to play tennis or go to a strip club with friends. Even in Watch_Dogs you could play thimbles or chess with passers-by. The adventures of former warrior Lincoln Clay do not offer anything other than the capture of towers and this is sad. This is not what you expect from a Mafia game.

I see my red door and I want it painted black…

The soundtrack deserves a special mention. Without the right and authentic soundtrack, the developers would not have been able to convey the true spirit of the late 60s. They succeeded. The music selection in Mafia III is one of the best since GTA: Vice City. Jimi Hendrix, The Animals, Creedance Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones – they will all brighten up the gray anti-mafia everyday life of Lincoln Clay.

Mafia III is a good open-world action game, but those who expected more from it should stay away. For the first 3 hours the game seems to be exactly the same Mafia that we were promised in interviews and developer diaries, but the general monotony and routine will not force me to play this game again.

Bottom line.
Pros:
Interesting story
Great soundtrack
Atmosphere of the late 60s
Not a bad combat system
High-quality facial animation

Cons:
Capturing areas and monotonous side missions
Mediocre graphics
Optimization and general technical implementation
Empty open world
Unprepossessing AI

Best comments

Of all the reviews, the most annoying:
1. The police do not notice traffic violations and, like in the GTA, begin to shoot indiscriminately in the GG.
2. Dumb AI… looks bad in 2016. Example: syndicate… enemies can’t see you point blank.
3. The main character takes revenge for the murder of his drinking buddies, while committing even greater crimes. Lack of logic in everything)))

In fact, after the first Mafia there should be not Mafia 2, but Bandits. And already the third – Gangstas. A kind of crime trilogy, and everyone would be happy.

I didn’t. I still think the second part is a mediocre game in the series, in terms of script. Still nothing to do in Mafia 2. Still, its main character does not evoke any emotions, and you generally consider his main friend a degenerate. for some reason you fit in every time. Same stupid ending.

I remember those same fans hated the second part when it came out, and now after the release of the third part they suddenly began to become fans, funny

By the way, I fully support. If we had gone down a similar path, christening the entire series something like “sons of criminal” purely to designate them as belonging to the same universe (for OFC sales), then with such names the fans would not have the idea that this was a sequel. It will be something like (forgive the comparison) the case with CoD, when MV, BO, Ghosts and others are evaluated separately, united only by a common idea and gameplay features.
Oh, dreams – dreams.

AI is inadequate, I completely agree here, I pointed this out in the review. But do stupid enemies make firefights worse?? There is a feeling of recoil, enemies react realistically to hits, there are various finishing moves, although the enemies are stupid, they hit hard. And why are the opponents in GTA smarter?? They win by numbers and don’t even think about self-preservation, just like in the third Mafia. I’ve played GTA V for over 400 hours, so I know what I’m talking about. Yes, the enemies there are wildly stupid, but the shootouts are still spectacular.
I get the feeling that you haven’t even played Mafia 3 since you say there’s no atmosphere there. Well-chosen music, an interesting setting, a well-presented theme of racism – doesn’t all this make the game atmospheric??

1. Enemies in the Mafia never shone with special intelligence. Often they were simply placed in the corners so that they could shoot you in the back (this was especially common in the first part). When open firefights began, the enemies could no longer oppose you. And what? The shootouts in the first Mafia were also terrible? No, great. GTA was an arcade game before the release of the fourth part. Now this is as serious a game as Mafia (although GTA will still have more humor and satire).

2. How is there no zest? Again, you obviously haven’t played the game if you say that. In addition to licensed music, there is also our own – pretty good blues that conveys the mood of the game well. What difference does it make whether this music was purchased or not, if it still sets the right tone and atmosphere? I might surprise you, but in previous games in the series, the music was also licensed. Even in GTA, which you cite as an example, the music was licensed. No, an interesting setting is an unusual city and time of action, and not the notorious “soap”, which has long been removed with patches and all sorts of Sweet FX. Yes, the world is plastic, but it is beautifully drawn. The game for tolerance is Dragon Age 2, and Mafia 3 is okay with the topic of racism. If you have prejudices because the main character is black, then say so right away, and don’t drag out the argument. It is advisable to put on a white cap before.

I understand that it is now fashionable to throw mud at Mafia 3. In the same way, it was fashionable to criticize Mafia 2. 6-8 years will pass, Mafia 4 will be released, and it will also be compared with Mafia 3, making ridiculous arguments that “it was better before”. I’m not saying that Mafia III is the best game in the series and a masterpiece at your fingertips. I’m saying that it’s not as bad as many people say, after playing for half an hour. And to give her “Trash” because she lags is simply stupid. The game has been fixed with patches a long time ago and now it works quite normally (like all games that were poorly optimized at release). Mafia III is a good gangster action movie for a couple of evenings and it fulfills its “Commendable”. If you don’t like it, that’s your business. Nobody will convince you.

Good reaction of opponents to shots, as well as subsequent falls in agony. Normal weapon feel (well, not bad). Only when driving there is something strange, and stealth and melee are cause for criticism, so yes. The patient here is more likely not bad than rotten.

It’s high time to understand that there can be no objectivity on a site where every opinion is written by different people. Any opinion is subjective, even if it tries to claim objectivity.

Sorry, I missed something? What game is this? Max seriously inflated the ratings? I thought it was customary here to kick Loev for “biased reviews”.

It seems to me that you haven’t even read the review since you’re asking for clarification on the combat system. Everything is written there about why the shooting in the game is good. Yes, the enemies are terribly stupid. Yes, sometimes they don’t see you straight away. But does that make them bad?? There is recoil, there is a feeling from hits, there are beautiful ragdolls and finishing moves, enemies shoot accurately and kill with two or three hits.
It’s high time to understand that AI like the first F.E.A.R. it won’t happen anymore.

Even in games such as The Witcher 3 or Uncharted 4, the enemies do not shine with special intelligence. So why is everyone so mad at AI in Mafia if the shooting in the game is not bad?

P.S. There are no twinks here. The review is almost a week old, and you still continue to be indignant about and without. I could have scored long ago and clicked on the cross in the upper right corner. This is just another subjective opinion. Some people may not like Skyrim, but others have already played it for 200 hours and are still finding new quests and unexplored locations. It’s all a matter of taste.

I remember those same fans hated the second part when it came out, and now after the release of the third part they suddenly began to become fans, funny

I haven’t seen a single connoisseur of the first part who, in his right mind, would have loved the second, even before or after the release of the third part.

Maybe I should buy you some pills for attention?? If you are dissatisfied with an opinion, then be dissatisfied at least not in my direction, otherwise you are finding fault with me for the fact that it was not me who wrote.

ok, I give up, yours took it, apparently I was offended by what they did to Vito, the main character is African-American, and I don’t associate blacks with serious mafiosi, except maybe in the ghetto, but not as a mafia, but as a street gang, and also high expectations from the game.

Anything can happen. Personally, when I saw the first trailer, I was also disappointed with the choice of the new main character. But in the end, I decided to look at everything from the other side and realized that not everything is so bad.