The end of the 60s of the last century. A broad-shouldered black Vietnam veteran, Lincoln Clay, arrives in the southern city of New Bordeaux (a virtual copy of New Orleans). He wants to see his family, and then move from south to north – in one of the neighboring states, he was offered, it seems, a job as an auto mechanic. But fate and local Louisiana gangsters intervene in Clay’s life, to whom his stepfather owes too much money. Lincoln volunteers to help and solves problems like a real gangster, slaughtering an entire gang of thugs single-handedly. This is where we begin to understand that Clay will have to forget about his career as an auto mechanic, at least for some time.
The two-hour prologue of Mafia 3, the very beginning of which is retold in the previous paragraph, is the best thing in the game. The authors without any buildup immerse the player in the atmosphere of a sticky southern city, overpopulated with gangsters and all sorts of crooks. One story scene quickly gives way to another, during breaks we quickly go through short and exciting tasks, ride powerful muscle cars, and The Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane sound from the speakers. Everything is so cozy and cool that it’s beyond words.
Moreover, the story is https://mintbingo-casino.co.uk/ the main motivator to not turn off Mafia 3 after just a few hours. The authors really recreated in great detail the era of the free American 60s – with hippies, legendary music and other important things. Considering that Mafia 3 takes place in southern Louisiana, add here other important problems of society in the United States: segregation, racism, government corruption and domestic troubles. And in order to get special pleasure from the passage, you need to know a little about the context and era – so we advise you to at least skim through several Wikipedia articles on the topic before turning on the game.
Another plus: Mafia 3 has a lot of colorful characters – from foul-mouthed auto mechanics to corrupt senators. For fans of the series, a small spoiler – heroes from previous releases of the game will also appear in the third part. But this is predictable: the authors of the series have always skillfully connected the storylines of the games with each other; it’s worth at least remembering the legendary ending of the first game, which also appeared in the sequel.
Unfortunately, once the impressive introduction ends and the “main” game begins, Mafia 3 turns from a flashy gangster opus into a boring, routine adventure about bandits from the southern United States. Clay’s story – another strong variation on the theme "Rags to Riches" – is generously diluted here with a string of vague and repetitive tasks that gradually turn the main character into the king of the gangsters of New Bordeaux. All we have to do is systematically squeeze out brothels and drug dens from local gangsters, occasionally distracting ourselves from this routine for something more worthwhile.Each task, in principle, can be completed in two classic ways: noisily, shooting everyone in your path, or secretly, without attracting additional attention to yourself. It sounds at least good, but all dreams, unfortunately, are dashed by the stupid artificial intelligence of the opponents, which is indecent for 2016. Thugs can easily “not hear” how you shoot their leader with a shotgun practically in the next room; they always attack according to pre-written scenarios – either hiding in shelters, or moving straight towards you. As a result, on almost every mission you are haunted by only one desire – how quickly it would end, in order to find out what will happen next in the plot.
Despite the fact that the second and third parts of “Mafia” are separated by six years and one generation of gaming devices, the new game in some places looks worse than its predecessor. It’s impossible to believe, but only during the story scenes and close-ups does Mafia 3 resemble the 2016 game.
As soon as we get into the car or go out for a walk on the streets of New Bordeaux, it’s as if a special filter is applied to the picture, turning the sharpness to minimum. Objects blur on the screen, colors fade, and the mood deteriorates. Owners of console versions are especially “lucky”, on which at certain moments the game looks simply disgusting. Mafia has always had problems with versions for home consoles, which are traditionally inferior in quality to the PC version, but we hoped that in 2016 such problems can and should be solved.Mafia 3 turned out to be a strange game. Having changed the surroundings and immersed the player in a new (curious) era, the developers cleared from the series a huge number of clichés spotted in Hollywood films on the topic – from “The Godfather” to “Once Upon a Time in America”. Studying one of the most problematic free and interesting eras in US history is much more interesting than once again pretending to be Don Corleone in a floor-length coat.
But despite a good story, colorful characters and the atmosphere of the southern United States, the third “Mafia” is not allowed to be fully enjoyed by its technical problems. From a gameplay point of view, this is a boring, outdated game that, forgive the tautology, is simply not interesting to play. In addition, Mafia 3 at certain moments looks like a mortal sin, which will especially not appeal to fans of graphics, special effects and modern polished pictures.
Mafia 3 will divide the audience into two parts. Most will swear: at the abrupt change in setting, at the dark-skinned, uncouth protagonist instead of the graceful Italians from the original games, at the unkempt appearance, at the control problems and, finally, at the stupid enemies that spoil your entire gangster adventure. Others, fewer of them, may like the third “Mafia” – at least because of the good plot and atmosphere. Which camp you will join, as they like to say in the specialized media, is up to you to decide. But one thing is for sure: there was no grandiose “comeback” for the series. Mafia, like 15 years ago, remains a talented upstart who needs to compete with the king of the genre (see. series Grand Theft Auto) lacks neither skills, nor understanding, nor capabilities.