Mafia III review: how can a super stylish 1960s shooter be this boring? - Guardian

Excellent script, great voice acting and convincing animations bring the game to life – but they can’t redeem the terminal repetitiveness of the gameplay.

[TheTimeDoctor]

I think its fun

[bluefox755]

So many low-mediocre reviews. From everything I hear, the story, characters, and music are good, but everything else kinda sucks. Explains why they didn't send out early review copies I guess.

[warriorcase]

Seeing on metacritic and the other reviews alot of them are low but there are alot are still high. Playing the game myself about 30 hours in and loving it but I can see where people are coming from. I think this is really one of those titles we see every now and then where it really is spli, it will either grip you in or you will not like it at all kind of deal. Gotta say I really do like the shootouts in this though

[nucky64]

I love it. I'm about 25+ hours in.
adding to what you posted: it's why reviews really don't matter - if I'd listened to these reviews, I'd have missed out on a game I enjoy playing.

[x_BlackRose]

Most reviews are scum nowadays, the new way to form an opinion on whether or not to buy a game is to just watch gameplay videos and see for yourself if you would like it.

[G20WLY]

Videos don't tell you everything though, which is why I prefer SharePlay. You can get a proper feel for a game using that and make a more informed decision on whether or not to buy. Reviews are all but redundant to me now.

[showtimefolks]

X

So they are scub bags because they are calli a average game average? So no blam to 2k as a publisher or hanger 13 as a developer?

So much wasted potential with mafia 3

The great things are great and polished and the bad things are way bad

I guess every review so far as been wrong for calling out the game unfinished

You know it's amazing ho every reviewer has mention the same exact pros and cons so you know something is there

yezz

story is great in mafia 3(but so was the case with mafia 2)

mafia 2's open world didn't have much to do
mafia 3's open world has same repetitive side missions over and over again

mafia 2 story was about 12 hours
mafia 3's story is 30 plus hours but only 12-15 are good main story missions but you are required to do many repetitive missions to get to the good missions

driving was okay in mafia 2 and is okay in mafia 3(mafia 2 went for realism and mafia 3 arcady feel)

music is amazing in mafia 3

gameplay isn't improved it's on par with mafia 2(atleast with mafia 2 gameplay worked but in mafia 3 gameplay is broken via many glitches)

better i don't think so

i rather take 10-12 hours of very good story over 30 hours of story which is filled with grindfest missions

overall mafia 3 will be around 65-70/100 when all the reviews are in

so this 3 out of 5 is just about right

one thing i will say is with patches mafia 3 can become an excellent game

[yezz]

2/5 average? I have no problem when reviewers bring out flaws and this game does indeed have them but all these 3/10 etc. scores are simply ridiculous.

Mafia 3 has a lot better gunplay and driving compared to mafia 2, nice story, great cutscenes, really good soundtrack etc. Despite all the flaws, the game still has so many good things going on that it's 6/10 at worst.

[2pacalypsenow]

Show me one open world game that is not repetitive?

[Nitrowolf2]

Of course all open world, and in fact basically all games are reptitive. It varies by how much though.

Mafia 3 after the first hour is just mission after mission after mission of the same exact ones just for the sake of getting to a story mission

I named a few in other articles, witcher series in general offers side missions in a large quantity that are vastly different or if not have their own storit's to go along with them.

Grand Theft Auto 5 pad a good amount of side missions that were different too.

This follows the Assassin's Creed template where the main story missions are different but every other little missions are all just repeats of themselves

It's a shame too because the story is very enjoyable but I can't seem to bring myself to complete it because everything else in between gets so boring. And let's not get into some of the technical issues

[Lionsguard]

Of course every open world game will become repetitive sooner or later but the question is "just how much is there to do before it becomes repetitive?". GTA5 for example, had a lot to do. You could do side missions and a ton of other things before you could do the main missions and still be fun. Skyrim today, I have never fiished the game because I love just going off to explore. Red Dead Redemption had a lot of variety when it came to random encounters and of course eventually you'll see them all but you want to explore and experience it.

With that said, I haven't played Mafia 3 but I did play Mafia 2 and Mafia 2 had ZERO variety and a lifeless world. Exploration in that game was completely unnecessary, it added nothing to the world and the story. It didn't make you feel like anything you did mattered.

Another great example of a linear game that masqueraded as an "open world game" with BORING repetitiveness, Assassin's Creed 1. That was another game in which exploration was completely pointless and exploration would have been the one thing that should have been fun. The missions consisted of the exact same 3-4 things Altair could do, eavesdrop, blend in, pick pocket, etc. AC2 solved that and beyond, AC 2 was amazing, they learned their lesson so I guess the devs of Mafia 2 didn't learn their lesson for Mafia 3.

[OoglyBoogly]

Mafia 2 was a wasted world...just like it was with LA Noire. Which is a shame too because Mafia 2 was and still is a gorgeous game. Just wish there was more to do on average. Outside the missions though, yeah, there was nothing.

[Lionsguard]

Yeap, I agree. I loved both the setting and the artistic choice of Mafia 2 and L.A. Noire but those worlds were DEAD.

[targeted towards anon downvoters]
It's sad that people want to disagree but won't offer a rebuttal. How do you people do it? Are you that deep in denial? It's folks like you as to why games can't get BETTER, because you choose to stick to mediocrity. Mafia 3 SHOULD have been fantastic, if the devs had just learned from their mistakes. But nope, let's just give the people bread crumbs and let them pretend it's a whole loaf, it's sad really.

[sactownlawyer916]

I know I'm gonna get downvoted but I am also enjoying the game as well.

[ElementX]

Lol everybody was all hyped for this game. I knew it would be crap. My instincts for games are usually correct

[IndominusRex]

You never know until you try the game, you might like it.

[Red_Renegade]

but it's not crap. so i guess your instinct was wrong.

[Silly Mammo]

Translation: "I find reviews that validate my preconceived opinion about a game I haven't played. Then proclaim myself a great prognosticator on the quality of games." Sound about right?

[ElementX]

I played the previous games and they weren't that good. I know this was a different developer but I still had the feeling that it wouldn't be a great game.

[ChronoJoe]

The reviews for this seem to echo the same sentiment that the Mad Max's reviews did. Although I would say that in itself is a little odd. Mad Max was genuinely barren, quite literally. While Mafia III could be seen as repetitive, it's much less so than Mad Max, and the world is much more alive. Driving around new bordaeux listening to 1960's rock beats anything Mad Max had to offer. The city is believable and alive, it's great.

Of course the game isn't perfect, but does it deserve this criticism? I don't think so. It's not much less varied than games like Grand Theft Auto. Honestly, I think the lack of pre-release review copies really framed the experience for critics. They see 2k snub them and they assume it must be because the game is terrible, then they only need to see the game for its faults to confirm that believe. Mafia III isn't a perfect game, it's not better than GTA, but it's a good open world alternative with a 1960's crime setting. One worth checking out.

[ElementX]

Mad Max is supposed to be a barren wasteland. A city should feel alive and have more to do

[ChronoJoe]

That's true, but from a gameplay perspective that didn't mean that it needed very little to do within that wasteland. They could have thought of more interesting things for Max to do than go from base to base, using an incredibly simple combat system to repeatedly beat down his enemies in the same way, over and over.

Mafia III is more varied than that at least. It has a far better narrative and a considerably more varied gameplay loop, a better score and whichever way you want to spin it, a more interesting environment, yet it sits on the same metascore as Mad Max.

[mogwaii]

No review copies before release is a sure fire indication that your games a turd.
The marketing for this game was aggresive too, they must of been banking on casuals.

[GoodOldWrastling14]

Boring? What are you talking about? I've been playing this for 20 hours and its really fun. Maybe the music kinda sucks cause its not your era but still.."BORING"? WTH with wrong with these reviewers?

[Ozmoses]

The story and soundtrack/original game score are more than enough to counteract the shortcomings..

Sure it has some technical issues but nothing game breaking.. The game is still engaging and super fun.. Not to mention pretty damn brutal..

Also the authenticity/portrayal of the 1968 deep south time period and racism alone is another reason to play the game..

Reviews are subjective... This one I suppose is better than the others I've seen giving out 3's and stuff.

Sure read previews and reviews.. Watch videos.. However don't buy a game because "this company" or "that company" gave it a certain review score... Always make up your own mind.

Play what you want to play and you'll always be satisfied..

If you let other people's opinions decide which video games you purchase than I'd hate to see you sit down at a car dealership... because they'd talk you into everything.

[Skankinruby]

Everyone who crap on this game uses GTA 5 as a standard. Sorry but no, that campaign was garbage. I'll take an excellent story with mediocre filler any day

[CP_Company]

when developers release games like Crysis,everyone shouting that story is most important,then gameplay and later much later graphics.now,how they released mafia 3,everyone for got that and started to shout,we need graphics,most of the comments are about graphics.Story? how they rolled out all story is amazing! Gameplay? very good,nice shooting mechanics,nice stealth,simple combat but with brutal combat its elevate,Driving? very good.City? nice city,well done.i know many people who enjoying this game a lot.of course,there are let downs,but they going to fix them.

[Gh05t]

Wait are you saying that some people prefer story and others prefer gameplay? Are you trying to say we aren't all the same and have different preferences and tastes... SHOCKER! I thought everyone was the same and we all liked the same things and had the same opinions.