It shouldn’t be a challenge to live up to a franchise like Mafia, given the fact that there are so many different directions you can take when drafting up another installment. The first two games were absolute classics that put players in the shoes of men directly involved with the Italian mob. The third and most recent installment, Mafia III, turns the franchise on itself and lets players take control of a man named Lincoln Clay who is out for bloody revenge against a prominent member of the Italian mafia. It’s a unique and fun take on the franchise and Hangar 13 did an outstanding job with writing up the narrative for this one. It’s a really entertaining experience, but at the same time, a very disappointing one in comparison to its predecessors.
When Mafia III was originally announced, I was ridiculously excited to experience the franchise again, but in a much different manner. With every piece of information revealed and every gameplay video demonstrated, the game’s impending launch could not come quickly enough. As we neared the release date, we received some disturbing news that 2K Games would not be distributing press copies to media outlets for pre-release reviews. As much as we all want to stay positive, decisions like that usually do not bode well. For those who are unaware of how review copies work, the developer or publisher will send review copies to media outlets with a criteria or a list of restrictions, that usually require the reviewer to refrain from talking about specific features, plot-points, etc. However, 2K’s decision to completely refuse to send out review copies was unsettling, and a lot of people were understandably upset. Now that I’ve played Mafia III myself, I’m starting to figure out that 2K Games might have simply been worried that some of the issues I’m about to mention would halt sales…and they damn well should have.
Now, let me just say that Mafia III is not a terrible game. I’ve been having a substantial amount of fun with it and part of me likes it almost as much as its predecessors. However, I cannot forgive how visually offensive the game really is. The graphics in Mafia III are absolutely abysmal to the point where I shake my head every time I notice it—sometimes I get so involved in the game, I forget about the low resolution textures, blurriness and amateur shadow effects…until I’m sightseeing and my eyes get sore. Should one do some digging into the game’s files, they would find that the texture resolutions are at 512x512 pixels, which is beyond offensive. Don’t understand the issue? An iPhone 7’s screen resolution is around 1920x1080 pixels. How’s that for perspective? You’re essentially playing an AAA game in 2016 with graphics from a game that’s ten years older, if not more. While it’s not a deal breaker for everyone, it’s certainly unacceptable in this day and age. The irony is that in cutscenes, everything is absolutely gorgeous.
The other unfortunate downside is the redundancy. One has to remember that Lincoln Clay’s mission involves crippling an organization, which requires a lot of footwork and seemingly menial tasks. Which is fine because it’s perfectly understandable. However, there is almost no variety in these tasks at all. I can’t name one game that isn’t repetitive in some way, but what other games get right is switching it up every now and then. After a while, you feel like you’re doing the same mission over and over again simply because some are so identical to previous missions. The main missions in the story are not repetitive or redundant at all and have great variety, but the side missions are uninspired, regardless of how fun they may be. It’s simply tragic, in my opinion.
You may be in luck though. If you’re like me and you’re able to get past these annoyances and enjoy the game for what it is (and quietly pray for a free HD texture DLC) then you’ll find a lot of enjoyment with Mafia III. The narrative is absolutely well written and really kept me wanting more and to see what happens next. The story unfolds almost like a documentary or retelling-of-events from the point of view of surviving characters and it’s really a unique spin on video game story telling. I found the voice acting to be some of the best I’d ever heard in a video game and it really helps craft an outstanding story. With a brilliant soundtrack, you’ll be barreling through New Bordeaux with some of the best classic tunes and probably find yourself waiting until a song is finished before starting up a mission.
Overall, Mafia III is a decent game. It’s on the border of decent and good. It could easily reach the great marker with a simple update that improves the resolution of textures and fixes the blurriness so the game is more crisp and detailed. It’s fun, despite its redundancy and the story is pretty damn good. However, if you’re still on the fence, I would pick up a used copy for that refund insurance, or just wait until it hits the bargain bin. If other players continue to point out some heavy flaws that don’t get resolved, it won’t be long before that happens.
More people should be making a trip to this bayou.
Agreed....game was fantastic. Especially as a person of color, I enjoyed the side missions.
I'm Black myself, which is different from Lincoln who is bi racial. (It's trendy to ignore that mixed people are half White for some reason) What would color have to do with enjoying a game like this? Imagine if people playing God of War were like "Gee, I'm enjoying playing as a White person right now". If we want others to relate to things other than skin color, we have to start setting an example as "People of Color" (That term is so stupid btw)
I wonder if this comment will get removed like mine? It shouldn't but I'm just curious.
"What would color have to do with enjoying a game like this?"
Skin colour matters a lot in the story and setting of Mafia 3. It even affects the gameplay.
The comparison to God Of War doesn't make sense.
I'm Irish (as in, a person born in Ireland), and I'd probably enjoy a game where you can fight in the Irish War of Independence ... a bit more than the average Brit. lol. Who cares? If a British person "Imagine if ...", I'd just laugh.
*said "Imagine if ..."
Also, it is cool when you play an Irish character in a game who doesn't put on a leprechaun accent like Tom Cruise did. "Shannon! Tell me you like my hat!" https://youtu.be/eKrEVWGTuR...
I played it once and it was very frustrating compared to mafia 2 I like to enjoy games not get raged all up 😂😂
The game looked interesting, and from the trailers it seemed it had a great soundtrack, but the buggy release (AI) and disappointing reviews made me pass on it. No idea if they ever fixed its shortcomings post-launch.
They could only polish a turd so much. Wasn't good at release and isn't good now.
People said that about Wolfenstein:Youngblood. I played youngblood and it is a masterpiece and so awesome and entertaining and badass, with ray tracing too. Is Mafia 3 a great game on its own merit? I understand compared to the other Mafias, you feel it's weak.
KeenGamer: "Mafia 3 has a huge cast of characters - good, bad, and both - but these 10 characters were the ones who stood out the most. With Mafia 3 set in the 1960's, these characters are influenced by the ever-changing times and the people surrounding them."
Cultured Vultures: Cyberpunk 2077's buggy launch has disappointed lots of players, so Ash unintentionally showed solidarity with them by playing through Mafia 3.
Yeah, I really tried to enjoy Cyberpunk, but man I can't help but be dissaponted in the whole thing. Playing on consoles is such a kick in the teeth because the makings of a great game is buried deep in there somewhere.
Anyway, I've officially abandoned Cyberpunk and I've been playing 13 Sentinels. FIrst time I've played a game like it, and so far I'm really enjoying it. Much more than I did Cyberpunk 2077 anyway.
I had the same issues playing Mafia 3, not so much with the glitches, but the repetitious mission gameplay. I put it down after about 8 hours and haven't been back. I did enjoy the story and now that I have been reminded of it, I'll probably give it another chance.
As far as CP2077 goes, I am playing on a Xbox One X and haven't run into many issues yet. I tend to play games pretty slowly, so they may just be patching bugs before I run into them, but so far it has been a fun game. A bit tough to get into as it's a bit overwhelming, but I'm starting to get into the flow now that I have completed the prologue.
I think that this is an extremely "deep" game with much to discover. Unfortunately it seems that they just ran out of time and had to make compromises in both content and gameplay. I am just hanging onto the fact that this is much how Witcher 3 went to, and that eventually developed into one of my all time favorite games. Give it another 6 months and I think it will be a very good to great game. Obviously it will always play much better on high end PC's and next gen consoles. If you are running a base console and plan on upgrading, you will probably want to wait to buy this. Remember this isn't even the final game for next gen, it is just playing the old version on older hardware. When the optimized version launches in a couple of months, it will be time to judge the next gen version.
This is a lesson about preordering games. I almost never do it anymore, there really is no reason, it's not like there are a shortage of games available with digital downloads available. Preorders are a dinosaur from the past, but 8 million people plopped their money down early. I don't know, maybe have a tiny bit of patience and wait to see how things shake out a launch? What other things are we willing to put down money for months in advance for a promised but ultimately unknown product?
I'm not letting CDPR off the hook for this, but as a consumer you have to take a little bit of responsibility to protect yourself. While everyone likes to say CDPR is consumer friendly, etc., which I think for the most part is true, they are a publicly owned company whose first responsibility is to their share holders. Now as it turns out, this cluster of a launch hurt the shareholders as well, and they are pissed to the point they are filing a lawsuit, so this worked out for nobody, but they were attempting to satisfy shareholders by not delaying...again.
Remember, as a company, CDPR is not a very experienced AAA developer. They had a big and somewhat supprising hit with Witcher 3, and now they are playing with the big boys, EA, Ubisoft, Sony, MS, etc., companies with massive staff, management and experience. Even with all of the experience the big boys have, they frequently screw up as badly as CDPR. The good thing is that I think they really care about their reputation and will really try to right this ship. Will it satisfy everyone? Of course not, nothing ever does, but I'm hopeful.
I deleted it from my PS5, gonna do a new playthrough when the game gets fixed (hopefully by this summer).
Both of these are fantastic games. Too bad the world is full of superficial gonks. "I'd rather a shit idea well-expressed, than astounding, sick concepts with technical issues" - everyone [about both Cyberpunk and Mafia iii].
This is a fair review.Sure the game has some cosmetic and catwalk issues (lol)
but it has strong points as well.