The Mafia franchise needs no introduction, they have been around since the early 2000s providing an organized world of crime view compared to Grand Theft Auto

Mafia III is developed by Hangar 13. 2K Czech (formerly Illusion Softworks) was responsible for the first two Mafia games that were beloved by many. Mafia III went through many changes during development. Initially 2k Czech was in charge of development. Due to some restructuring, a part of the team got reassigned to a different team called Hangar 13.

Before I begin, I have to state the obvious. I played this game recently, almost 4 years after its release. So I will include a bunch of spoilers ahead.

Story:

The story is strong with this one. Lincoln Clay, a veteran of the Vietnam war returns to New Bordeaux in the late 60s. Lincoln’s an orphan who was brought up by Sammy, his foster dad. He has an adopted brother named Ellis. Talking to Sammy, Lincoln learns that Sammy is in deep debt with Mafia boss Sal Marcano. It’s all good though because there’s a heist which will settle his score with the mob. The heist goes well, but the mafia betrays and kills Sammy, Ellis, and Lincoln, or at least they wished they killed Lincoln. Lincoln is alive, even after the mob went for his head. Lincoln, along with the help of CIA agent Donovan, swears his revenge against Sal Marcano.

I felt sympathetic towards Lincoln. A war veteran has enough nightmares from his service, but to come home and have his family eliminated right in front of him will definitely kick off PTSD. So when Lincoln set out for revenge, I was on board. I knew a war veteran would unleash chaos on the mob boss and his establishment.

3 Lieutenants eventually work under you. They get introduced as the story progresses- Vito, Burke and Cassandra.

Sound:

The sound is one aspect where I have zero complaints. The soundtrack for this game is awesome. The music is well suited to the 60s setting. In one particular mission, while I was running from the cops, the radio started playing “I fought the law, and the law won” which was damn hilarious at the time. I often had trouble getting out of the car because a good song was playing on the radio. No complaints here; whoever was in charge of the sound, great job!

Now I’m into 60s music, with special mention to the exemplary voice acting.

Graphics:

The graphics are fine. They don’t feel special. The annoying tint had to go, so I used a sweetfx setting along with a blur removal mod since I was playing this on a high end pc.

The game is not optimized well for PC, and that’s coming from someone running it on a 2070 super and getting 90 FPS average in ultra settings. No, it didn’t look great either.

The obvious comparisons to its predecessor are inevitable; this is where I feel Mafia 2 did a better job with the graphics, at least considering the time period it was released in. Car damage, for example, felt way better in Mafia 2. NPCs feel lifeless in Mafia 3, but more on that in the gameplay section.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Mafia 3 has always been a hot topic. I went into the game knowing not to expect a lot on the gameplay front. At first, I was like- this is not bad at all. But after killing a couple of enemies for the nth time, I started to understand the hate Mafia 3 gets for its gameplay. Go to a place, kill a few guys, take over the operations, rinse and repeat. The urge for revenge gets watered down with these elements that feel boring and make you grind for eternity.

To add to the woes, enemy AI is dumb. Police AI is even dumber than the enemy AI. Stealth is a joke. The NPCs calling cops to report a crime is a nice touch, though. The driving, under the simulation setting, felt good. Unlike Mafia 2, there’s no fuel element here. I don’t consider that a negative.

There is an option to customize vehicles, but there are some conditions. I didn’t bother too much and got a mod to customize any vehicle I drive. Customizations are just okay. The cars themselves sound weird and tacky. And then there’s a lot of driving, so that’s not great.

The open-world is a joke. There’s absolutely nothing to do on the side, other than drive around, and you’ll be doing a whole lot of driving. The map is divided into various parts. You take over districts as the game progresses and assign them to one of your underbosses. If you’re like me- a Mafia 2 fan, then Vito (the protagonist of Mafia 2) was the one who got the most districts. You can remain neutral by giving every underboss at-least 2 districts or give them all to one person, which turns the other 2 against you, eventually ending up with you killing them.

The portrayal of racism is well done here. It shows us the harsh reality of the racial discrimination of the past. The cops comment on your skin color, so do some NPCs. If you enter stores that have ‘no colored allowed’ sign, the owner warns you to get out and eventually calls the cops.

You can get vehicles, weapons, and muscle delivered depending on your relationship with your underbosses. There’s even an option to call off the cops, like a cooldown period. These aspects are a big plus for the game. The only thing sorely missed is fast travel.

The huge but empty map can be a pain to cover in crucial mission scenarios which just involves you driving for minutes together. This is fine in the beginning, but feels like a mundane task when it’s on a regular basis.

Conclusion:

The story of Mafia 3 is really good. I think they should have made this a standalone game instead of making it a successor to fan-favorite Mafia 2. I couldn’t bring myself to watch Vito getting sidelined like a nobody in this game. At one point, there’s even an option to kill him, which is just ridiculous. It’s clear that the developers are different from the last game, but why piss on such a beloved character?

The passion and fire to get revenge gets doused by the damp gameplay, which is the harbinger of doom to the plot of Mafia 3. By the time you face the final boss, the grind gets to you, and you’re already bored of the game.

A good story, ruined by repetitive gameplay, lack of side activities, and a total disregard for the foundational elements of the Mafia franchise, sums up Mafia 3 perfectly. As I write this review, I’m in the process of deleting the game. It feels mechanical, like a task, without any fun elements. I give games a couple of hours to break in, but this one didn’t break in till the end. Even a one-time playthrough is a task in itself, which leaves Mafia 3 in my list of forgettable games.

Pros	Cons
Good story, narration via cutscenes is a nice touch	it’s not a Mafia game story
Well written characters	Important characters like Vito have no relevance
Voice acting is top notch	Some facial animations are creepy
Music speaks to your soul	Vehicles and Guns sound lame
Locations look decent with weather cycle	Open world is just for bragging rights
Driving is reasonably good	No fast travel, so grind it is