Review: Mafia 3

G'day there guys and gals!

Mafia 3 is one of the rare titles released that are solely based on single player, as multiplayer titles grow more and more common with each passing year. In that, a single player game needs to have a strong story, terrific gameplay and interesting characters in order to keep players around in the long run or to return for replays over time. While Mafia 3 does have its fair share of bugs, this is a title that many utterly need to experience.

In the fictional place of New Bourdeux in 1968 lives a young man named Lincoln Clay, a returning veteran of the Vietnam War. Reuniting with his adopted family, an event sets his life back down that dark and narrow path, with bloodlust leading his rampant drive through his home, desperately trying to restore something lost that cannot ever be returned.
As far as the gameplay goes, it is definitely well made. Anyone familiar with Shooters in general will be able to pick this game up from the get-go and manage well. The mechanics are also impressive; every gun, car and boat have a distinct difference from one another, and balance out recoil with deadliness very well. I have heard of those criticising the car controls of the game, but as a millenial who has driven vehicles from the 1960s, I can absolutely attest to their accuracy. I will admit that the boats leave something to be desired, while driving trucks with caddies and flipping cars does bend the realism of the game. Regardless, they are all done well. The world is beautifully crafted, the graphics look incredible (especially the character models, and definitely in the cutscenes) and help bring to light the horrors of the 1960s of America’s South.
There is more to be said about the core mechanics of the gameplay themselves, but we’ll get to that later.

The storyline itself is masterfully written, and while it does have its clichés from time to time, the way the story pans out from the beginning is well structured, written and executed. The final scene with Lincoln’s family, while expected by promos, was brilliantly done and still managed to shock me, with magnificent acting from the cast, and this trend does continue throughout the game. While the endings do have their issues (the “alone” choice is incredibly quick and almost a throwaway choice), the cutscenes in the present day definitely aid tie the endings together.
This brings me to the voice cast, which was no less than sublime. Despite featuring a main cast of relative unknowns in the VA world (the exception being a few with minor roles), all of whom performed excellently, particularly scenes regarding Lincoln Clay (Alex Hernandez) and John Donovan (Lane Compton). Their scenes were both golden and hilarious, especially the back and forth banter, which added some much needed light to the situation, with Lincoln slowly descending into darkness while Donovan keeping his humanity in check. The Marcano family were also was voiced just as well and added the right amount of sincerity, brutality and kindness when needed.

Filled with both strings and hits from the era, the musical score kept the balance of forgotten, well known and new titles mixed in the radios. I particularly liked how songs also started appearing the further in game you went!

As mentioned earlier, while I love the fact that this game is irrefutably well done, it’s not without its fair share of bugs. I experienced random ejection from the game, all in mid-gameplay, four times. While the first happened in the opening cutscene, the rest happened during gameplay (generally with explosions of cars), while the few other moments caused temporary freezes, occurring seven times, due to unknown reasons. There was also issues with draw distances and failure to load items, especially in the beginning when entering new areas for the first time: objects such as benches and cars on the road would appear as invisible and cause many collisions.
Putting these aside, probably the biggest issue is the slight repetitiveness for some players. For fans of the previous Mafia games or fans of Saints Row (Particularly 1 and 2), you’ll find no fault in these tasks. However, after the first few missions, taking over an area tends to repeat itself: Find the informant, perform a mini-task (interrogation, kill target, destroy object) several times, take over racket, kill boss, repeat. The main boss fights themselves are incredibly fun and each is unique in their own way, and they will be your driving force to complete each section. I will admit, these do tend to change in the middle of the campaign, each new area only adds one new task. There is also the internal struggle with your lieutenants that you must balance, so I’d suggest definitely slugging through all of it. In saying this, the Leutenants also have scratches that have need of itching, which helps to break apart the slog, but as mentioned earlier, their objectives do tend to repeat. The repetitiveness wouldn't be as obvious or as tedious if not for the lack of a quick travel in game. If a side mission starts on one side of the map and asks you to travel to the other side, the travelling must be done ever time. 

It hurts me greatly when I have to report on these types of things for a game or a series that I enjoy, because I did thoroughly enjoy Mafia 3. There were moments I teared up and moments where I fell out of my chair laughing. There were moments that I enjoyed immensely and moments where I wanted to rage quit. Mafia 3 does have faults, and while I would love to give this game a perfect score, it would go against everything I've been building for six years as a reviewer. In saying this, I still believe due to its strong story and emotional attachment
If you enjoy period games with a lot of lore and personal backstory, games with heartfelt scenes backed by raw emotion, or games where you can just gun down a lot of racist jerkwads, I would absolutely recommend Mafia 3 to you.

Despite its flaws, it is a beautifully made game.

Mafia 3 - 8/10