They kept us waiting almost as long as Hideo kept us waiting for Metal Gear Solid V, but Mafia 3  finally arrived to our game stores. For the purposes of this review I got the deluxe edition on day one on PS4. It was not mostly made by Czechs anymore, but for the new entry a new team was assembled consisting of game makers from multiple countries and cultures (including the Czech Republic).

They could have played it safe and give us another title revolving around the Italian mob, but they took the risky route and decided to use the story to talk about some serious issues like racism and inequality.

Just another quest for revenge?

This time the narrative is told via retrospective storytelling as the things that happened in 1968 are revealed to you in video recordings from a trial in 1970 and documentary-toned cut scenes from present day.

You follow the story of a mixed-raced Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay. When he came back home from the war to New Bordeaux (the game’s version of New Orleans), his family got slaughtered by an Italian family led by a racist douchebag Sal Marcano. After his recovery, Lincoln is dedicated to getting his revenge on those naughty, nasty, sleaze-bags. Thanks his outstanding persuasive methods, he manages to get help from three other characters who will take over the function of his underbosses: a girl named Cassandra, an Irish guy called Burke and the protagonist from Mafia 2. Yes, Vito Scalleta himself is back! Alleluia! According to how you decide during assigning city districts, the ending will play out in slightly different ways. Lincoln gathers his crew and the great hunt on KKK pricks may begin…

The narrative is on a very high level here, especially at capturing the brilliantly capturing the period, however it somehow lacks the charm, tension, thrill, atmosphere and the feels from the previous games.

Rise and fall

Actually, in the first few hours, it has all that and it looks really promising, until it gets dragged down by going beyond full-Ubisoft and giving you a checklist with tons of unimaginative and repetitive side quests that you are required to complete in order to be able to do a few of the proper story bits with cut scenes that are too far in between. *yawn*.

On top of that, the bare gameplay is really nothing special. Most of your usual gangster bread and butter consists of interrogating dudes connected to Marcano, mass murdering them, destroying or stealing their property and so on. It seems like fun at first as you are even given the choice between a silent and loud approach in MGS V’s fashion, but the systems are not nearly as complex as in the latest installment of Metal Gear Solid, which means it will start to bore you quickly. This highly resembles DLC add-ons to Mafia 2, but those managed to remain somewhat enjoyable till the end.

The shooting is pretty solid. It is the typical cover-based type and as usual, it is ruined by the over-the-shoulder camera view Resident Evil 4 invented and Gears of War popularized, which I am a huge hater of because you character is always sticking to the left side of the screen so you are not able to see if there is a dude aiming at you a couple of feet from your left side. Another thing is the inclusion of “eagle vision”, if you will, similar to the AC series, which doesn’t fit here at all and feels like a super power or cheating. Opposed to the rather realistic driving model from the previous two games, this time it is arcadish though very well-controllable and will make you feel like you’re in a Hollywood action movie from the 60s. I will let you decide whether that’s a good or bad thing. This closely ties to the police who look like they’re always watching you and sometimes they even stop in order to tell you something racist. Nevertheless, they basically only have two states; they are either OK with you (like when you’re speeding, running a red light or disobeying other traffic laws) or they just want you dead (for things like hitting an another car accidentally) with no middle ground.

What is bad, for sure, is the exclusion of any kind customization. (However, the developers promised to fix the problem in an upcoming free DLC.) Although shops are still places in the game for you to visit and rob in or listen to musicians in bars playing some sick jazz, you can no longer buy clothes, beverages or customize you cars in them, which I am quite keen on in open world games of this type. This causes that money almost loses its importance.

This is the best part

After taking over the city, which looks spectacular, diverse and really feels like you are a tourist there, I couldn’t help myself not to look around, there isn’t much else to do besides that. Except for getting the collectibles, that is. These make for a pretty cool addition and a nice, welcomed reward for all completionist and trophy (and booby) hunters as you collect artworks like magazines, album covers, paintings, which you can admire then, and yes, the authentic Playboy magazines do make their return! Now you can even read some of the articles (instead of just staring at the pictures pointlessly), which is exactly why you’d buy them. Finally! Am I right?

Where this game shines the most is the musical score again consisting of both original and licensed tracks with the original ones playing during combat situations dynamically changing according to whether you are currently in stealth or Rambo-style mode, and the licensed ones blasting out when you are driving around the city. It is a truly uplifting feeling listening to one of the best songs from that time while going 100 mph such as songs from : The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Elvis Presley, Steppenwolf and many more that are waiting for you to discover. For the full list of the sound track, be sure to check out the link to my fellow Game Laugher’s article: https://twistedbard.com.stackstaging.com/gl-archive/23/08/2016/mafia-3-soundtrack/ . The music is easily the best in the series and also the best part of the game and it gets the full 10/10 in that regard.

Mafia 3 also does a significantly good job at looking cinematic thanks to the spectacular visuals and the outstanding actors’ performances meaning both the facial expressions and the voices that are one of the best I’ve seen, so far, somewhere up there with L. A. Noire and inFamous: Second Son. Unfortunately, us Czech aren’t getting any voice acting in our language. Not that I couldn’t understand it, I’d just like to have it at least in a game with a Czech origin to keep up the tradition in the series and because it’s a rarity these days. It is most likely caused by big amount of pirating in our country so if the developers had paid for it, the investment wouldn’t have paid off, but I don’t mind it as the original one is on a very high level.

Not bad but we hoped for brilliant

The bottom line is that I really wanted to and expected to love Mafia 3, but I just kinda like it. It is almost a complete opposite of what the previous two games were praised for. Although the setting is a good pick and the world was crafted really well, the music and collectibles are the best in the series, the voice acting is top-notch, the narrative is gripping and intriguing, and some of the moments had me on the edge of my seat, it all gets dragged down by the almost unbearable repetitiveness of the filler content, which must be disappointing for long-time Mafia fans. The game falls flat in that regard and would better off if it was more linear at the cost of a shorter play time as to make sure it wasn’t such a chore to finish. The developers should have taken more time with creating more imaginative story missions with set pieces and the world would have been a bit better place.

If may, I’ll give you a piece of advice: If I were you and knew everything I know now, I wouldn’t waste my money on a copy of this title just yet. I would wait for some time till the price lowers and instead treat myself nicely by playing Mafia 1 & 2 as they provide much more entertainment for significantly less money.

And now with all this being said, there still remains one thing to address: the Joe question. Those of you who finished Mafia 2 are definitely eager to know what the fate of our most beloved character is. Not to spoil anything, I will only tell you that you will find out the answer in the end, although it might not be as satisfying or badass as I hoped for.