Mardi Gras, Bloody Mardi Gras: Mafia III Review

Mafia III is a blast. Developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games, this open-world game is action-packed and intensely satisfying. Even with, at times, substantial flaws, this third-person RPG tells the time-honored story of a likable antihero fighting the most deplorable enemies imaginable. The Mafia series is excellent at giving us a main character with a fascinating backstory, an affinity for violence and weapons, and ambition that makes the story move like lightning. Mafia III gives us Lincoln Clay.

The time is 1968 and the location is “New Bordeaux” (New Orleans). Lincoln is a Vietnam war vet, check. Compelled by the country he served to commit atrocities, check. Learned how to become the deadliest weapon possible, check. Thrusted into a life of crime, check. I found Lincoln Clay to be a sympathetic anti-hero because the world he lived in never allowed him to live a normal, peaceful life. Being black in the South during this time was an unfair and unforgiving reality. Mafia III pulls no punches.

The game opens on this message from Hangar 13:

"Mafia 3 takes place in a fictionalised version of the American South in 1968.

We sought to create an authentic and immersive experience that captures this very turbulent time and place, including depictions of racism.

We find the racist beliefs, language, and behaviours of some characters in the game abhorrent, but believe it is vital to include these depictions in order to tell Lincoln Clay's story.

Most importantly, we felt that to not include this very real and shameful part of our past would have been offensive to the millions who faced - and still face - bigotry, discrimination, prejudice, and racism in all its forms."

Lincoln is viciously betrayed by a notable crime syndicate, and rushes to all ends to completely destroy it. The narrative is one of pure anger and vengeance, but isn't so brutal to not be sophisticated. Themes such as the duality of man, religion, and of course ethnic discrimination are touched on as eloquently as possible.

Throughout the game we run into bigot after disgraceful bigot, and that just adds to the player’s immersion into Lincoln Clay’s life. This game could’ve easily still been good if the story was just your classic revenge story, but the game goes into so much more. With a racist South setting, Vietnam War commentary from many of the interesting characters, and the way it is almost narrated by Lincoln’s friend and confidant, Father James, the game keeps you invested and on the edge-of-your-seat for this thrill ride.

The game quickly gets you to love Lincoln (and fear him a bit). He’s thoughtful, he loves the ones close to him, and he is well-portrayed by actor Alex Hernandez. The game is beautiful. New Orleans was perfect for an open-world game. It has the wild and vivid French Ward, the busy Downtown district, and the dangerous Bayou. All of these areas are large and detailed. I found myself spending a substantial amount of time driving around with the radio blasting 60s music, just exploring this large city. That brings me to the unbelievable soundtrack. Wow. I’ve got the entire soundtrack saved as a Spotify playlist. It’s a can’t-miss greatest hits compilation from one of the most transformative musical eras this country has seen. We’ve got Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Animals, Aretha Franklin, Roger Miller, and much, much more. After two full playthroughs, I still find myself unable to wait to hear what will come on next.

Driving in Mafia III is pretty great, too! Music aside, the differing handling between a big, rust bucket pickup truck and a sleek convertible with a throaty engine is stark. I’ll get into why that matters later. You do not want to get into big crashes in this game., but once you have a few cars with good handling in your garage, you can really get some speed going while enjoying how well the game captured the roar of the engines.

The game has a very cool way of making all your decisions matter. There are three “underboss” types that Lincoln relies on to take over the city. A Haitian voodoo mistress, and Wise Guy, and an belligerent Irishman - what else you need? Whether you constantly give your dominated portions of the city to one person is up to you. Increasing that bosses income will unlock guns, skills, and optional missions. Hell, share each part of the city equally with all three, not getting the most you can out of just one of them. It all matters, and Mafia III makes you feel that.

Okay. Let’s get to the problems. This game got really mixed reviews, and if you need an open-world as detailed and interactive as Skyrim or GTA 5’s Los Santos, this game will disappoint you. I loved driving through New Bordeaux in the authentic 60s cars with the music turned up as loud as possible. But let's be clear, this game has one of the least impressive graphics engines of any current generation game to date. That's not always a bad thing (especially when the game is as fun as this one), but it can be a deal breaker. Other than the main story and very limited side missions to boost income, there’s not a ton to do throughout New Bordeaux that furthers the game. I spent some time sneaking around into stores, looting the cash registers, and sometimes even finding guns or cash lockboxes in their back rooms. The open-world of New Bordeaux was missing compelling side missions that tied into the story.

With a recent update, Hangar 13 has added a racing circuit which leads you all around the city to compete in challenging races against souped-up cars with new car upgrades, designs, and cash prizes. I found it difficult to get into these races because they didn’t fit in with Lincoln Clay’s character. He is a man on a mission of revenge and domination, and driving all around the Bayou and cities to find races for new car decals didn’t quite fit his profile, or grab my attention.

Another big problem identified by other fellow critics is the lack of diverse gameplay. There is a decent group of guns spanning pistols, submachine guns, rifles, and guns that unlock as you progress through the game. However, the process of taking over the city includes systematic clearing of enemy compounds, assassinations in alleys, and interrogations of informants. The enemies are very, very stupid, and I found myself often hiding and silently killing everyone in an entire building by spamming the same hiding place. I'd whistle to get the enemies attention, and stab them when they get close - it's a fool proof method, and the enemy's artificial intelligence is about intelligent as a loaded gun. Now let me be clear, this is fun! The action is great, and it’s bloody and satisfying. Mafia III tries to make your approach to bad guys' hideouts interesting by adding conversations you can listen to. Some humanize your enemies, but most just fuel the hatred you have, making it all the more satisfying to go on a murderous spree.

There’s not a lot of variety in how you take down the different districts of the city. Whether you are sneaking into a warehouse or going in guns blazing, you just have to kill as many as you want, steal the money, blow up the cargo, or set fire to the heroin, etc. Again, this is fun! But not particularly novel after the first few districts.

A couple annoying things: you lose half of the money you have on your person each time you die, and you don’t get the ability to call someone to your location and pick up that money until several hours into the game. That means that either you need to be comfortable losing some money, or you need to drive all the way to your home base each time you want to stash your cash for the first part of the game. Another is the body armor function in game. Simply put you need body armor. As you progress in-game you get more health bars, but if an enemy with a shotgun or a machine gun gets a couple of good hits you are in grave danger. Body armor blunts a lot of the damage you take, obviously, but with the hefty price tag of $3,000.00, you aren’t going to want to shell out each time you are entering an enemy building. That either means you need to memorize body armor locations on the map and drive to get it every time, or get really sneaky so enemies never find you. One particularly annoying thing about body armor is that if you even accidentally rear-end the car in front of you, part of the body armor disappears. A big, head-on collision will take 70% of your armor, easily. Did we mention there's no fast-travel? We mentioned we liked driving around, but we didn't like it that much. Driving is something you'll get used to, but it would be nice to have a quicker means of transport.

To conclude: play Mafia III! If you know you are someone who gets tired of repetition in games, you will love the first several hours. If you can get past the repetition and take the game for what it is (violent, satisfying, and wonderfully told with cut-scenes and dialogue) you will have a blast, like I and everyone else at Game Chop did.

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Michael Joseph, Contributor

Michael is an experienced gamer who loves embedding himself with deeply structured role-playing games! Large, intricately detailed, open world games are his specialty, and he brings his thoughts and expertise to reviews for Game Chop.

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