Mafia 3 Campaign Review
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Mafia III is a 2016 action-adventure video game published by 2K Games and developed by Hangar 13. Microsoft Windows was released in October 2016. It is the third installment in the Mafia series and the sequel to Mafia II. Set in the fictional city of New Bordeaux in 1968, the story follows former criminal and Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay, who is forced to return to a life of crime in order to assist his adoptive family in resolving a dispute with the local Mafia family. Following the betrayal and murder of his family by the Mafia, Lincoln embarks on a quest for vengeance, slowly establishing a criminal empire and seizing power from other criminal organisations in the city.
GAMEPLAY
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| Lincoln Clay |
Mafia III is an action-adventure game set in an open world and played from a third-person perspective, in which the player takes control of Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran on a quest for vengeance for the murder of his adopted family by local mobs. Bayou Fantom, Delray Hollow, Barclay Mills, Frisco Fields, Pointe Verdun, Tickfaw Harbor, Southdowns, River Row, Downtown, and the French Ward are the ten districts on Mafia III's map. The map of Mafia 3 is larger than the maps of Mafia 1 and Mafia 2 combined. Objectives can be completed in a variety of ways by players. For example, players can use the game's weapons, such as shotguns and revolvers, to eliminate enemies or summon allies, who arrive in a van and assist players.
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| Nice Car Clay. |
Alternatively, they can use stealth tactics to complete the mission without being detected by enemies. In addition, players can execute moves and engage in melee combat. The game includes a cover system that allows players to hide behind objects in order to avoid enemy gunfire or detection. Players can interrogate non-playable characters after defeating them to learn more about their goals, such as scaring them while driving a car. Players can attack and take over locations owned by the Italian mafia, and then assign one of their lieutenants to operate in the surrounding area. Players can drive cars from the era using realistic driving mechanics in the game.
SETTING
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| This is Vito...from Mafia 2... Remember him? |
Mafia III takes place in the late 1960s, nearly two decades after its predecessor. The city is made up of island districts, industrial complexes and ports, high-rise offices and apartments, slums, suburban housing, and historical districts, all interconnected by railroads and an extensive road network, with a large swampland separating it from the coast. The city is a melting pot of cultures, with African-Americans, Irish, Italians, and Haitians living side by side with one Mafia crime family, the Marcano family, and smaller organisations such as the Irish Mob, the Haitian Mob, the "Black Mob," and the Southern Union, a group of white supremacists.
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| Mafia 3 Loading screens are interesting... |
The design of the city, including its architectural styles, cultures, and lifestyles, was influenced by real-life aspects of the southern United States at the time, particularly the city of New Orleans. The story of the game is primarily set in this setting.
PLOT
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| Overspeeding in the highways feels good. |
Lincoln Clay returns home to New Bordeaux in 1968, where he reunites with his surrogate father and Black Mob leader Sammy Robinson, his adoptive brother Ellis, and his friend, Father James Ballard. While planning to leave for California, Lincoln agrees to stay and assist Sammy, who is dealing with the Haitian Mob and is in debt to mob boss Sal Marcano. Lincoln puts an end to the conflict with the Haitians by assassinating their leader, and he meets with Marcano to discuss how he can pay off Sammy's debts. Despite Lincoln's refusal to take over the Black Mob from Sammy, Marcano recruits him and Ellis to assist his son Giorgi in robbing the city's Federal Reserve during the local Mardi Gras celebrations. The group pulls off the heist with little difficulty, thanks to their friend Danny Burke, whose father is also looking to settle things with Marcano after a previous disagreement, but the Marcanos turn on them later, killing Sammy, Ellis, and Danny. Lincoln is also shot and left to die after Sammy's bar is set on fire, but James finds and saves him.
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| Car Delivery |
After recovering, Lincoln contacts his former CIA handler John Donovan, who agrees to assist him for unknown reasons and assists him in locating three crime bosses who also seek revenge against Marcano: new Haitian leader Cassandra, who is eyeing Delray Hollow, which was taken over by the Dixie Mafia; Danny's father and Irish Mob boss Thomas Burke, whose turf was also given to a rival by Marcano; and exiled Sicilian mafioso Vito Scaletta, who joined Marcano's ranks as part of a deal made with the Commission, but was eventually betrayed and left for dead after Marcano's nephew took over. After reclaiming their respective territories, Lincoln begins violently undoing the Marcano family, seizing their rackets and turf and assigning them to his allies, who gradually come to respect his ability. If any of them are ignored and eventually abandon him, Lincoln must eliminate them.
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| Stealing Truck Mission. |
While dismantling the Marcano family's operations, Lincoln discovers that Marcano has recently begun construction on a new casino in order to become independent of the Commission, and that the main goal of the heist was to steal money plates. After eliminating all of Marcano's lieutenants and capos, who were in charge of acquiring real estate, counterfeiting money to cover mounting expenses, and convincing politicians to legalize gambling, Lincoln attacks the casino, killing Marcano's remaining men and Giorgi before confronting Marcano himself. Accepting his fate, he drinks with Lincoln and explains that, while he doesn't regret his actions, he was only trying to improve New Bordeaux and get himself and his family out of the criminal life before anything bad happened to them. After killing or allowing Marcano to commit suicide, Lincoln exits the casino and is greeted by Commission consigliere Leo Galante, who has been assigned to investigate the attacks on Marcano. Galante informs Lincoln that he can take over the New Bordeaux underworld if the Commission receives a cut of the profits, now that Lincoln's vendetta is over.
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| Random old Car |
After Lincoln informs James and Donovan of Marcano's death, the latter leaves the city and advises him to take over, while the former, horrified by the idea, reminds Lincoln that his goal was to remove Marcano, not replace him, and implores him to stick to his original plan of finding work in California. At this point, the player must decide whether Lincoln should leave New Bordeaux to live an honest life while his empire is taken over by one of his surviving underbosses, or stay and rule over the city, either alone or with his underbosses. Each ending has a different impact on the characters and New Bordeaux.
After Lincoln informs James and Donovan of Marcano's death, the latter leaves the city and advises him to take over, while the former, horrified by the idea, reminds Lincoln that his goal was to remove Marcano, not replace him, and implores him to stick to his original plan of finding work in California. At this point, the player must decide whether Lincoln should leave New Bordeaux to live an honest life while his empire is taken over by one of his surviving underbosses, or stay and rule over the city, either alone or with his underbosses. Each ending has a different impact on the characters and New Bordeaux.
REVIEW
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| Want to deposit black money in the bank?? Give it to his lady. |
My over 30 hours with Mafia 3 were filled with incredible highs and perplexing lows. Its writing and performances are among the best of this generation, and it isn't afraid to tackle difficult topics. Lincoln Clay's story could have turned out to be a cliche tale of vengeance, but developer Hangar 13 went beyond the surface to deliver a story rife with social commentary on post-Vietnam America and filled it with three-dimensional characters I've grown to either genuinely care about or really want to see dead. I liked how the story alternates between the events you play, a deposition centered on the consequences of your actions, and a faux-documentary in which the incredibly well-written and acted Father James talks about his time with Lincoln.
Along with this, there are some fairly heavy themes that are consistent with the era: Mafia 3 does not shy away from dealing with racism and what America was like in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, but it is all done smartly, tactfully, and in ways that have an impact on gameplay. If you steal a car in a wealthy neighbourhood, for example, cops will arrive quickly and in full force. If you steal a car in a bad neighbourhood, the cops might not even show up.
The cover system is adequate when it works, but it occasionally fails and refuses to let me hide behind something, resulting in a handful of frustrating deaths. At the very least, the consequences of all of these raids are depicted in a very cool way in Mafia 3's lieutenant system. When you own a neighbourhood, you can assign it to one of your three partners, which grants you new abilities and weapons based on your selection. However, if you ignore one of them long enough, they will turn on you. This resulted in some genuinely difficult decisions, and even influenced how my game ended. While the upgrades aren't really different enough to entice me to replay, the story changes that resulted directly from my choices were incredibly varied, lending to the impression that your actions actually do matter.
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| Taking Cover...for no reason... |
Mafia 3 completely misses out on certain features that are nearly ubiquitous in 2016 open-world games. It doesn't, for example, allow you to fast travel at all, which was inconvenient when I had to drive across the map to an objective that took only a few seconds to complete, only to find myself having to drive all the way back across New Bordeaux to continue the plot.
Some of this pain can be relieved in other ways. For example, you can request favours such as storing your money so that you don't lose it if you die, delivering you a new car, or summoning a mobile arms dealer to meet you wherever you want. Mafia 3 isn't the first game to do this, but it's a much-appreciated feature.
Despite enjoying the setting in terms of the plot, the open world of Mafia 3 feels a little barren because there isn't much to do. Collectibles such as Playboy covers and albums from the era are scattered around, but there isn't much of a gameplay incentive to find them other than for the sake of completion. When you combine this with the lack of interesting sidequests, Mafia 3 is best played by sticking to the storyline without many detours.
Finally, while there’s been a lot of talks online of Mafia 3 being full of glitches and bugs, I did really find a lot of glitches and bugs in the game. Some of them are so bad that it even stops you from continuing the game. Also, there were several instances where the frame rate stuttered and froze for a few seconds before resuming.
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