After the game's excellent opening portion, a pattern quickly emerges: shakedown informants, kill enforcers, smash up contraband, steal cash stashes, and, eventually, take down a boss figure. These problems are compounded by the campaign's exhausting mission structure. Swapping cover feels awkward, enemy AI is dumb as rocks, weapons lack variety-none of this breaks the experience, but it does land the overall quality somewhere between "fine" and "lackluster." The gameplay is functional and even enjoyable at times, mostly thanks to the Hitman-light stealth mechanics, cinematic scripted takedowns, and gruesome yet satisfying enemy death animations.īut Mafia III does nothing to distinguish its generic moment-to-moment gameplay from that of other sandbox shooters, and its core mechanics can't even nail the basics-at least not completely. The action consists primarily of bare bones driving and third-person, cover-based shooting, both of which we've seen executed better in other games. The rest of Mafia III's gameplay, however, feels entirely unoriginal. While the sitdowns aren't a resounding success, they are, at least, a compelling, original idea. Neglecting Burke became a foregone conclusion after the first couple meetings.
Burke, on the other hand, can temporarily call off the cops, but oddly enough, I never found the cops to be much of a problem. Vito and Cassandra offer plenty of desirable perks like a time-saving money collection service and improved ammo capacity for all weapons. Unfortunately, the sitdowns work better in concept than in practice, in part because the perks aren't particularly well balanced. It's a clever way to embrace the "mafia" concept and a welcome strategic contrast to the rest of the gun-driven gameplay. You can only carry two weapons at a time, which is an odd restriction for an open world game that confronts you with many different scenarios. But ignore one of your partners too many times and they might just turn on you. Basically, every time you capture a new district, you must assign that district a leader, who will grant you new weapons and abilities in exchange.
Lincoln's quest for revenge coincides with his rise to power, power he shares during a series of playable "sitdowns"-scenes in which Lincoln gathers his capos around a table to talk business. Mafia II protagonist Vito Scaletta, for example, returns as one of three underbosses who allies with Lincoln against Marcano. You'll even find a few nods to longtime Mafia fans. Even side characters receive enough attention to feel three-dimensional, and tiny details like store signage and radio hosts expertly capture the tumultuous time and place that serves as the backdrop. It's a brilliant way to tell a complete, well-rounded story. The story mixes cutscenes set in 1968 with documentary footage shot in the present day and video of a Congressional hearing that occurs somewhere in between. The ensuing plot follows all the expected beats of a revenge tale, but it culminates in a positively Shakespearean ending made all the more impactful by our deep understanding of each and every character. The story follows Lincoln Clay, a man who is many things: an orphan adopted by the leader of New Bordeaux's black mob, a war hero who returns home from Vietnam in 1968, and the victim of a vicious betrayal at the hands of the city's crime boss, Sal Marcano.