Mafia 3 Review

Mafia 3 Review

Today FunkyVideoGames presents another review, where we discuss gameplay, first impressions and other similar stuff for newly released video games. Today we’re discussing Mafia 3, an action-adventure and open world Mafia game. I think, Mafia 3 is one of the most anticipated video games this year and it is surely one of the top 10 great games for the month of October, 2016.

Mafia 3 is a very interesting game but over the past few days it seems like it has a bit of rough first impressions from gamers and reviewers out there. We will talk about that but let’s just get into the game itself.

See Also: Mafia 3 Game Walkthrough

Mafia 3 Review:

First thing first, I think Mafia 3 is a fun game that accomplishes some of its goals very well but it also misses the mark on some others. What I really like about the game is the story, the characters, the 1960s vibe and the whole world that the game showcased.

Mafia 3 Review – Characters:

Lincoln Clay is a pretty interesting main character, coming back from Vietnam War and looking for a place to exist. He quest for revenge and build a crime organization to fight those who betrayed him. All this makes a pretty interesting and engaging story.

He is great and so are the other characters in the game, they all have their own personalities. You understand where they are coming from and you get their goals and stuff like that. I also really like the link to Mafia 2 with Vito being in the game. It is huge for me because I really like the Mafia 2.

Mafia 3 Review – Story:

As I’m talking about the story, I so want to say that if you like Mafia 2 for its big set pieces and scripted moments of great action and memorable stuff. Mafia 3 has a lot of that too, and that’s where Mafia 3 does surprisingly feel a lot like Mafia 2. Mafia 3 just brings in the added context of the late 60s, racial tensions and other similar stuff like that. And the Way game handles all this is done pretty well. But the background of all this is just straight up crime story.

The Way this story is told, is very interesting. What I really like is, it has a Netflix crime-drama documentary style where you are constantly flashing back and forth to the past and into the present with people and experts being interviewed and basically, explaining what happened.

See Also: Mafia 3 How to Unlock Testing the Shocks Trophy/Achievement

The game bounces around a lot and the intro is pretty long and there’s a lot of emphasis on story here and all this pop out in the world organically.  I feel like some of the stuff is inspired by ‘Good Fellas’ and some of the grimmer and darker stuff is inspired by ‘Taxi Driver’. And I think it’s a really good mix.

Mafia 3 Review – World:

New Bordeaux is a decent game world, it looks pretty nice and unique. Basically it’s a re-imagining of New Orleans which we have seen in other games before. But the whole race thing and the tension; people being mean to you and cops being a little overly judgy, just add a little more interesting context.

The game also got a great look because there are the bad neighborhoods, there’s Downtown French Quarter and then there’s also the typical 50’s style sburby where everything is just clean and perfect. It’s really a great place to shot people with your shotgun.

Mafia 3 Review – Combat and Shooting:

Speaking of shooting people, when the gameplay comes in, things get little mix here. The shooting mechanics are very simple but they are satisfying. The cover works, shooting and the actual violence feels punchy and raw. The sound design is good and the aiming is good but there’s a lot of focus on stealth mechanics that feels very very basic. If you have played Uncharted 4 or Tomb Raider, you’ll also feel that the stealth mechanics here are really basic. You just walk around and navigate a very flat area, hide behind crates, sneak up and stealth-kill people.

See Also: Collecting Money From Rackets in Mafia 3

Honestly, with the shooting and stealth, you’ve probably played it before in bunch of other games and there’s not very much new here. But I will say, it’s good, sold, serviceable and I did have fun playing it. It can turn into really really violent in no time, it is fun and entertaining.

Mafia 3 Review – Driving:

The driving, however, leaves a lot to be desired, I almost go as far as to say it kind of sucks. Where Mafia 2 focus on realistic boat kind of driving where the car felt old, slow and chunky. Here in Mafia 3 they went a little overboard making the cars feel little bit more floaty and arcady. The way car turns and drift around corners in Mafia 3, well it looks nice and does feel good because you can get any turn without any problem, it just doesn’t really have a lot of challenge and it just doesn’t feel right.

See Also: How to Customize Cars in Mafia 3

Mafia 3 Review – Side Missions:

But the other part that I do enjoy and you might have enjoyed if you played the old Godfather games is basically the mission structure and how you earn the game territory. Now it’s a lot more like other open world games, there’s a lot of stuff on the map that you have to check but what I like about in Mafia 3 that it is all designed around like fueling Lincoln Clay’s goal.

It never felt that you are wasting time in side missions and doing other stuff not related to story. You actually feel like you are pursuing a main goal; getting revenge, earning money and taking control of the city. Completing these objectives such as burning weapon caches, interrogating key personnel, taking out lead guys and stealing cars feels like you’re actually dismantling the mob piece by piece. And it doesn’t fell like side quest busy stuff which is nice.

All this kept me entertained and what I liked is how the story moments would be triggered just by doing certain things in the world like progressing through the side quests. Also worth noting that you will get the territory and assign different district to your three commanders. You will sit down with them and negotiate who gets what. It is very hard to make these kind of decisions in the game because it affects the characters. They can bale on you and you will be forced to kill them or they can provide you more great items.

Mafia 3 Review – Radio Calling:

There’s a lot of stuff in the game world that you can get by calling upon things on your radio. You can get cars delivered to you, you can get bunch of members to show up and help you beat up some people or you can get a van that gives you weapons and ammo. You can also pay someone to bribe the cops or cut the phone lines. Basically what Mafia 3 is, it’s just a beefed up version of Mafia 2 with more open world sensibility.

Mafia 3 Review – Graphics:

If you played Mafia 2 and you felt that there’s nothing much to do aside from playing the story well, Mafia 3 is your answer. I do have to acknowledge the graphics, the performance, the motion capture and everything else they do with the faces, everything is great. But in some angles and lighting the game doesn’t look that great but then other times in other lighting it looks fantastic. So, it is very much a mixed bag.

We also have to acknowledge the PC players, because there’s a 30 FPS cap. 2K has told that they are going to release a patch in a next few days that will uncap it to 60 FPS. But honestly, that was a weird choice for them to do that to Mafia 3 on the first place. It really is annoying to be playing this game at 30 FPS cap, does it perform well? Yes, for me on 980 Ti it ran perfectly. But then again it doesn’t seem like that the game is graphically demanding.

Mafia 3 Review – Licence Music:

I’m gonna end on a high note that I personally really like, the licence sound tracks. There’s so much licence music in Mafia 3 from the time period. Some of the action moments with the right song from the 70s just hits so well. You will find yourself playing for a few hours and keep hearing new songs on the radio and going to yourself, wow they got this song in the game too! It is pretty crazy, the amount of recognizable licence tracks Mafia 3 has.

Mafia 3 Review – Should You Buy?

Personally, yes I do like Mafia 3 a lot, I’m having a a lot of fun with it but there are definitely problems and it is going to turn off some people. I will say, if you already like Mafia 2 but may be wanted a little more gameplay out of it, Mafia 3 is definitely the game for you.

See Also: Mafia 3 Crashes Errors and Fixes

If you’ve never played the series before then you might be a little 50-50 here. If you like a lot of story and if you like that focus Mafia 3 is great. But if you’re really looking for something like GTA 5 or Saints Row, this is not the game for you.

And there are some issues like I said some graphical problems and driving being not really that great, all this will definitely going to hold back this game from greatness. But I do think it’s worth a try. And I know some people are really going to disagree with me.

So guys that’s Mafia 3 review where I give you some first impressions, gameplay and my personal opinion thrown in there. Now I want to hear your opinion down in the comments. Have you started Mafia 3 at all if you did pick it up? What do you think about the game? Do you like the story, shooting, driving and overall feel of the game? Please feel free to tell us in the comments below.