AskWazzup
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
What would you say are the strong points of the game compared to the competition?
Mafia III
- Thread starter CT Phipps
- Start date
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Generally, I've been disappointed with the Triple A games of the new console generation. I usually get my money's worth but I feel like the majority of them have been lacking in storytelling ambition or are just retreads of existing storylines. The Witcher 3 is about the only game I've played so far which has exceeded its predecessors and lived up to its full potential, IMHO. GTA 5 too even if I didn't much care for the storytelling.
Mafia III? Eh, it's not perfect and I'm kind of annoyed as it could have been better but i have to say that it's a lot better game than I expected it to be.
High Points
* The probable best video game OST of all time just for the virtue of over two dozen classic 60s music songs I love. "Fortunate Son", "All Along the Watchtower", "I Fought the Law", "White Rabbit", "Help Me Rhonda", "Son of a Preacher Man", "Bad Moon Rising", "I Shot the Sheriff", and so on.
* New Bordeaux is up there with GTA IV's recreation of New York City for capturing the sense of New Orleans. It's a foggy saturated looking place which has a lot of action going on such as cops harassing mixed race couples, causal chatter, and conversations about recent events both historical as well as otherwise.
* There's a lot of flexibility in how you can adjust the game to your liking. You can adjust the car sensitivity, aim assistance, whether you murder people with your takedowns or subdue them, and how the camera angle moves. Unfortunately, as we discuss below, there's some issues in keeping your choices done as they seem to reset when I move on them.
* The pacing of the game is, so far, extremely good. You don't just get your family massacred at the beginning, you get to spend a lot of time with them first and get to know them as people. You also have it done so that you start with the big heist and space it out with the character building so its never boring.
* The framing device for the narrative is good as they have a documentary being done about Lincoln's rampage through New Bordeaux with witnesses and commentators talking about it in the past sense.
* Very memorable NPCs so far.
* Car driving is very enjoyable with the game providing you Lincoln's awesome muscle car at the start as a taste of what you'll get later.
* I like the mixture of stealth and gunplay for Lincoln. It's enjoyable I can sneak past most of my enemies without difficulty.
Low Points
* Bullet sponging is a thing as I recall shooting a target three or four times before they go down. Only headshots are one shot-one kill. Is everyone on PCP in Not-Orleans?
* The Haitian accents in this game are atrocious and are just badly one French ones.
* You can sneak around most of the enemies but not ALL of them and I would adopt a mostly stealthy playthrough only to reach a point where I'd have to murder a bunch of people.
* The aforementioned fact my options seem to reset when I'm moving them around.
Overall, I'm very much enjoying the game, though.
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Here's my review of the actual game.
http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2016/10/mafia-iii-review.html
I've mostly been disappointed with the Triple A game releases this year. There's been a lot of smoke and mirrors promising big and delivering little. Mafia III is a case where I had moderate expectations rather than high ones. The previous Mafia games had their ups and downs but were well known for their solid storytelling as well as atmosphere. The revelation Mafia III would have a Black protagonist, would take place in a faux New Orleans, and would involve shooting up the Italian Mafia rather than joining them intrigued me. The fact you'd also get to blow up the KKK was something which sold me as a first day buyer. So is Mafia III worth it?
The game comes with a warning label about racism.
Pretty much, yeah. It's not going to be a game which is remembered in the same league as Halo or Grand Theft Auto but I'd say it's the best in the series so far. The storytelling is excellent, the themes timely, and I liked all of the characters. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't quite perfect at launch and I think there's a lot more which needs tweaking before the game reaches its full potential.
Interestingly, a lot of my complaints are planned to be addressed in free DLC and I find myself wondering why they just didn't add these issues to begin with. Still, a patched game is better than a broken game and Mafia III is still pretty entertaining as is.
Every burgeoning crime lord needs his own CIA agent.
The premise of the game is Lincoln Clay is a Black Vietnam veteran who returns home to New Bordeaux in 1968. Raised by the Black Mob's leader, Sammie Robinson, he is recruited by the Italian Mob's leader in Sal Marcano to steal seven million dollars from the US Federal Reserve. That's about seventy million dollars in today's money, btw. Unfortunately, the Italian mafia turns out to be less than trustworthy and Lincoln's family is massacred in a double-cross. Recruiting his CIA handler and a group of Sal's enemies, Lincoln proceeds to build a new syndicate to slaughter Sal's organization and build his own criminal empire.
Lincoln Clay is going to murder some rednecks.
There's both good and bad elements to this premise. The good elements are the game making excellent use of its time period and storytelling. We get to meet Lincoln's family before the betrayal, get to know them, and actually feel a sense of loss when they're killed.
The bad elements are, for however well told it is, this is basically the premise of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the first three Saints Row games, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, and innumerable other GTA clones. Mafia III is, fundamentally, the same game about being a criminal mastermind taking over territory as has been covered many times before.
You go into a territory, raise havoc with various bases, draw out the enemy leader and then eliminate him. I'm sorry to say it doesn't quite have the same punch as Saints Row 2 and Assassins Creed: Syndicate as methods of raising havoc are less diverse. You basically always are infiltrating locations and eliminating the local hoods. The game could have been improved by adding some more Lousiana-specific oddities such as gator hunting, playing jazz music, or other mini-games. No one played Red Dead Redemption for its poker or five-finger-fillet mini-games but they added to the overall experience.
I love Lincoln's car.
The gameplay is basically a kind of mixture of Hitman and Grand Theft Auto but scaled back from both. I was pleasantly surprised to see you could sneak around a large portion of the enemies in the game and do non-lethal takedowns on many of them. Sadly, the game seems to have been designed with a much more violent Punisher-esque aesthetic as it is impossible to play the game without killing a large number of people with areas designed so you have to slaughter your way out at time. Likewise, in order to do nonlethal take downs, you have to go to the menu and change from lethal to nonlethal. It seems strange this is not an individual choice in game or the result of what weapon you have equipped.
Bizarrely, the most original element of the game is the racism mechanic. I never thought I would say that, either. Lincoln Clay attracts police attention by the very act of existing and is stalked by police when he's in rich affluent areas or when he's in "No Coloreds Allowed" stores. The police will always side with the mafia over Lincoln in engagements as well. Finally, they respond more quickly to calls made in white neighborhoods than they will in black ones. I'd say this was a mechanic going overboard but having grown up in the South, I'm going to say this is just accurate today versus an exaggeration of the Sixties.
Lots of cover-based shooting and stealth action.
The city of New Bordeaux is probably the best part of the game as it's a beautifully rendered creation with lots of buildings you can enter. There's nine districts and they're full of stores, enemy fortresses, and unique locations. It says just about everything which needs to be said that there's more interesting places to visit and explore in Mafia III than there is in Fallout 4. Just wandering around, I've seen unique drive-throughs, movie theaters, trailer parks, boating docks, shanty towns, and swamps. While not to the same level as Grand Theft Auto V, I've got to say it's up there with Grand Theft Auto IV and that's not a bad comparison. The graphics are somewhat saturated and made to look like a Seventies movie but I feel they're quite impressive. Still, the ones on computer are notably restricted to 30 frames per second and they haven't yet been patched.
Police harass mixed-race couples in-game.
The characters of Mafia III are memorable with a mixture of archetypes. Lincoln is the shell-shocked veteran on a roaring rampage of revenge (ala Mack Bolan or Frank Castle). Cassandra is the Dominican Voodoo priestess who is more show than faith. Sal Marcano is a corrupt Southern Gentleman/mafia don who is more George Wallace than Vitto Corleone. Mafia II's protagonist, Vito, is actually a recruitable lieutenant. Having survived the events of Mafia II, he's become an embittered middle-aged man who is interested in one last attempt to make it big in organized crime before he ends his life as a middle manager for the mob. Still, I wouldn't say any of the characters are going to be entering anyone's 'all time favorites' either as they're a bit too grounded and ruthless to become more than mildly endearing.
Killing these guys never gets old.
I will say that I am very pleased by the inclusion of the "Southern Union" as one of the gangs which you have to fight against. The Southern Union is the Ku Klux Klan with the numbers (barely) filed off. They burn crosses, engage in hate crimes, and hold a near-undisputed control over the politics in New Bordeaux. Again, coming from the South, it is deeply cathartic to finally be able to shoot and stab these guys. I've killed thousands of Nazis virtually and it's a shame that the Klan isn't more often used as enemies in video games as I'd like to match those numbers here. Mafia III gets a benefit of having very hate-able enemies and that's no small thing in a game with a heavy combat focus.
The game is very adjustable in its difficulty and controls, which I give 2K Games credit for. In addition to lethal or non-lethal takedowns, you can choose the responsiveness of your firearms and cars. You can even remove all of the racist language which the developers have included in order to be period authentic. Personally, I think the game may have gone to a little too many lengths in order to allow multiple play options without attending to the fact the control placement is really odd. For Xbox One players, the "Special Vision" button is the Start button, you get in cars with the X button, and you throw Molotov cocktails or grenades with the Left Button. The gameplay is somewhat awkward as a result and I think it would have been improved by sticking with the standard GTA control placement.
Driving in the game comes in "realistic" and "easy" formats.
The soundtrack for the game is fantastic and probably the best video game music collection of all time. This isn't something we can really give the game credit for, unless we give the game credit for the Sixties being an awesome time for music. "Fortunate Son", "All Along the Watchtower", "I Fought The Law", "Set Me Free", "White Rabbit", "Paint it Black", and more are the kinds of music you hear when you're driving around. I don't know how much this cost but it was an investment well worth it.
In conclusion, Mafia III is an entertaining game but I think it has some technical issues which keep it from being great. Still, I have to give an A for effort and also a B+ for its premise. The fact this game chooses to explore such a controversial period of American history is to be commended even if they do so through the well-trodden rode of a GTA clone. The soundtrack is amazing, the characters enjoyable, and the graphics...passable. This is not a must buy if you're strapped for cash but I have to say it's the first game I've played this year which failed to reach its great ambitions versus playing it safe to disappointing effect.
8.5/10
http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/2016/10/mafia-iii-review.html
I've mostly been disappointed with the Triple A game releases this year. There's been a lot of smoke and mirrors promising big and delivering little. Mafia III is a case where I had moderate expectations rather than high ones. The previous Mafia games had their ups and downs but were well known for their solid storytelling as well as atmosphere. The revelation Mafia III would have a Black protagonist, would take place in a faux New Orleans, and would involve shooting up the Italian Mafia rather than joining them intrigued me. The fact you'd also get to blow up the KKK was something which sold me as a first day buyer. So is Mafia III worth it?
The game comes with a warning label about racism.
Pretty much, yeah. It's not going to be a game which is remembered in the same league as Halo or Grand Theft Auto but I'd say it's the best in the series so far. The storytelling is excellent, the themes timely, and I liked all of the characters. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't quite perfect at launch and I think there's a lot more which needs tweaking before the game reaches its full potential.
Interestingly, a lot of my complaints are planned to be addressed in free DLC and I find myself wondering why they just didn't add these issues to begin with. Still, a patched game is better than a broken game and Mafia III is still pretty entertaining as is.
Every burgeoning crime lord needs his own CIA agent.
The premise of the game is Lincoln Clay is a Black Vietnam veteran who returns home to New Bordeaux in 1968. Raised by the Black Mob's leader, Sammie Robinson, he is recruited by the Italian Mob's leader in Sal Marcano to steal seven million dollars from the US Federal Reserve. That's about seventy million dollars in today's money, btw. Unfortunately, the Italian mafia turns out to be less than trustworthy and Lincoln's family is massacred in a double-cross. Recruiting his CIA handler and a group of Sal's enemies, Lincoln proceeds to build a new syndicate to slaughter Sal's organization and build his own criminal empire.
Lincoln Clay is going to murder some rednecks.
There's both good and bad elements to this premise. The good elements are the game making excellent use of its time period and storytelling. We get to meet Lincoln's family before the betrayal, get to know them, and actually feel a sense of loss when they're killed.
The bad elements are, for however well told it is, this is basically the premise of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the first three Saints Row games, Assassins Creed: Syndicate, and innumerable other GTA clones. Mafia III is, fundamentally, the same game about being a criminal mastermind taking over territory as has been covered many times before.
You go into a territory, raise havoc with various bases, draw out the enemy leader and then eliminate him. I'm sorry to say it doesn't quite have the same punch as Saints Row 2 and Assassins Creed: Syndicate as methods of raising havoc are less diverse. You basically always are infiltrating locations and eliminating the local hoods. The game could have been improved by adding some more Lousiana-specific oddities such as gator hunting, playing jazz music, or other mini-games. No one played Red Dead Redemption for its poker or five-finger-fillet mini-games but they added to the overall experience.
I love Lincoln's car.
The gameplay is basically a kind of mixture of Hitman and Grand Theft Auto but scaled back from both. I was pleasantly surprised to see you could sneak around a large portion of the enemies in the game and do non-lethal takedowns on many of them. Sadly, the game seems to have been designed with a much more violent Punisher-esque aesthetic as it is impossible to play the game without killing a large number of people with areas designed so you have to slaughter your way out at time. Likewise, in order to do nonlethal take downs, you have to go to the menu and change from lethal to nonlethal. It seems strange this is not an individual choice in game or the result of what weapon you have equipped.
Bizarrely, the most original element of the game is the racism mechanic. I never thought I would say that, either. Lincoln Clay attracts police attention by the very act of existing and is stalked by police when he's in rich affluent areas or when he's in "No Coloreds Allowed" stores. The police will always side with the mafia over Lincoln in engagements as well. Finally, they respond more quickly to calls made in white neighborhoods than they will in black ones. I'd say this was a mechanic going overboard but having grown up in the South, I'm going to say this is just accurate today versus an exaggeration of the Sixties.
Lots of cover-based shooting and stealth action.
The city of New Bordeaux is probably the best part of the game as it's a beautifully rendered creation with lots of buildings you can enter. There's nine districts and they're full of stores, enemy fortresses, and unique locations. It says just about everything which needs to be said that there's more interesting places to visit and explore in Mafia III than there is in Fallout 4. Just wandering around, I've seen unique drive-throughs, movie theaters, trailer parks, boating docks, shanty towns, and swamps. While not to the same level as Grand Theft Auto V, I've got to say it's up there with Grand Theft Auto IV and that's not a bad comparison. The graphics are somewhat saturated and made to look like a Seventies movie but I feel they're quite impressive. Still, the ones on computer are notably restricted to 30 frames per second and they haven't yet been patched.
Police harass mixed-race couples in-game.
The characters of Mafia III are memorable with a mixture of archetypes. Lincoln is the shell-shocked veteran on a roaring rampage of revenge (ala Mack Bolan or Frank Castle). Cassandra is the Dominican Voodoo priestess who is more show than faith. Sal Marcano is a corrupt Southern Gentleman/mafia don who is more George Wallace than Vitto Corleone. Mafia II's protagonist, Vito, is actually a recruitable lieutenant. Having survived the events of Mafia II, he's become an embittered middle-aged man who is interested in one last attempt to make it big in organized crime before he ends his life as a middle manager for the mob. Still, I wouldn't say any of the characters are going to be entering anyone's 'all time favorites' either as they're a bit too grounded and ruthless to become more than mildly endearing.
Killing these guys never gets old.
I will say that I am very pleased by the inclusion of the "Southern Union" as one of the gangs which you have to fight against. The Southern Union is the Ku Klux Klan with the numbers (barely) filed off. They burn crosses, engage in hate crimes, and hold a near-undisputed control over the politics in New Bordeaux. Again, coming from the South, it is deeply cathartic to finally be able to shoot and stab these guys. I've killed thousands of Nazis virtually and it's a shame that the Klan isn't more often used as enemies in video games as I'd like to match those numbers here. Mafia III gets a benefit of having very hate-able enemies and that's no small thing in a game with a heavy combat focus.
The game is very adjustable in its difficulty and controls, which I give 2K Games credit for. In addition to lethal or non-lethal takedowns, you can choose the responsiveness of your firearms and cars. You can even remove all of the racist language which the developers have included in order to be period authentic. Personally, I think the game may have gone to a little too many lengths in order to allow multiple play options without attending to the fact the control placement is really odd. For Xbox One players, the "Special Vision" button is the Start button, you get in cars with the X button, and you throw Molotov cocktails or grenades with the Left Button. The gameplay is somewhat awkward as a result and I think it would have been improved by sticking with the standard GTA control placement.
Driving in the game comes in "realistic" and "easy" formats.
The soundtrack for the game is fantastic and probably the best video game music collection of all time. This isn't something we can really give the game credit for, unless we give the game credit for the Sixties being an awesome time for music. "Fortunate Son", "All Along the Watchtower", "I Fought The Law", "Set Me Free", "White Rabbit", "Paint it Black", and more are the kinds of music you hear when you're driving around. I don't know how much this cost but it was an investment well worth it.
In conclusion, Mafia III is an entertaining game but I think it has some technical issues which keep it from being great. Still, I have to give an A for effort and also a B+ for its premise. The fact this game chooses to explore such a controversial period of American history is to be commended even if they do so through the well-trodden rode of a GTA clone. The soundtrack is amazing, the characters enjoyable, and the graphics...passable. This is not a must buy if you're strapped for cash but I have to say it's the first game I've played this year which failed to reach its great ambitions versus playing it safe to disappointing effect.
8.5/10
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
And coincidentally none of them are/were blacks in New Orleans.
The point is no one fucking thinks random Haitian gangs when they think "Mafia". They think slick Sicilians sayin "fugget about it" and doing Goodfellas and Godfather shit and that's what the series always was. Not a story about a poor oppressed black man fighting da ebul honkies. Literally no point in attaching it to the Mafia franchise but brand recognition and to force their political agenda into it.
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
You could, however, do the Russian mob. I think that'd be an interesting twist. Also, this is actually an interesting period in mob history as this is when the Italian mob fell from power and the birth of the modern criminal organization (exemplified by the Black gang) was born.
Speaking as someone who is playing the game....this is much much dumber.
At least it'd be about an actual mob.
And isn't it great that instead of seeing it from the perspective of the Mafia we instead have a random thug in a story that wants to whinge about racism more than explore that subject. How great would it be to bring Vito back who got to see the Mob at it's height and who we've explored that world with already in Mafia II and then see the eventual decline of the Mafia alongside him just as we saw the quintessential "rise of the Mafioso" with him in the last game. With Vito theres attachment to a likable character due to the last game, theres an interesting perspective of someone whose been in the Mob for a while and seen what it used to be in comparison to how far it's fallen and would give more respectable closure to his story than "lol he's a side character now go shoot at the KKK hey remember when this series was about the Mafia?".
What did he mean by this?
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Yeah, the mob of the game is completely unrelated to what was actually going on in this time period nor does Lincoln Clay's multi-ethnic gang of stereotypes and weirdos bear any relevance to the Crips, Bloods, or other organized syndicates which arose during this time period. Sal Marcano's mafia is an Italian American gang which somehow controls the entirety of organized crime in New Orleans despite not being remotely plugged into the power structure of that region in RL.
He's basically a supervillain like Blofeld.
You may have missed the part where I'm not unambiguous in my support of the game. Mafia III purports to be a game about the Civil Rights Era, racism, and deep heavy topics but it handles these topics with the sensitivity of Shaft crossed with the Punisher.
Lincoln Clay is about as believable a character as the Boss from Saints Row, assembling a Irish mobster, a Carribean Voodoo Queen, and an Italian mobster in a gang only slightly more believable than the Stillwater crew. You murder hundreds of criminals, cops, and Klansmen in increasingly overthetop ways while pretending at historical relevance.
I feel the game is a tad bit schizophrenic as a result.
I dunno maybe it's just me but 8.5 is a pretty amazing score for a game that supposedly failed to effectively do what it set out to do.
CT Phipps
Carbon Dated and Proud
Well, it's still a fun pretty game which is sntertaining to explore. Which is what I hope the developers intended to make versus a game which serves an examination of the real world. As it, ironically, comes off more like a blackspoitation film from the Seventies.
Last edited:
Dr Fallout
Centurion
Why don't we make a game where we're a Jewish gangster (cough Banker) going around killing and robbing the evil Jew hating scum of Germany while trying to make a gang including a Russian Communist, French Stripper, Italian Fascist and a Polish ex-soldier.
10/10 IGN.
10/10 IGN.
RangerBoo
Resident Schizo Poster
Its almost like game devs of AAA studios are more concerned with shoving their politics and messages down gamers throats instead of letting gamers have, oh whats that word, fun.
Also I wish devs will stop locking their fps at 30 for fuck sakes!
Also I wish devs will stop locking their fps at 30 for fuck sakes!
Well I wish institutionalized racism and internalized capitalism wasn't reinforcing the patriarchal oppression of POC you fucking CIS shit.
RangerBoo
Resident Schizo Poster
Hey! I am a women so I am automatically a victim of the evil white patriarchy and a member of the oppressed! Check your privilege shitlord!
Oh yea well I'm fucking trans-disabled. You'll never know the pain of being able to walk with two perfectly healthy legs you don't want!
Also
>I am a woman
>implying genders exist
You're a part of the problem
RangerBoo
Resident Schizo Poster
I actually find that to be fucking amazing! These idiots go around saying how oppressed they are as women living in the West then the next minute they're coming up with this non-binary crap and whatever. It reeks of attention whoring.
Anyway, back to why Mafia 3 is a buggy mess and why devs need to stop releasing games that are broken on launch!
D
Deleted member 98605
Guest
Mafia I was good but restrained by tech.
Mafia II was good but restrained by rushed development.
Mafia III looks good but is now restrained by gameyness? In a way? Too arcadey?
But otherwise it seems pretty dosh.
Mafia II was good but restrained by rushed development.
Mafia III looks good but is now restrained by gameyness? In a way? Too arcadey?
But otherwise it seems pretty dosh.
It's an "oppression" arms race. It's not enough to just be a Woman! You gotta be gay or lesbian! It's not enough to be a gay or a lesbian you have to be a minority! It's not enough to be a minority you have to be a transgender lesbian black woman with polio!
It's honestly amazing how "waiting for the first week patch to make the game playable" has pretty much become a norm. We went from games being loaded with bonus content for free day 1 to not even having the basic functions work on day 1.
Dr Fallout
Centurion
Hmm no... there was a famous American president with polio... he's too white and cisgender... polio is out!