Mafia III is a very intriguing game. On one hand, it is an incredible tale about revenge and the criminal underworld filled with amazing characters and awesome story moments. On the other, it's an overly bloated game that is a slog to get through that makes you wonder if it's worth completing.
When the game decides to move the plot along, this is easily the best story in the series to date. Lincoln had his entire family killed by a figurehead of the Italian mafia, so it's up to him to avenge them. Everything about it was amazing and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
The characters in this game were amazing as well. By the end of this, Lincoln ended up being my favorite protagonist in the series. I especially loved him and his friendship with Donovan. The two had great chemistry together and I would love to see more of them. The rest of the cast was great in their own right, but those two stood out to me the most.
Once again, this series continues to nail the aesthetic of the time period it takes place. This game takes place in 1960s America, a very hectic time to say the least. They nailed the look, the sound, the atmosphere, and of course the music during that time.
The world map is once again great. Past entries have taken place in locations inspired by Chicago and New York City. This time, the city's inspiration was New Orleans. Driving around the city was fun and I enjoyed seeing all the different locations on the map.
The gameplay was okay at best. The guns handled fine and driving felt good. The melee combat system was nothing amazing, but it played well enough. It's nothing too noteworthy.
After reading all that praise, one would wonder why I gave this game such a low score. One word: racketeers. To progress through the story, the player must complete these missions. There are two located in every district and you must complete all of them. But what are these racketeer missions and why are they so bad?
After talking to someone at a specific location, Lincoln must go around town taking away a certain amount of money in order to draw out a mob boss to kill them. There are multiple ways to do this: killing someone, stealing money, damaging property, etc. This seems like a fine idea on paper, but the execution was horrible for multiple reasons.
The main reason why these missions are unbearable is that they take way too long. As mentioned before, there are a variety of ways to complete the mission, however, the locations are so spread out. You could be at the farthest end of the city and have to drive to another section entirely. Not only that, some locations are locked behind an informant Lincoln must interrogate to continue with the mission. After you reach the goal, you must head back to your contact and they tell you that the mob boss is in panic mode and gives you their location. The catch is, there is a chance that their location could be a place you just left so that means you have to drive right back to it. That is a complete waste of time.
It's because of the lengths of these missions I started sending mob squads in before me to wipe out most of the enemies. Is it cheating? Yes. Do I care? No. At that point, I was done messing with those missions and wanted to move on with the game.
Another reason why the racketeer missions aren't the best is their inconsistent difficulty. Some of them are fairly simple to complete. You'll barely run into any problems. Other times they are very difficult. There is no in-between.
I didn't bother with DLC for this game. As I said, I reached a point where I just wanted to finish the game and move on. Maybe someday I'll go back to finish it.
It's a shame this game had to be bogged down by racketeer missions. Underneath it is a great game that has some of the best writing in the series to date. Instead, it's a chore to get through and a relief when you finally do manage to finish it.
When the game decides to move the plot along, this is easily the best story in the series to date. Lincoln had his entire family killed by a figurehead of the Italian mafia, so it's up to him to avenge them. Everything about it was amazing and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
The characters in this game were amazing as well. By the end of this, Lincoln ended up being my favorite protagonist in the series. I especially loved him and his friendship with Donovan. The two had great chemistry together and I would love to see more of them. The rest of the cast was great in their own right, but those two stood out to me the most.
Once again, this series continues to nail the aesthetic of the time period it takes place. This game takes place in 1960s America, a very hectic time to say the least. They nailed the look, the sound, the atmosphere, and of course the music during that time.
The world map is once again great. Past entries have taken place in locations inspired by Chicago and New York City. This time, the city's inspiration was New Orleans. Driving around the city was fun and I enjoyed seeing all the different locations on the map.
The gameplay was okay at best. The guns handled fine and driving felt good. The melee combat system was nothing amazing, but it played well enough. It's nothing too noteworthy.
After reading all that praise, one would wonder why I gave this game such a low score. One word: racketeers. To progress through the story, the player must complete these missions. There are two located in every district and you must complete all of them. But what are these racketeer missions and why are they so bad?
After talking to someone at a specific location, Lincoln must go around town taking away a certain amount of money in order to draw out a mob boss to kill them. There are multiple ways to do this: killing someone, stealing money, damaging property, etc. This seems like a fine idea on paper, but the execution was horrible for multiple reasons.
The main reason why these missions are unbearable is that they take way too long. As mentioned before, there are a variety of ways to complete the mission, however, the locations are so spread out. You could be at the farthest end of the city and have to drive to another section entirely. Not only that, some locations are locked behind an informant Lincoln must interrogate to continue with the mission. After you reach the goal, you must head back to your contact and they tell you that the mob boss is in panic mode and gives you their location. The catch is, there is a chance that their location could be a place you just left so that means you have to drive right back to it. That is a complete waste of time.
It's because of the lengths of these missions I started sending mob squads in before me to wipe out most of the enemies. Is it cheating? Yes. Do I care? No. At that point, I was done messing with those missions and wanted to move on with the game.
Another reason why the racketeer missions aren't the best is their inconsistent difficulty. Some of them are fairly simple to complete. You'll barely run into any problems. Other times they are very difficult. There is no in-between.
I didn't bother with DLC for this game. As I said, I reached a point where I just wanted to finish the game and move on. Maybe someday I'll go back to finish it.
It's a shame this game had to be bogged down by racketeer missions. Underneath it is a great game that has some of the best writing in the series to date. Instead, it's a chore to get through and a relief when you finally do manage to finish it.