The ’60s era open world crime drama from Hanger 13.
New Bordeaux, 1968.
We’re deep within the bayou, way beyond city limits. Lincoln Clay sits around a table with some of the most formidable figures in the criminal underworld. The unlikely allies have come together with a common goal: to take out Sal Marcano and seize his hold on New Bordeaux.
The others are driven by varied agendas, but for Clay it’s a whole lot more personal…
If you were given the synopsis of Mafia III’s story separate from the game, it would very much read like a tale of revenge of a kind that’s been told time-and-time again. Though we might be retreading all-too-familiar terrain, it’s an incredible sense of style that elevates things here and makes for something pretty damn unique — it all comes down to how it is framed.
From the moment the opening cutscene begins, we’re introduced to the game’s ‘documentary’ format. The story is told through archived news footage and present day interviews, detailing Clay’s actions in New Bordeaux like it was the stuff of history. This unconventional storytelling hook creates a sense of texture and personality that sets Mafia III apart from its genre peers.
The ‘documentary’ framing device cleverly gives you insight into the aftermath of Clay’s actions, while also being used to ominously foreshadow things that our protagonist hasn’t experienced yet. It was all kinds of cool to meet characters in-game, only to have their older incarnations show up in the present day interviews recounting their perspective of things.
Mafia III knows that a little style goes a long way — that’s not just on the story front, either.
Open world video games routinely draw on the same inspirations over-and-over again. We’ve had so many recreations of New York City or Los Angeles that the sights and sounds have started to feel overly familiar — it’s safe to say we’ve moseyed through these streets before. From time-to-time a game will take us somewhere new and there’s a kind of magic to that…
I remember the feeling of awe while playing 2012′s Sleeping Dogs for the first time. We were introduced to a beautifully realised take on Hong Kong — a city that felt sprawling, full of life, and incredibly distinct from our usual stomping grounds. It truly felt like we hadn’t been here before and that made you want to take in all the detail and get immersed in the surrounds.
It wasn’t just the change of scenery, either — new settings tend to offer new opportunities…
One of my first gaming loves was Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, a point-and-click adventure game released by Sierra. It was set in New Orleans and I fell in love with the atmosphere and culture of the place. It seemed completely different from anywhere else and I was captivated, as I puzzled my way through the game’s intriguing mystery.
Games have taken us back to New Orleans since, but it’s a location with so much untapped potential…
It just so happens that Mafia III is set New Bordeaux, a stylised take on New Orleans.
New Bordeaux is a thing of beauty, offering a stunning interpretation of the city…
That feeling of exploring somewhere new that I mused on before? Definitely applies here!
All the districts have their own look and feel. Although the world isn’t state of the art visually, the game makes up for it in the attention to detail and personality of the surrounds.
The bayou felt mysterious and wild, with alligators routinely popping their heads out of the murky waters. The French Ward felt like the city’s heart, with beautiful architecture scattered about in all directions. It takes a long time before it feels like you’ve seen everything here.
New Bordeaux felt like a living, breathing world — something that is always good to see in an open world you’re going to spend so much time in. Mafia III makes the most of its setting, with everything from Mardi Gras to voodoo history explored in some capacity.
Establishing a sense of time and place is something the game does very well, too…
While exploring New Bordeaux, I got definite L.A. Noire vibes. Believe me when I say that’s most definitely a compliment, friend. That was a game that recreated an authentic 1940s era Los Angeles with an expert precision and still ranks among the best open worlds I’ve ever experienced. Mafia III does the same, but for New Orleans and the 1960s time frame.
There’s just something so damn captivating about exploring a world from a different era. It was the vintage cars driving through the streets, it was the incredible soundtrack blasting over the in-game radio, it was the way they mixed fiction with reality — giving us snippets of actual news from that era during news breaks that made the setting feel very real.
This is not an idealised version of the ’60s, either. This is a game that puts you in the shoes of a person of colour in an incredibly volatile era. Racism is very real in this world and this is not something the developers treat lightly. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided put us in the shoes of the discriminated in a science fiction future, but seeing it in our history is even more confronting.
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It would have been tempting for the game to brush over this stuff, but I feel like addressing it and giving even just a tiny insight into experiences that may not be my own is powerful stuff.
Empire Bay — the open world of the previous instalment of the series — is remembered fondly for being incredibly detailed and beautifully designed. It was not without its flaws, though…
The primary criticism all came down to the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot to do here outside of the story missions and you couldn’t really interact with the world in any meaningful way. There were no side quests to entertain you. The general consensus was that the game didn’t utilise the open world to its full potential — at least compared to games like Grand Theft Auto.
A lack of things to do isn’t a problem in the sequel — if any thing, you get the sense that they over compensated dramatically. There’s so much to do in New Bordeaux, the problem is in the repetition — it doesn’t take long before you realise you’re going through the motions and doing the same objectives over-and-over again. The game’s formula makes itself known very quickly.
The troubling part is a lot of this stuff isn’t optional. There’s no avoiding the grind, even if you can tackle these missions in any order. It’s pretty much the opposite problem of Mafia II…
Clay’s primary mission in Mafia III is to destabilise Sal Marcano’s operations in the New Bordeaux districts, one-by-one. To accomplish this, we gather intel on the various rackets scattered about, cause enough damage to get the attention of the underbosses, and then take them out. After gaining control of the territory we assign one of our allies to run it.
We’ve got to be careful managing the fragile relationships with our allies. People won’t be happy if we neglect them by not assigning territory. There will be very real consequences, too.
The whole controlling territory aspect of the game is incredibly cool. As our allies get more territory, they can help us out in new ways. We might gain the ability to shut down phone lines to prevent people from calling in back up or reporting criminal activity to the police. We might gain the ability to get vehicles delivered to our locations. It’s a nice sense of progression.
The problem is that the leg work to destabilise the rackets in all the districts plays very similarly. There’s not a whole lot of difference between destroying crates of guns to destroying drug shipments. It’s something we’re asked to do constantly over the course of the game. While the basic gameplay is fun, Mafia III would have benefited from more variety.
Once you get through the grind, there’s some nice payoff that keeps you pressing on…
The payoff is in what happens when you’re finally ready to take control of a district proper. This is when the game is at its best and you’re taking on more elaborate missions that play like the action packed story set pieces of the previous instalment in the series. After the busy work of destabilising rackets, they’re pretty much Mafia III’s equivalent of boss fights.
All my favourite moments were here, like being tasked to intercept and board a river boat or infiltrating the flooded remains of an abandoned amusement park. This was not just filler.
While Mafia III doesn’t really respect your time, I still had a whole lot of fun with it…
Full disclosure, I was playing the game when I was feeling a bit sick and down. I kind of enjoyed getting lost in the grind, even though I could see this would bother me in other circumstances. I liked the distraction. The game reminded me of Mad Max on that front. Despite the glaring flaws in these games, there’s still a whole lot of fun to be found in them.
It’s funny, because I usually prefer a shorter game with more meaningful gameplay…
It shows that frame of mind can go a long way in influencing whether you’ll like something.
The game itself controls pretty damn intuitively. The combat and driving initially felt a bit clunky to me, but I got used to it very quickly and had no real problems on this front.
Mafia III sort of railroads Clay into being a certain kind of character, unfortunately…
While you’re given the ability to play stealthily, you’re never really given the choice to play non-lethally. Maybe it’s because I’ve just come off playing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but I felt there was a missed opportunity here. Even though I made a concerted effort to take out enemies with melee take downs and the like, the end result was the same as shooting them.
Maybe I’m just a delicate flower, but I’m not a fan of violence for violence sake. It’s not lost on me that I’m playing a criminal underworld drama. They’re not exactly conducive to problem solving through group hugs, huh? Too bad, I feel a good hug could defuse some of the angst!
You do have choices on other fronts, though. There are three possible endings to Clay’s story.
There’s a lot to love about Mafia III. While it’s not quite the perfect game, it’s far from a bad one. Come for the beautiful open world, stay for the style and amazing soundtrack.
Written by Dan Clarke. October 27, 2016.
Originally published at dcpresents.tumblr.com.
