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Mafia III

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Mafia III
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)2K Games
Director(s)Haden Blackman
Designer(s)Matthias Worch
Writer(s)Bill Harms
Composer(s)
  • Jesse Harlin
  • Jim Bonney
SeriesMafia
Platform(s)
ReleaseOctober 7, 2016
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Mafia III is an action-adventure video game developed by Hangar 13 and published by 2K Games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It is the third installment in the Mafia series, and the debut title for Hangar 13. Set in 1968 in the city of New Bordeaux, a fictional recreation of New Orleans, the story revolves around Lincoln Clay, an orphan and a Vietnam War veteran, who is on a quest to build a new crime organization to confront the Italian mob. The game was released on October 7, 2016.

Gameplay

Player character in combat

Mafia III is an action-adventure video game played in a third-person perspective, in which players assume control of Lincoln Clay, a Vietnam War veteran on a quest to seek revenge for his friends, who are murdered by local mobs. The game is set in 1968 New Bordeaux, a reimagined version of New Orleans, with the open world being larger than the Mafia and Mafia II maps combined. Mafia III's map is made up of ten districts: Bayou Fantom, Delray Hollow, Barclay Mills, Frisco Fields, Pointe Verdun, Tickfaw Harbour, Southdowns, River Row, Downtown, and the French Ward. Players can complete objectives using a variety of approaches. For example, players can use the weapons provided in the game, like shotguns and revolvers, to eliminate enemies, or even to call up for assists or some "Italian Muscle," a few able guys to edge out the enemies, before or during the gun fight. Alternatively, they can make use of stealth tactics throughout the entire mission without being noticed by enemies. The core gameplay revolves around gunplay. In addition, players can also perform executing moves and engage in melee-combat. The game also features a cover system, allowing players to take cover behind objects to avoid enemy gunfire and some detection.[3] Players can also interrogate non-playable characters after defeating them in order to gain more information on their objectives, like scaring them while driving a car.[4] Players can attack and overrun locations owned by the Italian mob, and assign one of their lieutenants to operate around the local area.[5] The game allows players to drive cars from the era with realistic drive mechanics and sounds.[6]

Plot

Mafia III is set in the year 1968, and revolves around Lincoln Clay, a black biracial orphan that was adopted by black mobsters and later served in the Vietnam War as a special forces soldier. After being discharged, he returns to New Bordeaux and reunites with his friends in the black mob, led by his surrogate father Sammy Robinson. However, an ongoing turf war between Sammy's gang and a rival Haitian gang has put him in debt with Sal Marcano, the Don of the Marcano crime family. Lincoln meets with Sal, who insinuates that Sammy is no longer fit to rule the black mob and suggests Lincoln take his place. However, Lincoln refuses, and to pay back the debt he works with Sal's son Giorgi to rob the Louisiana Federal Reserve. The heist is successful, but Sal betrays the black mob and has Sammy and all of Lincoln's friends killed. Lincoln himself is shot in the head and left for dead. Father James, one of Lincoln's close friends, rescues Lincoln and nurses him back to health. As he recovers, Lincoln calls for the assistance of John Donovan, his CIA handler in Vietnam. Donovan agrees to use his resources and expertise to spy on the Marcanos while Lincoln vows to destroy the Marcano family and seize control of New Bordeaux himself.

Lincoln then begins looking for allies in his war against the Marcano family, recruiting three underbosses: Thomas Burke, the boss of the Irish mob whose son Danny was part of the Federal Reserve heist crew and killed during the betrayal, Cassandra, the boss of the Haitian gang (whose previous boss was, ironically, killed by Lincoln himself) and Vito Scaletta, exiled from Empire Bay following the events of Mafia II and a Marcano lieutenant that had fallen out of Sal's favor. After freeing their respective districts from Marcano's control, he brings them together and tells him his plan: they will systematically eliminate the Marcanos from the ground up, as well as thwart Sal's plan to retire from organized crime through the construction of a casino. Meanwhile, the underbosses will hold and run the districts Lincoln seizes, contributing money and benefits to him. With that, Lincoln begins dismantling the Marcano family's organization. As he does so, Lincoln has the option of providing additional assistance to his underbosses to increase their loyalty. Conversely, depending on his choices, Lincoln may cause his underbosses to betray him if he withholds too many districts from them, forcing him to kill them.

After killing Marcano's lieutenants, Lincoln then assassinates Sal's family members as well as influential city political figures with stakes in the casino. With his crime empire shattered and his dream of a casino ruined, Sal and Giorgi decide to make one last stand at the casino's construction site. Lincoln follows them and kills Giorgi before confronting Sal, who laments that he wanted to set up the casino so that he could escape his life of crime and hopefully spare Giorgi from an inevitable early death. He then allows Lincoln to kill him, or kills himself if Lincoln chooses not to, wryly pointing out that the both of them are not so different.

As Lincoln leaves the casino, he is confronted by an elderly Leo Galante, representing the Commission. Lincoln assures Leo that his feud was only with the Marcanos and that it ended with Sal's death. Satisfied, Leo allows Lincoln to live and keep New Bordeaux under the condition that he send 20% of his earnings to the Commission, as Sal had previously done. Lincoln agrees and returns to Donovan and Father James. Father James pleads with Lincoln to walk away from New Bordeaux and leave behind his life of crime, while Donovan advises that if Lincoln wants to seize power, he must kill all his underbosses to prevent them from betraying him. Lincoln is given three choices: leave New Bordeaux, rule New Bordeaux with his underbosses, or rule New Bordeaux alone.

If Lincoln leaves New Bordeaux, he effectively disappears from public life, only occasionally sending postcards to Father James from various parts of the world. One of Lincoln's underbosses will then seize control of the city. If Lincoln rules New Bordeaux with his underbosses, he expands his criminal empire across the entire Southern United States and becomes a well known philanthropist. However, those close to him openly despise what he has become. If Lincoln chooses to rule New Bordeaux alone, he kills his underbosses, but is then summarily killed by a car bomb planted by a remorseful Father James.

In a post credits scene, Donovan is brought before a Senate committee to answer for his role in Lincoln's rise to power. Donovan explains that he helped Lincoln because he uncovered evidence that Sal was one of the conspirators responsible for the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and that he had only agreed to meet the Senate because one of the senators presiding over the hearing was also implicated as a conspirator in Sal's files. Donovan then kills the senator with a concealed silenced pistol and declares that he will track down everybody else responsible for President Kennedy's death.

Development

The game was first rumored in August 2011.[7] In November 2012, 2K Czech, the developer of the original Mafia and Mafia II, announced that the company was working on a "top secret, AAA game".[8] However, the company was later restructured on January 10, 2014, and the main studio in Prague was shuttered,[9] with resources being allocated to a new headquarters in Novato, California.[10] A new studio called Hangar 13 was established by 2K Games in Novato in the same year. Headed by Haden Blackman, who had previously worked with LucasArts, the studio was said to be working on a new project.[11]

The game was officially teased by 2K on July 28, 2015,[12] and was formally revealed at Gamescom 2015 with a cinematic trailer. Mafia III released on October 7, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.[13][14]

Hangar 13 and 2K Games wanted to stay true to the quality that many users expected over the previous games. The game uses the graphics software Simplygon.[15] The development team were interested in creating a world based on New Orleans, and eventually decided on setting the game in 1968. The team used a collection of old photographs to recreate the world. Various alterations to the world were made to suit the narrative: the bayou and the city have been positioned at close proximity, despite being at a further distance in real Louisiana; the Superdome stadium was being constructed in 1968, but is excluded from the game. The team intended the world to be accessible for high-speed chases. The team also wanted to move away from the stereotypical Italian mafia scene and represent a different side of gang-related crime scenarios.[16] Another aspect of setting a special tone and atmosphere in the game has been the choice of licensed music. Haden Blackman indicated that Mafia III will include a "ton of great music" from the sixties.[17]

American rapper Ice Cube collaborated with producer DJ Shadow to create the song "Nobody Wants to Die" for the game's promotion.[18]

Release

Frame rate limitations

On release, it was discovered that the PC version was locked to 30 FPS; a patch to unlock the frame rate cap and address other issues ingame has since been released by Hangar 13 and 2K.[19][20]

Deluxe Edition PC version controversy

After the game has been released, there was a controversy about the PC physical version of Mafia III Deluxe Edition when some customers from local and online retailers complained that they received their copies of the game incomplete without the manual that contained the Steam activation key.[21] 2K Games is currently silent on this issue but they have asked affected customers to provide a picture of their support ticket number written on the receipt taken from the point of purchase or the digital invoice and support ticket numbers written on a piece of paper if the game is bought from a online retailer to receive the missing activation key.

Tie in mobile game

A mobile game entitled Mafia III Rivals was also released to tie in with the main game, developed by Cat Daddy Games for Android and iOS. Unlike its console and personal computer counterparts, Rivals is presented as a role-playing game with turn-based combat mechanics, and does not offer an open world map.[22]

Reception

Mafia III received "mixed to positive reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[23][24][25] Critics praised the story, characters and darker themes, while criticizing the gameplay, with most calling it functional at best, the empty open world, visuals and for numerous in game bugs and glitches.

Alex Donaldson of VG247 gave the game a mixed review, writing, "Mafia 3 features one of my [favorite] video game stories of the year, some gorgeous presentation, an amazing soundtrack and an interesting world. Sadly it also has by-the-numbers mission design and dubious performance."[34] In his 2/5 star review, Sam White of The Guardian wrote, "To say Mafia III is a disappointment is an understatement. It has all of the surface components to form a great game: the writing and acting are superb, its direction and style are great, but its mechanical underpinnings are archaic and desperately unimaginative."[35]

Marty Sliva for IGN gave the game a score of 7.5 out of 10, summarizing his review with: "Mafia 3’s strong characters and confident storytelling kept me engaged, even if the gameplay rarely delivered anything but bog-standard and repetitive open-world action. That’s a bummer, because Lincoln is an incredible protagonist and New Bordeaux is a fantastic setting thematically, and it would’ve been great to see them put to better use."[31] Brian Mazique of Forbes gave the game an 8.1/10, saying, "This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you love a good character study and aren’t in search of gameplay mechanics that break new ground in innovation and control, this is one you should own."[36]

References

Notes
  1. ^ Additional work by Blind Squirrel Games, and Mass Media Games[2]
Footnotes
  1. ^ "Mafia III Credits". www.2k.com. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
  2. ^ Hanson, Ben (September 14, 2016). "Who The Hell Is Mafia III Developer Hangar 13?". Game Informer. Retrieved May 8, 2016.
  3. ^ Hartup, Andy (August 5, 2015). "Mafia 3 – a heady mix of violence, '60s rock, and feeding foes to the 'gators". GamesRadar. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  4. ^ Cork, Jeff (August 5, 2015). "A Blow-By-Blow Look At Mafia III's Deadly Take On New Orleans". Game Informer. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  5. ^ Brown, Peter (August 5, 2015). "Mafia 3 Tackles Racism and the Vietnam War in 1960's New Orleans". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  6. ^ "Mafia 3 Driving Mechanics: Is It Fun?". www.thebitbag.com. Retrieved 2016-09-26.
  7. ^ Cook, Dave (November 1, 2012). "Mafia 3: 2K Czech hiring for new 'top secret, super interesting' triple-a title". VG247. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  8. ^ Makuch, Eddie (November 1, 2012). "Mafia studio hiring for top secret, AAA game". GameSpot. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  9. ^ Purchese, Robert (January 10, 2014). "2K Czech restructuring, Mafia 3 moving to US?". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  10. ^ Pereira, Chris (January 10, 2014). "Mafia 2 Dev 2K Czech Restructured, Sending Resources To U.S." IGN. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  11. ^ Carter, Chris (December 4, 2014). "2K announces new studio Hangar 13, working on a new game". Destructoid. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  12. ^ Futter, Mike (July 28, 2015). "First Mafia III Trailer Coming August 5". Game Informer. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  13. ^ Molina, Ric (October 7, 2015). "Mafia 3's Mac version confirmed". Mac Gamer HQ. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  14. ^ Makuch, Eddie (April 19, 2016). "Mafia 3 Release Date Announced, New Trailer and Deluxe Versions Revealed". GameSpot. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  15. ^ "Mafia 3 & Battleborn Are Use Simplygon". Mafia Game. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  16. ^ Reeves, Ben (October 9, 2015). "Building The Big Easy: How Hangar 13 Reconstructed New Orleans For Mafia III". Game Informer. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
  17. ^ Morgan, Dave (April 25, 2016). "Mafia 3 Developer Discusses Game Details". WholesGame. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  18. ^ Parisi, Paula (October 6, 2016). "Ice Cube Goes 'Real Old-School' for 'Mafia III' Original Song 'Nobody Wants to Die'". Billboard. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
  19. ^ Makuch, Eddie (8 October 2016). "New Mafia 3 PC Patch Adds 60 FPS and Unlimited FPS Options". GameSpot. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  20. ^ "A message to our PC players". Take-Two Interactive. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  21. ^ Alexandra, Heather (10 October 2016). "Some Mafia III Deluxe Editions Went Out Without Activation Keys". Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  22. ^ Davenport, Corbin (7 October 2016). "Mafia III: Rivals now available for Android, met with mixed reviews". Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  23. ^ a b "Mafia III for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  24. ^ a b "Mafia III for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  25. ^ a b "Mafia III for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  26. ^ Carsillo, Ray (October 13, 2016). "Mafia III review". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  27. ^ Reiner, Andrew (October 12, 2016). "An Offer Worth Refusing - Mafia III - Xbox One". Game Informer. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  28. ^ R, Jamal (October 13, 2016). "Mafia III Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  29. ^ Butterworth, Scott (October 12, 2016). "Mafia III Review". GameSpot. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
  30. ^ Houghton, David (October 14, 2016). "Mafia 3 review: 'Intelligent storytelling and a sumptuous world, undeserved by inconsistency and repetition'". GamesRadar. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  31. ^ a b Sliva, Marty (October 10, 2016). "Mafia 3 Review". IGN. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  32. ^ Kelly, Andy (October 11, 2016). "Mafia 3 review". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  33. ^ Kollar, Philip (October 14, 2016). "Mafia 3 review". Polygon. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
  34. ^ Donaldson, Alex (October 10, 2016). "Mafia 3 review: An amazing story and world married to uninspired mission design". VG247. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  35. ^ White, Sam (October 10, 2016). "Mafia III review: how can a super stylish 1960s shooter be this boring?". The Guardian. Retrieved October 10, 2016.
  36. ^ Mazique, Brian (October 8, 2016). "'Mafia III' Review: A Story Of Revenge, Beauty, Hate And Imperfection". Forbes. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
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