Mafia III follows on the heels of Mafia II’s success. Gamers have been anticipating Mafia III’s release for a while now. Erik with The Gamers Lounge has taken the time to play the game and is happy to report that, despite its flaws, the overall game has some appeal.

Mafia II was a fantastic game that I enjoyed a few years after its release. I played a demo of Mafia I back in the day for the PC. I enjoyed the 40s gangster feel to Mafia II. Mafia III takes place in the 60s and stars Lincoln Clay, a war vet who has come back to claim New Bordeaux from a rival gangster family. The story is well flushed out with a lot of background information told from several people who were involved in this fictional world.

The game is open world, but it doesn't feel like GTA or Saints Row. I feel as if the city isn't as interactive as other games in the genre. The combat is great, both the melee and gunplay work well. Most of the combat is duck and cover or sneak around and utilize brutal melee attacks. The death animations and attacking animations are well done. Speaking of combat, Lincoln can carry two weapons at once, I preferred a rifle or a shotgun and some sort of pistol.

Driving is a must in the Mafia series and this is similar to the previous games. 2K tries to make the driving feel realistic as it can. One things I noticed is that it can be hard to shake police presence, the police seem pretty alert in this world. My only problem with driving is that there isn't an option for fast travel, and picking up cash from drops and going from place to place can be time consuming. That might be my biggest complaint. Another outstanding element of the game is the audio work, the sounds of the world and the voice work really help draw gamers into the game.

The missions are fun but can get stale as they feel very repetitive. Here is an example that happens again and again, do to a district, start to disrupt the operation, battle enforcers to get the big gun to come out, kill or force the big gun to join your side, and collect money. Rinse and repeat with some pick up missions that have gamers driving across town and a few other things thrown in. There is a limited upgrade system for weapons, abilities and a few other things. Lincoln does acquire some skills to to help with some of the more mundane tasks such as silencing police calls, picking up cash, and providing help in combat. The amount of collectibles in the world is staggering and porcvies a welcome distraction.

2K games has done a decent job. I just wish there were a few more tweaks to this game based on other games in the genre. Where is the multiplayer? There are also plenty of bugs. I saw floating cars, got stuck in some missions when people didn't show up or died. If you are a fan of games in the series, I can recommend it. If you are looking for a open world game with an interesting story, this has it. If you are looking for a game like GTA V or Sleeping Dogs, you may want to look somewhere else. Mafia III is $60 on Amazon but I bet it will come down to $40 around Black Friday, Mafia II is also worth a playthrough and it's under $15 most places.

Final score 3.75/5

Mafia III Review