Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsThree Glee
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2017
Fans of Grand Theft Auto will loudly applaud this third installment of the Mafia game series.
I have been playing the title for just a few hours now, but I am totally loving it.
The year is 1968, and you play as Lincoln Clay, a bad-ass Vietnam Vet back from the war to take control of the underworld in the New Orleans-styled city New Bourdeaux while you avenge the death of your beloved godfather.
Basically this game is like an adult GTA with superb period mise-en-scene and a killer soundtrack.
The truth is, MIII has probably the best selection of tunes I’ve ever heard in a video game, but then, the late sixties were an especially rich period in rock music.
So far, I’ve heard Creedence, Hendrix, Aretha, James Brown, Janis, the Airplane, Otis, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, the Stones, Steppenwolf, the Beach Boys, and many more coming over my car’s radio – sorry, hip hop fans, but THIS is what great music sounds like! And then there's a vintage blues station offering much more listening pleasure as well...
The game also features excellent dialog and voice-acting, plus very cinematic cut scenes.
The game play includes a good blend of stealth and assault-type combat. Typically you start a mission in stealth mode and then switch to blasting when your cover is blown. The missions include killings, sabotage, spying, intimidation -- a full range of heinous activities!
So far, the checkpoints seem well placed so you don’t have to regress too far back through the story when you die in an especially violent encounter.
Short of Nazis, there are few villains I find more enjoyable to put down than the racist redneck crackers on display here.
There are some subtleties of strategy I haven’t needed to mess with yet, involving slicing the pie among your lieutenants so they remain allies and not rivals. I hope this empire-building doesn’t become too onerous; I just like driving around the city and completing missions!
You can collect various oddities including old Playboy issues and Vargas portraits. You also need fuses to help you tap into telephone junction boxes that give you more intel on neighborhoods of interest – and their inhabitants.
I’ll report back if my opinion of Mafia III changes, but at this time, I think this is probably the best game I’ve played on the PS4 after Uncharted 4 and Just Cause 3. Laissez les bon temps roulez, y’all!
UPDATE: Well, I have racked up plenty of hours playing this title now, and my opinion holds: if you like Grand Theft Auto, you will LOVE this game. I have also found that you would do well to pay careful attention to control prompts at the bottom of the screen. Push the square button while you're looking at the map, for example, to get a handy readout of available story and optional missions. Push the right arrow when you are asked to assign a racket to one of your lieutenants, and see what additional perks assignment to each lieutenant will give you, which helps you decide. I also found that you don't have to stop for the frequent red lights and stop signs -- the police on patrol don't seem to pay any attention to your bad driving habits. And MIII is a LONG game -- I have now been playing for hours and hours and still I'm only fifteen percent through! As I said, I rank this game right up there with Uncharted 4 and Just Cause 3 as my favorite PS4 titles to date. HIGHLY recommended!!!
UPDATE NUMBER TWO: well, I finished the game some weeks ago -- IMO, it was excellent from start to finish -- and I also got the Season Pass of DLC. The first batch of DLC was terrific, featuring a new section of New Bourdeaux to explore, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the second batch that just came out. MIII is one game that really keeps giving (well, for a price anyway!) I hope the DLC keeps coming too...
