Sal Morter

Mafia 3 is set against the backdrop of 1960s New Bordeaux, a fictional city in New Orleans. The protagonist, Lincoln Clay, takes down rival criminal organisations and recruits or kills their leaders, to help develop his own criminal empire. The 60s theme is novel and immersive, but personally I feel that it had lots of potential not fully met. The game has little to no character development, opportunities for this were probably forfeited due to the very basic plot which is essentially: infiltrate criminal organisation, kill everyone, bank profits. Repeat. The vehicle handling is pretty clunky, I am not sure if this was intended to create an authentic feel for driving quintessential 1960s cars. The game offers lots of opportunities for stealth take downs which I enjoyed, but after a while this feels very repetitive. Throughout the game Lincoln bears the brunt of institutionalised racism through being barred from outlets across the map, police hostility, and slurs which are dropped into the narrative. I found it interesting to see this explored but feel that 2K may have missed a trick here by not using this opportunity to shape character development more. My verdict is that it's a good game, that could have been amazing had it included more mission variation and character development. I would recommend to anyone who likes shooter games but isn't too interested in an intricate story line. Pros: - Phenomenal graphics - Immersive 1960s culture Cons: - No character development - Repetitive, basic plot