Game Review: Mafia III | Starburst Magazine

Grand accomplishments always spawn mimics. Whether it’s World of Warcraft or Grand Theft Auto, the titans which define a genre will always be used as a measuring stick by others and lead to developers trying to beat them at their own game. While you can find the odd success, most inevitably fail, and those which are truly successful usually emerge triumphant by going their own way. The odd thing about the Mafia series is that it has ultimately gone in reverse. After the second game established a vastly different take on the old open world crime tropes, Mafia 3 has ditched nearly everything in favour of aping Grand Theft Auto. Suffice to say, it’s a big step backwards.

[seanpitt23]

Ouch! this games has been one of the biggest disappointments in years! I think even bigger than no mans sky because I had a feeling that Nms turned out the way it did because how many people worked on it.
This has upset loads of fans from the previous games it's just a half assed game.
At hangar 13 few have done there job great (cutscenes) (story) and many others have done a shitty job and all the studio suffers.

[Servbot41]

Don't kid yourself, ain't nothing going to top the disappointment of No Mans Sky this generation. Even FFXV, which looks to be a steaming turd will at least have a somewhat interesting gameplay loop and look good doing it.

[sdcard4gb]

Get ready to get mercilessly voted down by weeaboo real-time combat lovers.

[showtimefolks]

Servbot41
sdcard4gb

i see you guys are still sour about whole real time gameplay? oh turd like how hyped a FF game finally is?

developers used turned based combat to make the combat look good and tech back than didn't allow as much freedom. things have changed and almost every RPG will focus on real time combat

play a 3ds to play turned based rpg's i guess

if they had made FF15 the same old same old how many would be excited? by giving it something fresh and new many new gamers will give FF15 a chance

and sad for y'all FF7 remake looks to be real time too

FF15 will be the best selling FF game in the series meaning turned based combat won't be part of it moving forward

or buy world of final fantasy

[Servbot41]

@showtimefolks
I love realtime combat. I've loved it since Star Ocean 2. Realtime has nothing to do with why I feel like the game is bad. Not sure why you're lumping me with others.

[sullynathan]

don't worry, Scam citizen is going to top it.

[bluefox755]

Well, considering Mafia 3 is already rated worse than NMS...

[Snookies12]

How about actually playing Final Fantasy XV before saying it's a 'turd', hmm? There's an idea. Wait until the dang thing comes out. If it sucks, then you have every right to complain about it. Complaining beforehand seems attention-seeking honestly.

[pumpactionpimp]

@showtimefolks

Weird how 7 and 10 sold incredibly well. Beyond squares wildest expectations infact. Then 12 on didn't sell well. 13 sold decently, but 13-2 and lightnings return sold very poorly. Almost like people got suckered in to 13, and learned their lesson. What happened with 12??? That's right they changed the entire game. Most notably the change to real time combat. 13 kept that system and complicated it even more.

You can say whatever you like about the direction the FF series has taken. You can even speculate that the changes were made due to tech supporting the newer real time combat model. You might even be right as to squares reasoning for changing it. But the numbers don't lie. People don't like the direction the series is heading. Yet they continue to push it.

http://vgsales.wikia.com/wi...

I'm not picking up ff15. I stopped playing after 12. But by the looks of it, I'm not the only one that made that decision.

[joab777]

I liked NMS. Guess I didn't buy into the hype that 5 guys in a basement would make Skyrim in space.

[SoulMikeY]

You're a dumbass. You didn't play game...

[GoodOldWrastling14]

did you play the game or did you have a brain fart from the score? Cause I did play it and it was really good like an 8 or a 7.5

[1nsomniac]

Mafia 3 is literally a million times better than NMS. Don't listen to this review it's complete BS.

[Captain_Mushroom]

lol, get a life...

[christian hour]

I cant speak for other platforms (playing on ps4) but... I think the same people who worked on mission design worked on the world... Have you even seen the draw distance? The reflections in mirrors? Seriously... wow. Resi 1 remake on gamecube had realtime mirror reflections lightyears ahead of whats on show in mafia 3. You get a freeze frame of your position, and even then its like whacky carnival mirror horror house.

I have one particularly incredible one on my phone where, my character has his back to a mirror, the reflection is showing a different side of the bathroom than should be reflected, and my character has his back to the mirror, but in the mirror my chracter is facing forward, as if his doppleganger is about to reach out and pull him in to the mirror world while his back is turned... classic. Classic "this is why I love gaming" glitches at its best. In all seriousness, I love those moments. Like flying horses in RDR :)

Honestly though, to round it off, I enjoyed some moments in the game, it doesnt even look half bad at times... I'd say its a 6 in my books. But the consitancy is way off, sometimes it looks early current gen good, at other times it looks like early ps3 multiplat ports (you know the ones, before devs wrapped their head around coding for CELL.).

Anyone else experience crazy schitzophrenic lighting effects while driving? At first I thought, "oh my god, is that dynamic cloud coverage casting real time shadows on the ground??" Then it became...
"Oh, wait, clouds don't move back and forth really quickly like that... damn" :(

Anyyyway, Don't spend 60 euros unless you're really in to crime based drama. The story definitely delivers. Fortunately I got lucky and my game sharing buddy ended up impulse buying it. So I've no buyers remorse, and that let me enjoy it that little bit more,

The AI can also go from relentless and incredibly tactful and cruel to absolutely easy and moranic. It's a strange game indeed, at times it feels like everythings working and then, sometimes it feels like everythings broken. Thats been my experience with it anyway. I havent even read any of the reviews so I'm not sure whats causing people to go clickbaity on the ratings.

I should note, a 6 in my book is good. It falls short of a 7 due to the lack of polish, the game is super ugly in a lot of places and I've seen old rendering tricks and some smoke and mirror tactics I havent seen in over 2 generations, and executed poorly at that too. I've never played a 10 (perfection is an impossibility) and I've only played a handful of 9's in my 27 years as a gamer. 4-5 is a rental, 2-3 is just pandering to the masses/passionless/demographic ally based/ movie tie in muck etc (generally, though not always!) and a 1 is, well, a game that crashes on boot up and never ever plays, ever.

And thats just me translating my reviewing style in to a nice number based one for your people who are confused when theres nobody keeping score so you can be the winner of something. Categorically, the standard to which I critique games goes much deeper than that, but aint nobody got time to read my thesis on how much I love the smell of my own farts.

[OB1Biker]

3/10
Wtf? Hahahaha
In a way I'm sort of glad reviews are overeacting in that ridiculous way. Confirms what I ve thought about reviews and reviewer's in general for a long time.
Well that's too bad for gamers relying too much on that sort of thing.

Edit:: again hahaha seriously guys

[seanpitt23]

If a couple of reviewers out of 100s give it a score like this then fair enough but I have been seeing low scores like 5s, 6s across the board and a few 8s I think we all know where it's going. Gamestop will give it a 6/7 and ign will probably give it a 7/8 the games mediocre and needed another year in development.

[OB1Biker]

Yea let me know the sort of game that should be scored 3 and defend that sort of review.
Ridiculous it is.

[showtimefolks]

OB1Biker

i thought it was a 3/5

overall the game isn't an 8/10 at it's current state and is more of a 6-6.5/10

there are glitches
missions verity is very limited

main story missions are very well done but are behind some of the most repetetive side missions in open world games

settling is great but with glitches not so great at the moment

the music collection is not short of excellent

6/10 is a fair score and with enough improvements overtime can turn into a 7.5

my issue is simple why release a game when it's clearly not finished

Gh05t

no sir parts of the game are done and really well like the setting,main story, voice acting,facial animation and music

i wish other parts of the game had received the same amount of attention

[Gh05t]

So a "clearly unfinished" game deserves a 6/10! You must have gone to those no game left behind reviewer schools.

[Aceman18]

Meh I'm enjoying the game personally, and it probably won't get less than a 7.5 to an 8.5.

[Clown_Syndr0me]

You're spot on to be honest.
Im enjoying it regardless.

[yay111]

I know the defense team will say its taste but the story is great, open world lacking so probably 6/7, not 10 or 3

[FunkMacNasty]

Opinion of a fun game is always subjective, but as someone who's sunk about 10 hours into mafia 3 over the weekend, I must say I'm really enjoying It. The game play is smooth and fun, driving feels awesome, and despite some glitches with graphics and lighting here and there, the environment and scenery is well realized.

There is no way to justify these 3,4,5/10 review scores. They're pure click bait. Mafia 3 is certainly not a 9/10 blockbuster, but it's far from a 3/10 score. Seriously people, if you liked previous Mafia games, or you enjoy open world drive-and-shoot action games, you should probably play Mafia 3

[PlayableGamez-]

The game has it issues, but it's not a 3/10.

[phoenixwing]

agreed

[Servbot41]

The stealth is fun despite being easy against braindead AI, the music is fantastic and the story told well. That's it. The driving is fine too, but 50% of the game consists of driving from point A to point B and with no way to store or upgrade cars it gets extremely repetitive quickly. There is no fast travel and most missions have you traversing to the other side of the map and then back each time, making driving more of a chore than entertainment. 3/10 is a bit low, but I'd agree with most reviews and say 5/10 is fair.

[Hellforged_Savant]

Honestly, it was tempting to give it that score thanks to its strengths until I realised something - twenty hours in I was actually finding excuses not to play the game. This has never happened before, not with a review copy of any kind. I was just so bored with the core gameplay's flaws that I was actively avoiding getting on with the missions, and trying to force myself to continue to the next cutscene. At that point, in my personal opinion a 4 or 5 is too high a score.

Don't get me wrong, the game has its strengths, and very good ones at that, but when it becomes so tedious and so dragged out that getting to the next cutscene was barely keeping me going, something has gone very wrong indeed.

[TKCMuzzer]

I must be in the minority, I'm enjoying it but then I don't really care for to many extra things to do in open world games, a few side missions and the story does me. I don't have time to collect cars and all that other stuff (probably why I haven't completed GTA 5, to much to do).
It may not be perfect but 3/10 is way to low, there have been worse games with higher scores.

[ObviousGoldfish]

Nothing like a 3 paragraph long review

[ClickbaitAF]

3/10? It can't be that bad...

[UgoGalimbertti]

What pisses me off is seeing games like Cluster Truck recieving 8's or 8.5's and no one seems to mind. And then comes Mafia and people become Master degree critics

[Servbot41]

Clustertruck isn't a disappointing $60 sequel to a (somewhat) loved series.

[UgoGalimbertti]

So would you play Clustertruck over Mafia 3?

[Red_Renegade]

who cares about cluster truck?

[keys1579]

I disagree with this score whole heartedly, a 3 come on now. No the game is not on GTA 5s level but it is a solid game I bought it and have been playing it all weekend. This game to me has its own identity. If you were thinking about picking this up I would,does it have problems? Yes,is it perfect no but in no way is this a game 3.

[TheEvilResident1997]

7/10 at least too me, means these reviews are trash because they don't play the game long enough.

[PhoenixUp]

With a 64 on Metacritic, it's no wonder that reviews were delayed for this game

[AOXSquare]

TBH, I would be appauled if we submitted a report that short and tried to tell the whole tale of a game.... Shocking review. Click bait at best.

[bluefox755]

To all the optimists that said: "C'mon guys! I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason the devs decided not to send out early review copies! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the game being bad!"
Well, I hate to say, but we told you so.

[Red_Renegade]

uh, okay. so what about the 7s and 8s and such?

[ufo8mycat]

For those who have not played the game and are, is the game this bad? Yup

- Kill enforcers
- Destroy equipment/supplies
- Interrogate people
- once successful with the above, kill a person to lure out the main dude running the racket
- kill the main dude

Rinse and repeat the above for the other rackets.

Just so you know, the above repetition goes on for 80% of the game!

Are these the same developers that made Mafia 2?

There is so much attention to detail & effort that was put into the graphics of the city, the soundtrack, the atmosphere and then you look at the lack of effort put into the missions.

It's almost like 1 dev team worked on the world and a completely different dev team (probably s team of people who failed game design in college, so 2k could pay them less) worked on the missions.

Such a huge disappointment. 6/10

[yezz]

So it's not 3/10 bad.. There is a massive difference between 3/10 and 6/10 when talking about game scores.

[Crakface]

A 3? Suggests reviewer is a bigot ir hates playing as a black person.

Emotional.
7.9 if your super nit picky and 8.5 at best because of glitchiness. 9.0 after patch due to lack of outside story fun.

Story great
Rag doll physics great
Voice acting great
Gore great
Gun play great
Locations great

Stupid ai
Glitching
Padded side missions

[G20WLY]

The score "suggests reviewer...hates playing as a black person"? WTF are you on about and how the hell did you arrive at that conclusion? Please don't make this about race. That's about as sensible as saying if you wouldn't jump into bed with Oprah Winfrey, you must be racist. It's about quality, nothing more sinister than that.

[Hoffmann]

A 3 seems unreasonable low.

[yay111]

Can we all just ignore stupid 'controversial' scores like these; would you listen to Starburst Magazine on anything else?

[boing1]

starburstmagazine.com?? The phuck is that...??

[BushLitter]

These reviews are getting ridiculous. The game is an easy 7, even with the glitches. The story is fantastic, the characters are well written and the setting is just brilliantly realised. I don't see how the side missions are any more repetitive than those found in games like Assassin's Creed and Shadow of Mordor. In fact the side missions are far better implemented into the main narrative than either of those two games.

It's a great game, glitches be damned. If anyone wants to play a game with a great story, you should definitely pick it up.

[WellyUK]

Sorry but how in anyway is this game a 3? How? It is in no way worse than NMS and is just as good if not better than deus ex even with it's technical issues... It's story is solid, it's gameplay is also solid, it's cut-scenes are fantastic, it's mood and setting are great and it's soundtrack is brilliant. Yet your saying it's repetitiveness and technical issues (I haven't experienced many apart from lighting) can bring it down to a 3? It is no more or less repetitive than MGSV (Given 9's & 10's across the board) was and for me has had no where near as many bugs and issues as fallout 4 (also given 9's and 10's) had.

A 3 just sounds like your jumping on the hate bandwagon for a game that really isn't half as bad as people seem to be saying it is...

I agree it isn't perfect and it isn't the best game ever but it is far from a damn 3. I do also agree it could of done with a few more months just to sort out bugs and tech issues but this is no more buggy than your bethesda game...

[Errorist76]

Welly...you didn't even play NMS so why bring it up?!

[WellyUK]

I did but I wish I hadn't...

And stop being a muppet.

[Jon_Targaryen]

MGS V is the most repetitive freaking game ever. Easily the worst game for me this generation when it came to expectations.

[brewin]

Lol. Been playing the game for several days. No way this is anything less than a 7. Id give it a solid 8. This reviewer must not have downloaded the patch, it fixes many many issues. Id say its a good purchase in the $40 range. I redboxed it and am gonna buy it when it geta to the 30 40 dollar range for sure. I already spent 10 renting it and cant wait to play more. It has a story that has me hooked and the gameplay is actually pretty good, despite its GTA-ness. Not as smooth as GTA 5 but its still fun as hell and Lincoln Clay is a super badass! It never gets old taking out racist pricks with your rambo knife!

[kindkinesis]

not a very great review

[Clown_Syndr0me]

I find the visual and technical glitches funny, and I'm enjoying the game. Yeah it's not what I expected so I am a bit disappointed but after a few solid days with it I'd put it at about 6.5/10. Enjoyable though.

[Jon_Targaryen]

Im playing this game at the moment and it really isnt a 3/10, not by a long shot. A 6 maybe.... A 7 for sure... But a 3? Some one is fishing for clicks.

[PGRfox]

I am enjoying this game immensely.

[AAWELLS09]

Its mostly technical things that I don't like. Things with the graphics and things disappearing and stuff looking fuzzy/blurry.

[MilkMan]

Don't know about these low scores. The game is fun, and laser focused. The sound track is great, and there is a ton of stuff to do.
The city is not as populated as say GTA, but this is the 60's in the holler (ghetto), so I chalk it up to that.
I like the focus on tasks that are related to your overarching goal, as opposed to drinking beer and going bowling.

[daynnight365]

N4G doesn't descriminate, as long as it has a dot com, they welcome u with open arms.
Starburst magazine? Lol

[porkChop]

The game is actually great. I don't understand these reviews. Is it perfect? No. But it's a ton of fun, the story is great, and the characters are really well done. If you went into this expecting GTA with mobsters, you'll be disappointed and it's your fault. Mafia was never a GTA-style game. It's closer to the Godfather games and the Scarface game.

[cyber_daemonx]

Game is getting mediocre scores in general. Explains the review embargo.

[GTgamer]

I own this game and I confidently say it ain't no damn 3/10 -_-