Mafia III

I love a good story. I like epics of revenge, murder, loss and despair; I like to immerse myself in rags-to-riches tales where the downtrodden rise from the ashes. And here is where we hit a slight snag for you see, as much as I like a thrilling narrative, I don’t enjoy having to go through a long and tedious slog to see how it all pans out. This is Mafia III’s problem; it’s a riveting account of how one man pulled the dying dregs of several gangs together to take out the top dog but the only way to find out how it happens is by crouching, whistling, stabbing, repeat or alternatively, shoot, get shot, repeat.

- S Nin Chalmers

The first few hours of gameplay are sublime. From the second you see Lincoln Clay waiting for his pal Ellis to pick him up to the moment Lincoln walks out of Father James’ church to seek retribution, you dive into a wonderful mix of driving, fighting, stalking and shooting interspersed between beautiful cut scenes where you feel the true range of emotions from the characters. You care about the problems that father figure Sammy is facing, you side with Ellis wanting to put an end to the threats from other mobs and the more you play as Lincoln, the more you want everything to be okay because you can tell that the others care about you just as much as you care about them. Watching what happens to your family hurts more than you would expect all thanks to the exceptional way the first couple of hours play out.

Then we start the game for real and it hits you like a combat knife to the face how repetitive Mafia III is. This isn’t a problem as you take down your first district because the beginning of the game was full of action, chases, sneakiness and those fantastic cut scenes. It’s almost a relief to know you’re now slowly building your empire up instead of watching your world come crashing down. But then you take down the next district and then the next and you really start to wonder if it’s worthwhile.