Mafia III

This ’60s-set sequel is as patchy as a hippie’s tie-dye

- Ben Tyrer

Hangar 13’s mob-bothering debut manages to craft an evocative version of the 1960s. The studio’s made a vibrant Louisianan city that bustles with life in the jazzy French Quarter and peacefully simmers out towards the bayou, while the best songs of the decade crackle out your radio. Just one problem. This era isn’t so great when you’re not white.

To its credit, this gangster-packed sequel never shies away from the grimmer aspects of what Vietnam vet Lincoln Clay and the black community suffers in many different ways. In a confident and superb opening, we witness both the events that set him on his path for revenge, and the casual racism that seeps through every interaction, culminating in a shocking moment that you won’t soon forget.

Quickly getting an idea of who the star is and, thanks to snippets of present-day interviews, a glimpse of who he may become, these early hours are effective in making our thirst for justice as strong as Clay’s. Buzzing with style, inventiveness and deft cutting between past and present during a punchy set-piece that has you creeping through Mardi Gras, it’s a fantastic introduction to New Bordeaux. Sadly, it’s all misdirection.

The Rolling Groans

The guiding hand of the prologue gives way to a heavily structured open world where you attempt to take down the top don. Sal Marcano has fingers in every illegal pie, running all the illicit industries you can think of and a few you’ll be thankful you didn’t. To defeat Sal, the plan is simple: disrupt his operations, take out the lieutenants running them and murder your way to the top of the chain. It’s a basic structure, and you’ll quickly discover how limiting it really is.