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REVIEW: MAFIA III (PS4, Xbox One, PC - PS4 version tested)

10/10/2016

23 Comments

 
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Poor Lincoln Clay - the half-black/half-Italian Vietnam veteran, who was adopted as a child by mobsters. Upon his return from the 'Nam, he refuses to take the reigns at the top of the criminal organisation, despite pressure from his peers... yet still feels obliged to repay a family debt, by taking part in a bank robbery. Oh, Lincoln...

Inevitably, this goes spectacularly awry when he's betrayed by his partner - and his friends and family are all killed. Now get this: Lincoln forms a mob of his own, to take down those who betrayed him. Can anybody say... irony!?

No. No they cannot. It's a very difficult word to pronounce correctly. Iranonly. Irrinally. Ireronney.
NO CYNICISM
Mafia III is one of those open-world map-mopper games they have nowadays. I could spend some time describing it to you, but that would be like trying to describe a new door, that's exactly like your old door. Except: this one doesn't have a letterbox.

The shorthand I'm looking for is this: it's a Grand Theft Auto, albeit without the cynical humour, or the sheer variety of things to do. There's no skydiving, or mountain biking, or playing tennis, or running around in your underpants for shits and giggles. 

There are basically two things to do in Mafia III: shooting people, and driving. That's not the end of the  (open) world - them's some good shooting and driving. Unfortunately, it becomes repetitive, especially a few hours into the game, as you smear your criminal syndicate across the map, and the tight mission focus of the early sections literally bleeds away.

There's very little, gameplay-wise, that Mafia III can call its own. There are small spins on genre staples - like picking locks, tapping telephones, and radioing associates to drive to your location with weapons or cars, or to pick up your cash for safe storage. Unfortunately, even the way you take over the operations of rival criminal outfits has been done to death. At least the otherwise unremarkable Watchdogs tried to add something new to the genre. Specifically: a middle-aged, try-hard hackertwat.

Consequently, given that it's following a very familiar format, Mafia III lives and dies on its characters, its story, and its setting. Fortunately, there's much there to admire.
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BORED-OH
The city of New Bordeaux - a scarcely-disguised fictional version of New Orleans in the late-1960s - is stunning to look at, and to listen to.

Admittedly, it quickly runs through the cliches you might expect - Vietnam, Mardi Gras, voodoo (even JFK's assassination) - but by the same token, as unsurprising as this all is, it would've been disappointing not to have them.

It all feels authentic to its setting; in true GTA rip-off style, the radio is full of era-specific tunes. What's more, the story - which weaves back and forth through time, in a sort of documentary format - is surprisingly well told, well written, and well acted. 

There's not a trace of humour or wit on display, admittedly - making some of the cut-scenes a bit of a slog - but that's to its credit. To do so would've trivialised the rest of its content; this is a serious story, told seriously, so... thank heck you get to shoot people and drive around in cool cars, otherwise it could've gotten really dull!

And that's the crux of my issue with Mafia III. It begins with a disclaimer at the use of racial language, and particularly the N-word. You don't get that with movies, or novels, which deal with that period of American history. They trust the audience to understand the difference between celebrating racism and crime, and commenting on it.

It highlights the dilemma video games face when trying to tackle heavier themes. How do you balance that with fun?

​THE ISSUE
Unfortunately, as soon as you lob action in there, it becomes entertainment, rather than a work of serious fiction. Making the player the protagonist risks glorifying the main character's actions. You're not just asking the player to empathise with the lead - you're asking them to become him.

And, frankly, there's no question that Mafia III does exactly that. It's a shame that the first video game with an almost exclusively black cast should place them in the roles of criminals, that your character is a gun-wielding, immoral, thug, hellbent on revenge, and shooting cops.

There are moments early on where Clay is serving gumbo to the homeless - no, really ("Press X to serve gumbo") - where you get a sense of his inner goodness, but pretty soon you have him taking over heroin rackets, and running strip clubs. Because, apparently, that's a thing you always have to do in these sorts of games.

In one early mission I mistakenly believed he was freeing a bunch of drug-addicted prostitutes - when in actuality he was merely freeing them to work for him. That soon becomes just one of the morally dubious tasks that you'll be doing quite a lot of. It made me feel uncomfortable. And it made me feel uncomfortable that I felt uncomfortable... because I don't want to be that guy, who bellows at everything through his megaphone of political correctness.

Nevertheless, Mafia III did raise questions - especially with the state the world seems to be in these days. We feel more divided along racial lines than I can remember in my lifetime. When I got punched in the face back in the summer, far too many people asked if my assailant was black. He was - but so were all the people who got out of their cars to help me. It seems like everyone is defining everyone else through skin colour, religion, nationality, like we're all on high alert because they - whoever they may be - have it in for us. I find it deeply troubling.

There's more intolerance these days - not helped by the dangerous rhetoric of the US election and Brexit campaigns - and those who are less tolerated seem more vocal and angry than ever. Where we are at casts Mafia III in a  different light.

The ending - or, endings - showcase something approaching redemption for Clay, but there's so little light in the darkness prior to that point, that it doesn't feel entirely earned, or consistent, or enough to dismiss all that has gone before.

So... I dunno. I don't want to be that guy, but it does concern me that crime seems to be the go-to genre for so many games. And not just crime - but black-on-white crime, or vice-versa. It might be a reflection of the world, but I do sometimes wish we'd inspire something better.

SUMMARY: Grand Theft Auto without the wit and variety - and with tons more racism.
SCORE: III Mafias out of V Mafias.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
REVIEW: DEUS EX - MANKIND DIVIDED (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)
​
REVIEW: NO-MAN'S SKY (PS4, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)
​
REVIEW: TRIALS OF THE BLOOD DRAGON (PS4, XBOX ONE, PC - PS4 VERSION TESTED)

23 Comments
Dagenham Seish
10/10/2016 10:27:22 am

Interesting you mention the guy thay punched you. When I read your original post on that event I just assumed it was some knuckle dragging neanderthal, and therefore some roided up gym nut. Whom I mentally always assume as white men with crew cuts and arms that can't bend.

This probably says more about me than it does you.

I need coffee.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
10/10/2016 01:26:10 pm

Regardless of race, it's still an utterly baffling crime. Who on earth just does that?

Anyway, I really liked Mafia 2, and am quite excited for Mafia 3. The Mafia games don't have the range of open-world activities that GTA does, but like LA Noire, the city is a backdrop for a linear story that takes itself much more seriously than GTA's cynical satire-fests. I also really like that this one is breaking away from the Godfather cliches to deliver a very different perspective on the mob crime game genre.

Also the developers do seem to have taken race issues very seriously when making this. This Vice interview with Charles Webb, the game's senior writer, is really interesting: http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/we-talked-race-and-politics-with-the-senior-writer-of-mafia-iii

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Chris Wyatt
10/10/2016 08:28:27 pm

I assumed he was white as well.

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Dan Whitehead
10/10/2016 12:05:12 pm

It really bugs me that almost 15 years on from GTA3 and we're still playing the same basic game in different forms. There's so much potential in the sandbox genre, yet we still carjack and shoot-out and tail that car and find those drugs and it's really getting boring. My dream has always been that someone would make an openworld game based on the Adam West Batman series, with full use of the Batmobile, Batboat, Batcopter etc, only instead of committing crimes you're stopping them - in a fun, colourful light-hearted fashion.

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Mr Biffo
10/10/2016 12:09:04 pm

Oooh... yes please.

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Keith
10/10/2016 01:59:38 pm

A one line pitch that makes me annoyed I can't spend fifty quid on it right now

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Doc Strange
10/10/2016 04:02:03 pm

Yes! I'd buy that in a second.

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Spiney O'Sullivan
10/10/2016 06:35:46 pm

Part of the trouble with open-world hero games is that they're just less fun. Hero games have more rules and duties: you lose points for collateral damage because pedestrians get caught under your wheels or in your blast radius (True Crime/Infamous), or the streets are mysteriously deserted except for thugs and a couple of hostages (Arkham), or you don't get to have as much fun because the game is constantly penalising you for not stopping for every single carjacker, robbery, or in some cases every kid who has lost their balloon (Spider-Man 2...).

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CdrJameson
12/10/2016 01:02:14 pm

GTA: Mega City One for me please.

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Trunkuss
10/10/2016 12:24:52 pm

I had the same pause for thought in GTA V, there seemed to be a sort of logical disconnect between the portrayal of Michael's caring attitude towards his family at one point and then him becoming a mass-murdering psychopath 10 seconds later. It is a GTA game so you know to expect that but still, for me the suspension of disbelief kind of broke down there. It shows the inherent difficulty of trying to make a fundamentally "bad" character likeable and identifiable to a "normal" person.

I did like Mafia 2's setting and atmosphere but from this game it seems like they haven't learned lessons from its faults - huge and pretty environment but with bugger all to do except drive around.

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Keith
10/10/2016 02:02:29 pm

That's why Red Read Redemption worked so well; the character seemed to exist in the world realistically, more or less. I mean, you could push it, but it wasn't inherent, like the jarring way that Nikko Bellic could be the focus of a pretty good character study of someone trying to escape a violent past, but who would kill pedestrians by the dozen when in a rush to get somewhere...

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Superbeast 37
10/10/2016 02:12:55 pm

Definitely no GTA. It left me disappointed especially as I'd always dreamed of an open world game in that era/setting.

Its funny you should mention Watch Dogs, but after three hours I decided I'd rather be playing Watch Dogs as it had more variety and the driving is equally as bad!

Aiden Pearce was initially criticised as being a contradictory character. On the one hand stopping crimes whilst on the other hand committing them.

Upon reflection I view him as a morally ambiguous d**k. I actually find that more interesting than playing the typical hero. I am not that guy, I am role-playing that guy.

I always played GTA differently depending on whether I was Franklin or Trevor for example. As Franklin I tried to avoid collateral damage and as Trevor I would randomly spark-out some woman walking down the street towards me. I played Michael somewhere between the two. I saw no disconnect with Michael; even murderous gangsters care about their families. Just like William Munny; the bad person was still in there waiting to come out.

I don't have a problem with Clay. I am able to role-play him and justify it all based on his experiences at war and upon his return (inc the head injury). It's just the boring, repetitive game play that does my head in. Average shooting and below average stealth.

I agree that the cut-scenes etc are excellent.I'd rather just watch a movie of the cutscenes than play the game. Or have the gameplay more like Heavy Rain.

I guess a lot people have problems role-playing so it could ruin the enjoyment for them if expected to act in a manner that contradicts their real life instincts. They can always play the other 99% of games.

The disclaimer at the start of the game depressed me. I doubt that was written with anyone over 30 in mind. God help us in the future.

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Da5e
11/10/2016 01:31:58 pm

"I am able to role-play him... (inc the head injury)"

This does not surprise me.

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Superbeast 37
11/10/2016 05:53:30 pm

Don't start! You know your type can't handle the bants and usually end up in a safe-space playing with colouring books!

Also jokes about head injury victims are a step too far even for me.

Let's chat about the game.

Spiney O'Sullivan
11/10/2016 07:00:58 pm

Be nice, for once SB37 is actually talking about a game with only the briefest nod towards the usual "culture war" stuff. This is a positive step!

Ballson Door
10/10/2016 08:06:34 pm

Pffffft, I got really annoyed at the racism just looking at the box in Morrison's, let alone playing the game (which i haven't done and don't need to do to form an opinion). Anyone else think the character looks pretty whitewashed on the front cover and that the publishers might be a bit worried about selling a game with a minority protagonist?

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Chris Wyatt
10/10/2016 08:39:48 pm

Interesting that paranoia about *being* racist can make people come across as being more racist. Reminds me of Tom and Jerry. I never questioned that Mammy Two-Shoes might be a servant, but when I saw the Chuck Jones reworks where Rom suddenly has white owners, it strongly hints that Mammy Two-Shoes was their servant.

Tom and Jerry was actually very progressive about how it handled the black character considering where and when it was made. They hired a black voice actor, which was a first.

Cartoon Network continued the mistreatment of these cartoons in the noughties by redubbing Mammy Two-Shoes with a slightly less black sounding voice, again white-washing, which is probably more offensive than any of the blackface gags!

I've gone off on a bit of a tangent...

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Spiney O'Sullivan
11/10/2016 08:56:04 am

I grew up assuming she was the homeowner. It was really weird to find out that was possibly not the case.

David W
11/10/2016 07:05:19 pm

I vividly remember one Tom and Jerry cartoon ("Saturday Evening Puss") where the animation of Mammy Two-Shoes was replaced, but not the voice.

All the casual violence with household items was still considered wholesome viewing, or something.

Chris Wyatt
11/10/2016 08:47:59 pm

"I vividly remember one Tom and Jerry cartoon ("Saturday Evening Puss") where the animation of Mammy Two-Shoes was replaced, but not the voice."

Ha? Really? That's weird. I wonder if they mixed the wrong soundtrack by accident?

Quoting Wikipedia's Mammy Two Shoes article:

In the 1960s, the MGM animation studio, by then under the supervision of Chuck Jones, created censored versions of the Tom & Jerry cartoons featuring Mammy for television. These versions used rotoscoping techniques to replace Mammy on-screen with a similarly stocky white woman (in most shorts) or a thin white woman (in Saturday Evening Puss); Randolph's voice on the soundtracks was replaced by an Irish-accented (or, in Puss, generic young adult) voice performed by actress June Foray.

I've not seen these censored versions for years and years. I don't think I've seen them since the BBC were airing Tom and Jerry before the news.

David W
11/10/2016 10:08:59 pm

I couldn't find the "mixed" version anywhere online, but do have a low-quality copy ripped from a commercial VHS tape ("Tom and Jerry Cartoon Festival Vol. 2.")

Though I did find three different versions of the soundtrack while searching for it:

- Mammy Two-Shoes, original.
- Mammy Two-Shoes, refined elocution & grammar.
- Bland Replacement Lady, different dialogue.

No wonder things got mixed up.

Spiney O'Sullivan
11/10/2016 08:53:25 am

Again, read the Vice article I linked above. The game's lead writer (himself African-American, I believe) talks about how conscious of the racial themes in the game. It's unfortunate if marketing has botched the handling of it, but it's clear they tried to do something meaningful.

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Mr Biffo
11/10/2016 09:33:29 am

I agree the intentions were good. For me, it's more a question of whether exploring those sorts of themes works in this type of game, really.




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