Mafia III Video Review

(Video Review)

I never thought I'd play a game with a story like this. Many game’s treat the story as something of lesser importance, the Mafia series has always been a shining example of how a game should treat its story. Few games manage to weave their narrative so perfectly into how the game plays like the way Mafia III has. I was utterly left in awe during the game’s prologue, it is as well crafted as any great film or series; frankly it may be better than most film’s these days. I was very curious to see if the story could keep up with the high expectations it was setting.  Then something funny happened as I was busy thinking about the possibilities the story could hold; I realized underneath all that stupendous writing, there is an extremely satisfying gaming experience. I was surprised to see how meticulous the game’s design is; the story works hand in hand with the game’s objectives to provide meaningful context that fuels the story by providing great motivation to the player. What really stood out about the game’s design, is just how they have laid out the world to organically progress you through the game’s story.

We have seen quite a few games do much of what Mafia III is doing; however, they have not pulled it off as successfully as Mafia III has. When it comes to blending a narrative into an open world, you often have mixed results either too little focus on fun, or too little focus on story. Mafia III seems keen on addressing some interesting gaming tropes in a very nuanced manner. There are of course the hidden items you have come to expect, but they have gone above and beyond in creating a world that is vividly detailed and alive. Too often a game will just have you doing things; yet, Mafia III has managed to give greatly detailed reasons for your actions. I've yet to play a game that had such a great narrative flow like this while also delivering the kind of satisfaction, and enjoyment that games in this genre have thrived on. It is something that really needs to be played to understand, the pacing is key and few games know when to take away control to focus on progressing the story in favor of gameplay. It is something that needs to be done in the right amount, too much focus on the story will leave most gamers bored, and too little will result in the same.

The nature of the genre’s gameplay mechanics are normally at odds with most forms of storytelling; the story is there to provide a context for what you're doing, but how can you truly fuel this much rampant violence and retribution? Well, you could make a game set in the south in the late 60’s, and then make the playable character African American. It is ballsy, using race and to get down to it, racism as the focal point of the story; it has never been done in a game like this. It could have come across as manipulative or cheap, simply being provocative for the sake of shock value. Yet, the writers have really outdone themselves by delivering a story that does the subject matter justice.

Racism has rarely been presented so authentically most games have resorted to using comedy to soften the blow, and while there is comedy present in Mafia III the tone is serious and never pulls its punches. This is a game that is really trying to present an honest look at this countries history of racism, which is honorable in its own right. What however I can not understate, is how incredible it is to be playing a game like this. Subject matter I never dreamed would be used in a game; Rockstar has tackled racism, but they again always had that comedic shield “hey it’s a satire.” Not to discredit Rockstar, that stuff took guts. Which is why this game’s achievement in storytelling is so incredible, no studio except Rockstar has tried to push what kind of topics could be used in a game. The reason being, no one thought a game would ever be capable of dealing with these kind of mature adult themes and placing them in such a realistic context. Violence is often used as pure shock value in a lot of games, few have implied the brutality of their violence as part of the stories context like Mafia III has done so masterfully. It reminds me of the great crime thrillers of the 70’s, Taxi Driver came to mind several times during my playthrough, I also adored the hints of First Blood in the mix as well. These are very good points of reference, you can really see how they influenced the game’s story; it is also very fitting given how that era’s films have helped shape the genre as a whole.

Context and detail matters greatly in these kind of games, people clamber for innovation in mission design but, realistically there is only so much you can do with these kind of mechanics. Gaming have evolved to the point where we can make great stories much like the TV shows everyone loves to binge these days. Innovation comes from blending the gameplay elements of the genre and with new forms of storytelling, which gives tremendous weight to all of the game’s objectives. When you have a story with so much substance, it makes even those supposedly dull run here and get this missions, deeply enjoyable due to the context it brings to the overall narrative.

Furthermore, the mission’s objectives are inventive and extremely well thought out, the research into the time period really made things feel authentic and that gave them a greater connection to the story; something that is very rare in this genre. A genre that is about running around shooting people, stealing cars and creating general mayhem. With few exceptions most games in this genre forgo attempts to deliver emotional stories, the mechanics just do not lend themselves well to that kind of storytelling; it is a challenge few developers have conquered. There is so much detail to the Mafia III's story and world that all the key elements of an open world action game like killing a great number of people in hair-raising gun battles, vicious stealth hunts and savory car chases; actually make sense to the game’s story. It can be a challenge to give compelling reasons for your objectives, and to make the set pieces fit into the world organically without harming the tone or story structure. It is also equally important to focus on not just the fun gameplay elements, but to structure a story that pulls you in and gives you enough control to feel like you're experiencing that story first hand; and, that is when it becomes an artform.  

If you can captivate the player and draw them into the story, then gameplay becomes a cathartic release of emotions that the story perfectly built up. You are presented with vile and disgusting enemies to vanquish in some truly savage ways; and nothing makes action more satisfying than a solid emotional core, it is why The Last Of Us was such an incredible experience. Story matters because of the context it provides to your actions; when you have a need to complete a mission more than just to get to the next level, when you feel on some level what your character feels it adds so much more to that experience. Great gameplay can make a great game, but a great story can too; and a great story should be just as much of an accomplishment, as making a gun feel satisfying to fire. Combat in Mafia III is no slouch, melee takedowns are some of the most savagely visceral combat options to appear in a game like this. Most shooters aspire to have that cinematic edge, you should feel like you're playing one of of the coolest shootout in movie history; but, few shooters have ever captured the style of a gritty bloodthirsty cinematic shootout like Mafia III has.

It gets your blood pumping having such precise control over your character, seeing them move and react with such lifelike animation is a real treat for the eyes. What also will get your blood pumping is the utter shocking sense of realism in the game’s violence. We are used to shooting people and seeing them fall dead; we rarely see people withering in agony as they lay dying after a particularly ferocious gun battle. It add’s great dramatic depth when you see blood spatter on the wall and people react in horror to your actions; it strikes you more especially when you're playing in a world alive with such rich detail. It also gives the game a much-needed level of maturity; yes the violence in the game does have that cathartic "oh yes, take it, take it you whore" level of satisfaction; but it also presents these actions for what they are, callous. It is even more of an accomplishment, due to the fact that it makes the game all the more enjoyable for that very reason. Great art should elicit a response from the viewer, art should be provocative because that is what an artist truly is, a provocateur. Yet what separates the good art, from the mundane day to day art; are the reasons for provocation. Anyone can easily provoke their audience, but it takes skill to know when and why to provoke them.

Mafia III does everything it sets out to do exceedingly well, from a pure gameplay mechanic standpoint driving, shooting, traversal; it is all done as well as it should be. Frankly any game this ambitious is going to have a few shortcomings, thankfully none of them are unfixable. The only thing holding this game back are it’s technical shortcomings, the game does crash on occasion and the A.I can do some pretty wacky things for no reason; thankfully none of these are game-breaking just minor annoyances. Now while I did say the game can look rough in places it also looks truly magnificent in others. Lighting effects are breathtaking and really evoke the cinematic feel the creators were clearly going for, it stands out best in an early mission that has Linclon Clay the protagonist, cutting his way through some racist scum in an abandoned amusement park attraction. The game does a great job of making places feel both real and alive, but also making the world a truly unique, terrifying and equally wondrous character in of itself. Games like this do not come around often, and that is a shame. On a side note, I will tackle one big criticism the game has faced; there is no such thing as dated gameplay, describing gameplay as dated like that is a negative thing is the weakest excuse to say a great game is bad.