The review will contain spoilers from the first 2 hours of the roughly 21 hour game
Plot
In many ways, Mafia 3 sets up its plot very similarly to Mafia 2 – though you don’t need to have played either of the previous Mafia games to understand the plot. Lincoln Clay is a Vietnam war veteran who returns home from war only to find his family in money problems. To save his family, he agrees to help with a heist orchestrated by the crime boss of the city – Sal Marcano. When Lincoln is betrayed during the heist, he vows to take his revenge on those responsible. His revenge will require that Lincoln claim the all the crime activity his city of New Bordeaux as his own, so he enlists the help of the CIA officer named Donavan whom he worked with in Vietnam. Together they work to take control of the city.
While the plot may appear captivating at first, it quickly loses steam and devolves into a sluggish predictable tale which never picks up its pace again. The root cause is the formulaic plot points for each part of the city Lincoln attacks. They all boil down to interrogating people, killing people, or breaking things - then killing or recruiting the boss of the operation. All these missions, which are most of the missions in this game, feel like MMO Quests. Sure, there’s a very thin reason for what you’re doing, but you really don’t care because of how repetitive it is. Quickly you’ll stop wondering where the plot is going next, because it’s just so predictable what your next task will be.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much in a way of a main plot to keep you engaged either. It’s a revenge story, so there isn’t anything to surprise you. It’s like watching two oncoming cars barrel towards each other - You can see the end from the beginning. The only thing that’s fleshed out during the story is why Lincoln was betrayed but it’s not surprising or impactful.
Writing
The Mafia 3’s biggest strength is that it will make you uncomfortable with its writing. There’s a disclaimer at the start of this game about the racism that will take place during the game, and they’re not joking. Remember, The Mafia 3 takes place during the Vietnam war, a time when racism raged throughout the United States and the Mafia 3 makes sure to remind you of that. Racial slurs are thrown out constantly and it’s how uncomfortable that it made me feel that will stick with me. The best example I can give is a radio talk show in which the host’s twist their logic to promote a raciest agenda.
Aside from race, The Mafia 3 has other interesting angles. It’s cool how the story is told, in part, via a documentary from the future about Lincoln Clay. You’ll see characters from the main story talk in it and it gives more depth to what the characters are feeling. It’s an interesting way to tell the story because some people featured in the documentary we never meet during the game. That helps give the feeling that what Lincoln is doing matters and has far reaching consequences. My favorite part is that Mafia 3 mixes in real life footage in these documentary sections, giving the feel that Lincoln’s story could have easily played out in real life.
Speaking of real life - Normally in games, violence feels grotesque for no real reason – but Mafia 3 uses it for highlight how violent gang life is. When you see a man being hung via Farris wheel it’s hard not to squirm, but when the next scene shows real life images of a mafia member gunned down in a restaurant it puts the events in prospective. The intense violence also makes you question who you’re rooting for. Normally, you would want the games protagonist to succeed but when you see Lincoln committing such violent acts that commit wavers - Especially when other characters in the game call Lincoln on it. I’m still not sure whether I would label Lincoln a Hero or an Anti-Hero which is the best part of the writing.
Voice Acting
Let’s get right to it, The Mafia 3 boasts some great voice acting from the main cast. Alex Hernandez sounds like he was made for the role of Lincoln Clay. Jay Acovone as Sal Marcano is no slouch either. The best chemistry in the voice acting has to go to the Lincoln Donavan duo; the two voice actors play off each other expertly to bring their friendship to life. Unfortunately, it’s not all strong though. Less important characters usually have subpar voice acting that sounds flat and like they’re reading from a script. Also, at times you feel like characters aren’t really talking to each other. For example, after you take over a part of a city, you call one of your crime boss underlings to control it. The calls usually feel disconnected, like each character is just saying lines without it being a conversation.
Immersion
Just like the writing, New Bordeaux reminds you of the racism of the Vietnam War time. Police will routinely ignore crimes committed in poorer nonwhite neighborhoods. Lincoln will be harassed because of his race and Mafia 3 even features the KKK. Then there’s small touches like hit 60’s songs that play on the radio.
As for the cutscenes, the facial features of the characters during cutscenes are great at expressing emotion and the important cutscenes feel very cinematic…but not all cutscenes were created equal. For every ‘real’ cinematic cutscene, you get about 4 boring cutesiness where characters just face each other and spout dialog.
Then there’s other aspects of the game that just don’t feel real. For example, when you call one of your crime boss underlings to take control of a district, the thugs that show up always pause right after getting out of the car. It makes them feel like robots instead of real people. Or there’s that Police will have no hesitation to shoot into a crowd of people if you’re standing in it. Or that You can be in a firefight with a gang but as soon as you start interrogating their boss they will just walk away. There’s so many examples that just feel off.
but the biggest problem with the world of The Mafia 3 is the bugs. It is impossible to play through the mafia 3 without encountering several visual bugs. People will jump in front of your car instead of away from it, your car will get stuck on train tracks - though my personal favorite was when an enemy was stuck in this wall. Are they funny? Sure. Do they pull you out of Mafia 3’s world? Absolutely.
Conclusion
The Mafia 3 has interesting things to say with its writing, but there are too many issues to make the story more than just okay.