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tommytranselo · 2 years ago

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mafia trilogy gameplay review

alright, here’s my full series review + my hopes for mafia 4 from a purely gameplay perspective (well, mostly). fair warning, this is not entirely spoiler free and also long as hell–over five thousand words–so click read more at your own risk.

mafia tcolh

unfortunately i have not played the original (yet), so i can’t give a real review, but i have heard about the optional end-of-chapter missions from lucas bertone to unlock new cars and about the extremely detailed free ride, including enemies spawning across the city and the game saving your progress, which i think are great features that (presumably) allow you to take your time with the game and provide replay value that isn’t just doing the same missions over and over or pointlessly driving around. it’s 21 chapters and i’ve heard it’s a pretty damn difficult game–player preference is gonna vary on that obviously, but overall i get the impression it’s meant to take some time to beat at least on your first playthrough.

mafia 2

coming in at 15 chapters (the first of which was the rather short and partly intended as a tutorial), it seems to be a significantly faster experience than its predecessor and it didn’t take me long at all to finish. replaying has been a weird experience because i honestly don’t really even like a solid third of the chapters (1, 6, and the last three), but the game is near and dear to my heart. while i have seen reports (and videos) of serious glitching, i never encountered any. one note is that the lack of character tags in subtitles was annoying because sometimes it’s hard to differentiate voices (drunk eddie and joe is my biggest gripe).

open world & graphics: whether snow-covered in 1945 or sunny in 1951, empire bay is a truly beautiful city, the npc behavior is very detailed (which can make for some funny experiences if you notice it), and there’s generally a lot to do if you wander around, but the lack of a free ride mode and lack of downtime during chapters leaves little opportunity to actually do it. i didn’t feel like i had much chance to explore or just hang out in the game world, and like i said before, the experience feels kind of rushed, especially on a replay where you know what’s coming next; i really wish we got more time in the 1945 segment because the winter atmosphere and freddy’s bar were really nice, and there was too little chance to experience them. if you die at the end of a chapter while fucking around you generally have to replay the last mission, which seriously discourages exploration and is frankly a stupid feature. there are diners, clothing shops, gun stores, auto shops etc around the city, which is really nice if you’re just hanging out, but i personally never found myself using them much (aside from the auto shop and clothing store once or twice apiece outside the prompts to use them in ch2 and ch7 respectively) because there just didn’t seem to be much time for it, and also because you lose all your stuff multiple times throughout the game, so it feels a little pointless (and it’s easy to accumulate guns from fallen enemies, but tbh i did that in every game). i’d love to go see giuseppe or harry in my off time (which you’re clearly intended to do as there’s some secret dialogue), but there didn’t seem to be much off time. overall, a lovely open world with detailed settings and interactivity that we had far too little chance to enjoy. working mirrors, though!

combat: i appreciated the limitless gun arsenal (being able to carry both a rifle and machine gun was nice) but found switching weapons to be kind of clunky (unless i just suck ass at the controls), for some reason i felt significantly worse at shooting compared to MDE, and honestly the melee fighting sucked. it’s extremely similar to la noire, so i guess maybe it was standard for the time, but it seems the strategy is to just hold down block at all times except when throwing a punch, and the fact you can end up just endlessly circling each other with nobody landing a hit both a) got boring real fast and b) ruined the immersion for me. and no knives/bats/other melee weapons, really? not to mention we only got one chance for stealth gameplay (ch3), and...tbh it just didn’t really do it for me. it took me forever the first time because i took henry’s statement of “no killing” to mean i wasn’t allowed to do stealth takedowns either, but on a replay when i did stealth attack it was honestly a little too easy. as for the healing system, as much as i love food in games, the “eat/drink to heal” and the way your health fills up significantly if you just wait a few seconds made healing feel like a non-issue for the most part; i joke about the floor sandwiches but i never actually found any, going to diners between missions to boost my health a little didn’t feel worth it ever (i only ever ate at the very end of chapters, basically), and mostly my strategy was just to duck and cover while i waited for vito's bar to refill. i didn’t hate it but i think it could’ve been done better.

cars: they handled pretty well once i got the hang of driving, and the snowy roads handling different was nice attention to detail. the customization was fantastic, and i have to say i love the garage system; it was really nice to be able to store cool cars when i snagged one off the street–and speaking of which, the lock-picking requiring effort was a bit of a pain but in a good way, so overall a nice touch. the speed limiter was also helpful, especially for the bit with the cigarette truck. no joke, i LOVED other characters (joe and henry mainly) whining about my driving (if anything it made me drive worse!)

police behavior: the lingering wanted status for both cars and people, while an absolute pain in the ass, added a lot more realism and tension. having to sneak home after the jewelry store job was, though irritating as hell, exciting. it also gives you more reason to use the clothing stores and auto shops. was honestly kind of surprised this wasn’t in other games. mostly i don’t remember the cops being too hard to get rid of, or having any other gripes about their programming.

hud: i hated the minimap honestly; it was hard to read, it didn’t show if enemies were on your level or above/below, and it didn’t show friendly npcs. it also just kinda looked bad. the health bar was confusing as hell at first too but i did eventually figure it out; it looked neat though and it didn’t take up much room. overall the hud was kinda ugly but that’s just me. i don’t recall if you can disable it (i never tried) but a quick google suggests no, at least not without mods, which sucks.

soundtrack/radio: fantastic. lovely score though not my favorite (ending song was a gut punch, though). wildly chronologically inaccurate licensed music, but most good fifties songs came out after ‘51 so i don’t care (hell, if they’d been accurate it likely wouldn’t have been distinct enough from the ‘45 songs). the choice of scripted songs was very well done and the radio stations were very distinct–having djs with clear personalities was awesome. introduced me to some cool songs (billy merman cover of 900 miles, my beloved) and the amount of little richard was much appreciated. the radio ads were more tolerable than in m3, or i remember them that way. wasn’t too fond of how, unlike the other games, the radio does NOT continue to play in big map screen and instead it plays its own, honestly very creepy map theme. on an additional sound design note, the police sirens in this were really really eerie to me, which was neat.

dlcs: i have not played the dlcs and i don’t really intend to. i’ve not heard good things about them and there was a huge lost opportunity for expansion upon the story, especially with the jimmy stuff (my gripe there is mostly that it’s a completely alternate universe).

final thoughts: overall, despite being evidently a fan-favorite nowadays, in my honest opinion i think it’s kind of the weakest of the (original) series as a video game (still one of my favorite pieces of media). this has been largely forgotten and i was not at all involved in the series when 2 came out, but i’ve heard it was largely hated by diehard tcolh fans at first only to gain popularity later. i truly loved the characters and the setting but i really wish we got more time with them, i wish so much content hadn’t been cut, and i wish it didn’t have that lingering unfinished feeling.

mafia 3

wildly different gameplay than the first two games, and while a lot of players hated that, honestly i loved it. it was a lot easier to take my time with it, and while the missions could get a bit grindy (not something i personally minded, but compared to earlier games i see why it could be an issue), there were some cool locations and you could at least decide how you wanted to go about it, something made easier by the solo gameplay. the more structured end-of-district missions were cool as hell, though tbh i don’t think i’d want it to be all scripted like that. on the other hand, it did get very lonely at times with nobody to ride along you and chat during missions, something that became extremely obvious upon playing the dlcs where i had donovan & roxy with me. i have experienced glitches with this one, a couple of which required restarting missions, but nothing truly game-breaking. the fact it always turns off my subtitles when i first boot it up is irritating as hell though. character tags for dialogue subs were nice.

open world & graphics: imo the best open-world hands down, it gave you so much room to explore and i love just existing in new bordeaux; feels like home somehow, at least for me. the existence of the fuse boxes you wiretap and useful collectibles like the circuit plugs, tac vests, adrenaline shots, and random wads of cash (lol) in addition to a ton of purely aesthetic ones encouraged exploration even if you aren’t normally a collector (which tbh i’m not). you’re getting on rooftops, on balconies, in alleyways, in stores and diners, in random people’s backyards and even houses; i’ve said it before but it appeals so strongly to my urge to get into shit that i can’t irl. and don’t get me started on the boats, that rocked (i think more games should have boats). the lack of stuff to do in stores (besides rob the cash register and maybe grab collectibles) was kind of disappointing, especially given i’d probably make way more use of them in this than in m2, but being able to visit the underbosses & lieutenants whenever still scratched the “go interact with people” itch, and the assistants (jb/betty/hank) you could call was a very convenient way of doing things. i also appreciated the random npc conversations and the way npcs on the street will say things to you that sometimes lincoln will respond to (those quick exchanges like “how’re you doing?”) added a lot of atmosphere. the districts had really distinct vibes not just in terms of architecture but also how the npcs looked and acted. i appreciated the random enemies and allies hanging around, felt very dynamic. a truly, truly beautiful game too, though the mirrors don’t work. the weather system was also really nice, although i wish there was a way to sleep through nights/storms because they can be kind of a pain to fight in (or sleep till night, if you want to work under cover of dark); while we’re on the topic, the fact lincoln seems to (technically) stay awake for weeks on end does get real weird whenever i think about it; it also would’ve been nice to see food in game just for atmospheric reasons, even though i liked the health system as mentioned below.

combat: gunplay was generally satisfying and felt balanced, and while the inability to carry more than two guns (one big, one small) is a little annoying, it didn’t bother me all that much once i found ones i liked. the stealth gameplay was hands-down my favorite; you had way more opportunity to do it, you could take on enemy territory as you pleased and find multiple ways into the target location, the survival knife tbh makes for some incredibly satisfying stealth kills, and the whistle feature is a godsend. it’s also very fun to get a bunch of enemies all riled up and actively searching for you, if you want to give yourself a challenge. the “q to punch, left alt to dodge” melee was far preferred to mafia 2’s mouse-clicking, as it made fights go a lot quicker and forced me to actually stay on my toes dodging (it’s harder and i’m worse at it, but it feels much more realistic and overall more satisfying). intel view was much appreciated and is also closely tied to lincoln’s army background (and donovan’s bootleg cia setup, presumably), though i could see how it might arguably make things too easy. personally i hate struggling to find enemies so i liked it. the throwable weapons are fantastic (throwing knives and screaming zemis my beloved), loads of variety, though the knives are a pain to find again if you miss your target and i wasn’t sure how the hell to use some of the others (landmines, namely). i fucking love that lincoln can swim; saved my ass a few times, and tbh i’d love more gaming protags who don’t insta-drown. the alligators were a nice touch if annoying (i almost died to them a couple times lol). as far as healing goes, the collectable adrenaline shots that you could administer in battle combined with the mild regen was nicely done and let you stock up before big fights; immediate healing saved my ass loads of times, and it was possibly my favorite way of doing things out of all the games. the enemy (marcanos, dixie mafia, ensanglante) retaliation was also a very cool feature. overall the combat was by far my favorite of the trilogy.

cars: the cars handled very nicely, the best out of the series imo, which i guess is a product of the 1968 setting. the slow-motion driving, though i don’t use it much, has saved my ass a few times and let me pull off some neat stunts and is quite a unique feature. there were some cool unlockable cars but the lack of customization for random ones off the street and lack of a garage system was pretty damn disappointing. i didn’t notice if wet roads drove any differently than dry (i don’t believe so?) but it would’ve been cool if they did. i got my tires shot out a lot which was irritating. the rearview mirror was a nice touch but i do wish you could turn it off. no speed limiter, i don’t think?

police behavior: the way police responded wildly differently depending on different neighborhoods was brilliant storytelling, and you could really tell the difference–you should’ve seen me trying to steal a car in frisco fields before i had the lockpicking perk, confident i could escape before the cops even showed up like i had in other neighborhoods, only to get instantly swarmed and have to tear out of there so fast i ended up wrecking the damn car (the air i caught before doing so, though–chef’s kiss). now that’s variety baby! hell, in frisco i kept getting random cops on my ass when civilians heard my gunshots during side missions, and they didn’t give up easy. the fact that the blue attention arrow (you know the one i mean?) showed up regardless of whether they were after you or not was a brilliant bit of environmental storytelling that really drove home the fact lincoln was being watched even when he did nothing wrong. the way it did search zones was well done too. the lack of a lingering wanted feature, though it made my life a hell of a lot easier, is a bit unrealistic; might’ve been interesting if you only got it in high-cop-activity neighborhoods like frisco. i appreciated the extent to which they search for you, as annoying as it was; it added drama. absolute hell to ditch them in car chases though, which was noticeable considering the random mob/cult retaliation cars were usually fairly easy to leave in the dust.

hud: much preferable minimap to 2–it showed you if npcs were above/below you as well as showing allies in addition to enemies & cops, was easy to read, and also just looked nicer lol. the health bar was extremely easy to read. it would be real nice if you could disable the damn things without mods, though; sometimes a man wants to take a fucking screenshot! overall, very legible if a bit bland.

soundtrack/radio: killer! the score itself is gorgeous, and the collection of licensed songs is fantastic (i’m a huge sucker for ‘60s music though). very careful attention to chronological accuracy, and the choice of songs during cutscenes and specific missions (del shannon’s “runaway” while escaping with álvarez!) was great. all three radio stations had very distinct character; djs would’ve been nice but it’s not a huge gripe. the station sweepers were cool but the commercials were annoying as all fuck. the uncle lou ad going off air after you kill him was a nice touch (and a relief lmao). the voice and remy had very well-written shows (like, fuck remy, but his persona was believable), but they ran way longer than my drives across the map so i ended up awkwardly waiting in the car to listen, then getting impatient and giving up–a downside of the lack of scripted driving. “all along the watch tower” as a title song was a hell of a choice, and it worked.

dlcs: the dlcs were well-integrated into the story and gameplay, brought some really unique content without feeling too forced, introduced characters whose presence made sense. they gave you stuff to do outside the main storyline that was really nice when i felt like dicking around without progressing the plot. sammy’s bar renovations gave me something to spend my cash on, which honestly i haven’t used much otherwise.

final thoughts: gameplay wise, this one is definitely my favorite. it’s been an extremely long playthrough (i haven’t actually done the absolute last mission yet) which has some downsides but overall was a lot more relaxed than the others and had much more room for screwing around, exploring, etc which was valuable to me. i understand the gripe about no chapters (for series inconsistency reasons mostly) but personally it didn’t bother me and overall i absolutely don’t get the hate for it, mafia 3 is a great fucking game.

mafia definitive edition

twenty chapters long (combining two from the original), it was the first mafia game i played and has a special place in my heart for that reason. i have some complaints, but i adored the game on my first playthrough; i’ve yet to replay but i’m considering. not too quick of a playthrough, especially with that goddamn race. in terms of mechanics it had a lot of similarities to mafia 3, since it used the same engine, so some of this is a bit briefer. same as 3, it had character tags for dialogue subs, thank god. i mostly didn’t deal with any glitches, except for one major one: the armored car section completely broke because of a graphics issue where the turret hitbox seemed not to register, so none of my shots landed even with aim assist; online advice said to fiddle with graphics settings, and turning off one feature (v-tuning? i forget the name) let me beat it almost instantly, but if i hadn’t known that it would’ve made that section literally unbeatable and the game unplayable, which is a pretty major flaw. i’m not sure if it’s been patched yet but i sure as hell hope.

open world & graphics: the graphics and setting design are spectacular. i’ll be honest, seeing the intro sequence for the first time damn near brought me to tears; it felt like coming home. lost heaven is a beautiful city...with fuckall to do. pretty much zero downtime during missions, combined with a free ride that had absolutely jack shit to do for kicks besides drive, antagonize pedestrians & cops, and those obnoxious herbert baskerville missions (i haven’t done much, but they really haven’t done it for me tbh) results in...a world you can explore, sort of, but it’s not even that enjoyable. all those weapons in vinny’s workshop and nobody to use ‘em on–would it kill the devs to spawn a few enemies to fight? or to let us explore inside mission locations? (which, btw, makes collections hell to complete because you have to replay whole chapters, and unless you’re a diehard collector probably isn’t gonna be worth it to most just for that). or to even let me climb on stuff easier? or to give us any kinds of shops, or food somehow, or have any characters besides ralphie (doesn’t talk to you at all), vinny (has like one or two lines), and lucas bertone (whom i visited loads because he actually talks)? it was lonely as hell and driving around started getting depressing, as much as i enjoyed the scenery. for a truly gorgeous, detailed, giant map (the countryside went on for miles!) they wasted it with no interactivity. at least the random npcs will sometimes say hi to you like in mafia 3.

combat: gunplay was very easy to learn and very fun. i’m not sure if this was specific to easy difficulty (it was my first game of the series and on an unfamiliar computer, give me a break) but there was a neat feature with the crosshairs where they’d turn red if you were on target to hit and form an x if the shot would be fatal, so i got real good at pistol headshots real quick (picked this up again in mafia 3 even without the red crosshair but struggled in mafia 2, so i suspect it’s partly a game engine thing). melee was the same “q to punch, alt left to dodge” as mafia 3 that kept me on my toes, albeit a little clunkier given tommy isn’t a combat trained vet (nice attention to detail albeit potentially motivated by fan complaints toward previews), so i had fun with it. knives and bats were nice but i found little chance to use them, knives especially. the stealth missions sucked major ass (one you had to get right up behind them and one you couldn’t stealth kill–just for relaxation, my detested). the healing system with the med boxes scattered throughout missions was pretty damn brutal and i got killed a lot (granted i was inexperienced so idk how i’d fare on a rerun), which definitely made me strategize, and honestly it helped balance out the easy shooting. i’ve heard gripes it was too easy (aside from the fucking race!), and while i played on the lowest setting, i’m kind of inclined to agree, though i’d have to see on a replay on medium/hard.

cars: the driving, once i got the hang of it, was surprisingly smooth, though driving in free ride after i’d been playing mafia 3 was a trip. some of those ‘30s cars handle like hell though (race car my detested), and one time in free ride i snagged a car in front of a cop just to see what he’d do...well, turns out it was a jalopy with a top speed of 41 mph, and he chased me down and shot me. on the other hand, the hearse from the saint and the sinner survived me whipping off the top of a hill, slamming down through the trees, and crash landing in the airport parking lot to ditch the cops (wasn’t in good shape afterward, but she made it!) so make of that what you will. i don’t recall a speed limiter either. the motorcycles were fucking awesome. all in all not bad.

police behavior: considering i’ve heard the cops in tcolh were absolutely brutal, comparatively this was a cakewalk. they were a huge pain to get off my ass in certain chase sequences, but so long as i stayed out of sight especially when they were first called out, they’d give up way too easy, even on hard mode (something i tested pretty extensively in free ride). lack of wanted feature was surprising to me even when i had yet to play mafia 2; i ended up ditching the hearse in the saint and the sinner before we got back into town, though that was as much about the fact it was slow as hell by then as getting recognized (but still).

hud: similar to mafia 3, especially the minimap, which honestly looked even nicer tbh. very legible, and afaik you can disable it easily (photomode). no complaints here.

soundtrack/radio: absolutely beautiful original score; the main theme will genuinely never cease to haunt me and is pretty much without question my favorite original song of the series. i’m not huge on thirties music so nothing stood out to me as far as licensed songs, but it was a nice and very atmospheric collection. the radio stations felt much less distinct but the berringers commercials were funny, and overall the ads weren’t annoying at all really. the news breaks were pleasant and well-timed. i don’t actually know if djs would’ve added much here, really.

dlcs: besides a few outfit/car packs? there are none! for fuck’s sake, h13.

final thoughts: a gorgeous and very fun game that could stand to let the player breathe a little. cutting the lucas bertone end-of-chapter optional missions (and adding the cars to free ride instead) was a mistake, because that would’ve given the player a chance to fuck around in-chapter, especially given free ride is so damn empty. overall, despite its flaws, the game is a generally well-paced experience that i really enjoyed.

mafia 4: my hopes

i expect it’ll be chapter style like 1 and 2, rather than more open like 3; i don’t really care either way but slightly more structure might be nice. i do hope it’ll be on the longer side (longer than 2, at least) but...i don’t know if i expect that. that would also mean more of a wait till it comes out but that’s probably worth it. here’s hoping they put character names in dialogue subtitles!

open world & graphics: good visual design (given the quality we’ve seen, i’m not at all concerned) and interactivity. give us shops, give us random npcs that engage with the player (the “how you doing?” went a long way), give us chances to talk to side characters, give us the ability and reason to go get into shit like in mafia 3. give us FREE RIDE with stuff to do (enemies to fight and locations to explore, namely) that isn’t horribly lonely and limited, and give us time to screw around in the main story (specifically, let us end chapters at our own discretion like mafia 2 rather than automatically like mafia DE) that won’t result in having to restart stuff if we die. honestly i much preferred the integrated free ride style of mafia 3 though i have no expectation of that again given i seem to be very in the minority there–but please, i want a good balance of plot progression and messing around. oh, and let me climb on things.

combat: unlimited arsenal would be nice, so long as switching isn’t clunky, but i wouldn’t mine the 3/DE style of one big gun, one small; so long as the gunplay isn’t totally fucked i don’t really care. i am however begging for melee in the style of mafia 3 & DE and not 2–make us block on the spot and not just hold it down, that shit got so boring so fast. i’m also desperate to see mafia 3 style stealth, especially enemy searching, the whistle feature, and knives. pleeeease give us melee weapons and the chance to use them. intel view or similar would be nice but is very character specific so i have no hopes of it and i’m fine with not getting it. i’d love for there to be some kind of food in game (at least alcohol like in 2), but i’d rather a healing system closer to mafia DE or mafia 3–or if they do food, at least make it easier to find during levels or able to be carried with you. and let us swim, dammit! unless it’s set in los ondas and there’s no water, but still.

cars: i’m leery of these 1920s automobiles having shit cornering and top speeds, but if they handle like mafia DE’s cars did, i’m fine with it. rearview mirror (disableable!) and speed limiter would be nice. and give us motorcycles! and boats, if applicable. mafia 2 style garage system and customization please for the love of god. and other characters bitching about our driving!

police behavior: lingering wanted feature on cars/players (especially cars), and differing police response based on neighborhood. more intense search for suspects. don’t get so pissy over traffic offenses.

hud: legible, detailed, and disableable. show us allies and give us the hollow icons if npcs aren’t on the same level as the player. and make the health bar easily readable for the love of god.

soundtrack/radio: my hopes are not particularly high for the licensed songs given it’s almost certainly a 1920s setting (i’m still bitter about that ‘70s soundtrack we aren’t getting, and also i’ve had a very hard time finding pre-1930s music in the past), but here’s hoping we get a good original score and distinct radio stations. djs would be nice. i do have high hopes the newsbreaks and ads will be pleasant this time.

dlcs: hard to predict or hope for anything when we know basically nothing of the game, but i hope we actually get at least one (hopefully more) and i hope they’re well-integrated like mafia 3’s were.

final thoughts: i kind of doubt we’ll get this, but put goddamn subtitles on ALL speech, not just the main dialogue. radio announcements? subtitle it. random npc chatter in the background? subtitle it. stack them and make the less important ones slightly smaller if there’s cross talk (hell, especially subtitle things if there’s cross talk), but for fuck’s sake it’s basic accessibility and the fact i never see this done irritates me to no end. also, i really hope we see food in game. doesn’t even have to be for health reasons i just want my little pixel buddy to eat. and let me sit down, sitting down should be in more games. and also, please for the love of god don’t have loads of timed missions; i don’t think it will given we haven’t seen a lot of them besides the joe’s adventures dlc, but just in case.

#IT'S HERE FINALLY #mafia 2 #mafia 3 #mafia definitive edition #m4 speculation

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