3.5/5 ★ – ElementaryGaming's review of Mafia III: Definitive Edition.

It's easy to see this game being better-recieved if it wasn't a part of the Mafia series, because it deviates from what came before it in several ways. The choice to tell a drastically different story than the first two games is odd, but it does commit to this new direction and it works. It still tells a mature story with well-written characters. There are very solid voice acting and motion capture performances throughout. Like the other Mafia games, this is a period piece, and it tackles the civil rights era unlike any game that has come before or after it, which is extremely admirable. The DLC missions are also very impressive with the way they add to the game's world and they do not feel like busywork in the slightest. This game is best experienced sticking to the main story and DLC missions, and just moving past the forgettable side missions. Because the game features 1960s-era racism, there is an embarrassing "Don't Hurt Us, We're Good People" virtue-signal message from the developers at the beginning, just in case you thought the people who made the game were actual white supremacists. Considering how fearless the first two Mafia games were, seeing this unnecessary pandering at the beginning of this one was very disappointing. The atmosphere, while not reaching the heights of the past, is still above average thanks to an excellent soundtrack with a number of great instrumentals that kick in when you enter battle, as well as licensed 60s and 70s music. It really adds a cinematic feel to the game's action and makes lengthy car rides less boring than they otherwise would be. The gameplay feels very smooth. Both the shooting and driving feel great, and the player can customize his car and weapon loudout to suit his preferences. There is a decent (if simple) stealth system, and it's actually desirable to utilize stealth as much as you can if you're playing on hard, because the gunfights can have serious difficulty early on, before your character is upgraded. The game itself works well, and offers simple, destructive fun with a side of stealth. It's just very reliant on the gaming trend of its generation, which is fighting your way through enemy areas on the map and taking them as your own, without much deviation. The driving missions offer nice variety, because they're often action-oriented and the player is given excellent controls for shooting while driving. A big plus is how enemy encampments can be approached in a variety of ways, and the player can decide how he wants to proceed. The open-ended nature of the missions keeps things interesting over time. But there is still too much downtime spent driving place to place, and eventually the whole gameplay loop starts to feel repetitive. It's nice that so much effort was put into the in-game radio to alleviate this. There is very, very little variety in its core story missions. The enemy AI also remains the same throughout, meaning that there is no sense of difficulty scaling from beginning to end; if anything, the game feels easier as you go on, thanks to the many possible health and weapon upgrades. This is a lengthy game, and one that would have benefitted greatly from cutting its runtime in half. The stealth mechanic is also too easily exploited, allowing the player to pile up bodies around a corner as he lures one enemy at a time. Like Mafia DE 1 and 2, this "Definitive Edition" his is among the buggiest games I've ever played. Somehow, it's even more buggy than what came before it. Most of them were merely amusing, but some hurt the experience. Here is a list of random weird bugs that I encountered during my playthrough: - Screen tearing throughout. -Once a cutscene replayed itself when it had already played once. -Once the music wouldn't stop playing, no matter where I was, even if I exited a vehicle. -Once I heard a loud, random explosion, and suddenly, the cops were all over me. I later discovered a pile of 5 cars which had randomly exploded in an alleyway due to no action of my own. -Three times, I entered a building which was supposed to have lights on but instead was pitch-black. -I paused a cutscene, and when I resumed, the subtitles did not resume with the rest of the dialogue. -A menu would not progress when I pressed X. -The camera did not move from one fixed angle while driving after a cutscene, leaving me unable to see my car. -A "health restored" popup did not fade away. What really hurts Mafia 3 is the way small gameplay annoyances pile up over time: At the beginning, you have to drive a long cross-trek trip just to deposit money into your bank, and if you don't, you lose half of what you're carrying when you die. There is no fast travel, and objectives often require you to drive lengthy trips across the map. Some side missions are simply driving from point A to point B, and that's literally it. The racket missions, while fun initially, lack variety and are very high in number. These things make the game feel longer than it needs to be. The removal of purely tedious missions and the addition of a fast travel system would have done a lot to alleviate these issues. The DLC chapters are highly recommended, and conveniently come free with the definitive edition. Not only are the stories interesting, but they introduce some new gameplay elements, which is something the core game really needed. "Sign of the Times" is especially a standout, as it takes a weird, psychological turn by focusing on a 60s cult, with some campy horror elements thrown in. It's a total curveball compared to the usual Mafia content, and it's good fun. It even worked in a truly shocking story moment. Claims that Mafia 3 is a "bad game" are overblown and inaccurate. It's good, violent fun with ambitious historical storytelling and standout DLC missions. Its gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of The Godfather game, which is another game where you slowly take over enemy territory and grow stronger. It's got an interesting story that provides a good incentive to keep playing and see what happens next, with writing far above average your usual action game. But as a game in the Mafia series, it doesn't deliver the constant forward movement of its plot the way the first two do, it is far more repetitive, and its plot is less focused overall. A core strength of the previous games was their limited open world which didn't bog the player down with unnecessary tasks, whereas Mafia 3 features the opposite. It is too lengthy and repetitive for its own good. But even still, its solid gameplay and plot offer a good enough ride.