Mafia III in a nutshell

With the release of Mafia III right around the corner, your idea of what the game is and what it isn’t could become somehow distorted, taking into account hours you probably spent watching pre-alpha gameplay footage and getting through tons of screenshots. If that’s the case, check out our beefy hands-on preview based on actual experience; it answers all the questions as thoroughly as possible.

But what if what you really need is a list of solid facts? Well, we thought of that too – here’s everything you need to know about Mafia III in a nutshell.

The hero, the story, and the setting

• Out (anti)hero’s name is Lincoln Clay. He’s a Vietnam vet who’s just returned home. After the Italian mob betrays and murders his family, he forms a new network of allies, and is ready to exact his revenge on everyone that hurt him and his people in the past.
• The game is set in a fictional city of New Bordeaux, based on 1960s New Orleans, Louisiana’s oldest mob center. The designers have recreated the city’s most iconic landmarks and areas, such as the French Quarter, and filled the remaining squelchy outskirts with… alligators.
• Many bars, gas stations and garages are accessible, although interactions within them seem severely limited.
• The plot is conveyed through a multi-perspective narration, which presents Lincoln’s story as seen through the eyes of both his buddies and foes.
• Clay can’t escape racism, and neither can the player; the resentment manifested towards the protagonist by New Bordeaux residents is overwhelming, and has been embodied in its most extreme form as the Southern Union – the game’s version of the Ku Klux Klan.

The objectives

• Taking over New Bordeaux is what the game’s all about, and conquering it district-by-district is how the Mafia does business.
• Having dealt with their army of bodyguards, you can either kill the district’s boss (for an instant money shot) or spare them (and get them to provide a “delayed financial gratification”).
• The seized city districts can then be handed over to one of Lincoln’s underbosses (like Vito or Cassandra), who take care of keeping your bank account full and have your back covered when you need it. Be careful to share the territory in a fair way, though, for when one of your mafia family members feels underappreciated, they may even tee off a riot.
• The Mafia empire is built upon favors – Clay gets a district, a family member gets their hands on it and makes Lincoln’s wishes come true in return. These favors include getting rid of the heat, calling in hired guns, or sending a courier to safely deposit Clay’s money (otherwise it’s lost upon death.)
• There are plenty of objectives in each district waiting to be rounded out. These range from shaking down mobsters and killing street dealers to destroying drugboats and ransacking mafia bosses’ safes.

The gameplay

• You can play stealthy, and the game provides you with the mechanics to do so efficiently – hiding behind covers, whistling to lure your enemies, lockpicking, and buying silencers to score them stealth headshots are all included.
• The police won’t start their pursuit if all the witnesses of a crime committed by Lincoln are eliminated. In addition, if there’s no one around besides Clay’s victim, the game will indicate that they can be murdered without rising the heat level.
• The game includes restricted areas – zones crawling either with cops or hostile mobsters.
• A firearm, once acquired, can be upgraded. Lincoln can only carry one two-handed rifle, one sidearm, grenades, and adrenaline shots. To buy more guns, ammo and protective gear, Clay has to reach out to a merchant that keeps all the goodies kept in his special van’s trunk.
• Drive-by shooting makes an appearance, and is surprisingly effective – the game auto-aims at enemy vehicles’ tires when Lincoln empties his clip, which makes losing the tail (by spectacularly crashing all of its participants’ cars) a lot easier.
• Collectibles scattered around the city are back, this time in greater-than-ever quantity and form, including: Playboy magazines, Vargas’ pin-up girls, propaganda posters, icons, vinyl albums, and even hot rods.
• Voodoo dolls present in the game can be used to outsmart some of the religious-type opponents.
• The radio is filled with over 100 licensed tracks (that often kick in during missions) and many talk shows are true to the spirit of the 1960s.
• On the other hand, the not-so-1960s GPS is in again. This time the optimal route is not only shown on the minimap, but also materializes as a set of 3D direction markers directly on the road.

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