We recall why we loved and hated the games of the legendary series.
Retro FM
In addition, you can arrange at least some kind of lawlessness only in the “free play” mode, outside the storyline campaign. And to do in Lost Haven, frankly, there is nothing. You can transport people by taxi, kill mafiosi, buy new weapons, paint a car … And, in general, that’s all. After Liberty City, the local sandbox looked homely.
But once we could only dream of such a schedule
But even those who honestly followed the plot did not immediately find “fun”. For the first couple of hours, the game tells the melancholy story of taxi driver Thomas Angelo, who, to his misfortune, helped two bandits escape from the pursuit. Moreover, the formation of a novice criminal is full of everyday, not too exciting tasks. After that intense chase in the beginning, we returned to the everyday life of an ordinary taxi driver: that is, we transported passengers, observing all the rules of the road – no crush of pedestrians and driving into the red light! Only then, after becoming a member of the mafia family, could gangster affairs be taken up. To beat a couple of cars, toss up accomplices to the points, to collect profits from local businesses … In short, everyone who was waiting for the crazy dynamics of GTA III could experience burning disappointment and turn off the game. At first glance, besides the setting, she has absolutely nothing to offer.
An offer you cannot refuse
As a rule, the actions are remembered thanks to the cool gameplay sections. Here is the car chase, here is a difficult defense of the heights or the intense assault of the fortress … Mafia was remembered by completely different things. No, it’s not about the mercilessly difficult “racing” mission, because of which many at one time abandoned the game. I am talking about dozens of little stories. I still remember how a seemingly simple matter of collecting “tribute” turned into a shootout in a suburban motel. Or the moment when Tommy ran away from the gateway from two armed thugs. Or a robbery of a port, where in cigar boxes there were no cigars at all …
For their time, Mafia also had absolutely gorgeous clips on the engine – none of the competitors, including GTA, had anything like that at all
All these situations are firmly embedded in the memory, but at the same time they still remained quite mundane and vital. Like the game world itself: empty, but incredibly beautiful and, most importantly, logical. In Lost Haven, cars consume gasoline and do not fly into scrap metal after a couple of bullets. Having turned into a nook and crank, you can face your forehead with a passer-by. You can shoot the car that’s hanging on your tail yourself, but it can also be accidentally shot down by a passing truck … Mafia constructed a damn believable story that captivated exactly what it is easy to imagine in reality. Unlike the Rockstar brainchild, where you could hijack a tank and ride it around the city.
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Plastic gangsters
But the scale was not felt. Not so much because of the chopped narrative (the first Mafia also had difficulties with this), but because of completely inexpressive characters. This was especially true of the protagonist. Vito Scaletta was supposed to show the world an advanced facial animation, but for some reason for some reason he reacted with a stone face; except that sometimes grins and slight anger slipped. It’s a shame. The beginning of the game, where the hero returns home from the front, was just exemplary: as if you were watching a good gangster movie made by Brian DePalma or Martin Scorsese. But, alas, only dry, functional dialogues in the spirit of “go-give-bring-kill” remain farther from simple, human conversations.
In the second part, videos between missions have become even longer and richer in terms of direction. It’s only a pity that because of the expressionless characters, it was very boring to watch them
Terminator in the service of the mafia
This outraged the fans of the first part – but, of course, pleased those who were not familiar with it. Is it worth blaming the developers for “rendering” their masterpiece? Hardly. Nevertheless, over ten years, the industry has changed dramatically. It was naive to expect that with a staff of several hundred employees and orientation towards the AAA market, the studio will again give out something in the spirit of The City of Lost Heaven. Nevertheless, the game found its audience: not everyone was dissatisfied. On the contrary, many gladly completed Mafia II in one sitting … And forgot about it the next day.
However, the episode with the shooting of the diner is still hard to forget – it’s really good
Gangsta sh * t
Against this background, the authors decided to dramatically change the course and aesthetics of the game. A minimum of wide-brimmed hats, no jazz, instead of New York – New Orleans, and the main character was a black Vietnam veteran Lincoln Clay. The public, to put it mildly, did not appreciate it. And when it turned out that the protagonist of the second part Vito Scaletta would serve the protagonist … In general, the “excessive” tolerance caused a rather big scandal.
Crowbcat Mafia III Bug Gallery
What is insanity
Because of these problems, it was even harder for the players to accept the new gameplay loop. In Mafia III, we had to, no matter how much, take our hands on a whole city in order to take revenge on the mafia, who had destroyed all the close people of the protagonist. How to do it? As in any other sandbox that came out somewhere after Far cry 3, – methodically clean each area from the villains. The scheme is the same everywhere: come to the point, ask the informant. Find an accomplice in the main department, kill an accomplice in the main department. Repeat until credits.
Another thing is funny: the first part began just as sadly, but it became more and more diverse with the development of the plot. The third, as well as the second, offered an incredibly spectacular outset, only to then dump a lot of boring tasks on the player, worthy of an errand boy rather than a big criminal boss.
However, the Mafia III had its merits, one of which was, oddly enough, the plot. Firstly, he has a good presentation – the story was told through an “interview” with key characters who expressed their views on the events and actions of the hero. Secondly, to the credit of the screenwriters, the main character is better written than it seems at first glance. Lincoln Clay is really a face, but it has principles. He can be both polite and aggressive. In the end, he has a decent motivation.
Thirdly, the secondary characters were no less interesting. Some even deserve a separate storyline – for example, the cunning Haitian Kassandra. Well-written dialogues and competent production of commercials greatly brings the game closer to the movies. So much so that many players endured monotonous gameplay just for the sake of the next round of the plot. After all, between the strings of dull post-shootings there were really cool set story missions in which there was everything: the intensity of emotions, and directing, and spectacular fights.
It is a pity that this did not save Mafia III from devastating criticism.
The final part of the famous series left the players at a loss: what’s next? Return to realism? Continuation of “pre-installation”? Online? Or beautiful sunset care? What do you think about the future series? Write your opinions in the comments!
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