The Nitty Gritty
As mentioned earlier, we got the game on Xbox One and it weighs in at just under 60GB. The game only has one version, but a Collector’s Edition was available in the pre-order phase which came with some really cool goodies and collectibles, but still the same version of the game that everyone else got. This in itself is quite nice as you don’t feel like you’re missing out if you only have the standard issue of the game or are then enticed to spend more than you had originally bargained for on a higher version just to get a few cool in-game cosmetics items, or fear that you might miss out on future content. Since the launch of the game, there have been a few chunky updates as CD Projekt Red kept its end of the deal to work on the game and make it shiny for us. Now – usually this would be an annoyance, but we were warned and they are doing it for us (yes – I know all updates and patches are for our enjoyment) but just a little warning for those of you who don’t have uncapped, or unthrottled, internet lines. The price at the time of this review is roughly between R800 and R1000 for digital versions and has already been on sale.The Story
You pick up the story of an ambitious young person (you can choose what you want them to be) who comes from one of three different backgrounds – Nomad, Streetkid, or Corpo. Your background choice determines how your story starts and how your player thinks and makes associations during the game. All have their own uniqueness about them so this game is definitely one to be played at least three times.
I chose Nomad and started on the outer limits of Night City where I was to meet a contact to help him smuggle something through the checkpoint and into the city.
Enter Jackie.
Jackie is the guy who becomes your friend no matter which game line you chose, but your meeting with him will vary. He becomes your hombre and partner in crime as you both set your eyes on the “major leagues” and becoming one of Night City’s most renowned.
Soon after you meet Jackie is where the pawpaw hits the fan, and you are thrown into the thick of it as you fight your way into the city (Nomad background) and find a place to lie low to lose the heat.
The game then cuts through a few scenes as you see yourself, V, and Jackie doing jobs and earning street cred for yourselves as you get higher and higher profile jobs. It is because of this success that one fixer, by the name of Dex, phones you up and offers you a spot on the heist of a lifetime. The one that will set you up in the "major leagues" and send you straight into legend.
This first heist acts as the intro to Cyberpunk 2077 as you learn all the bits you need to learn and get introduced to a whole bunch of lore that will come in handy for later on in the game.
Without giving away too much of the storyline for those of you who have not yet had the privilege of playing this game, the heist goes balls up in a big way and ends with a bang.
Welcome to Cyberpunk 2077...
It is here that your story truly starts, and you are introduced to Johnny Silverhand (Keanu – you’re breathtaking). Your and his story are intertwined in a glorious way and, of course, you have vendettas to settle – as any good story should.
Performance
At launch, the game did have its fair share of bugs and annoying glitches, but even so – nothing I came across was “game-breaking” in my opinion. Sometimes faces didn’t load in and details were obscured, some items would randomly fly around apparently on their own (Harry Potter – that you?) and the controls and combat did feel a little clunky. Beyond that though, all missions started without a hitch and the storyline pulled me in before I even knew what was happening. And besides, I’ve played with worse bugs and still loved the game. At first, I just put this down to my Xbox being the original Xbox One and being a little old – as I know that newer games don’t run as smoothly as they would on the One S or X, but then came the articles and CD Projekt Red swallowing their pride, owning up and then working to fix it. So, I gave the game a chance.
With each update, the game seemed smoother and the controls less clunky, still a far cry from what I am sure people were experiencing on the X or the next-gen consoles, and of course - in RTX glory. But this game was still fun, and I kept coming back for that reason – which in my books, is more than enough. With the latest update, my game has been running smoother than ever with almost no hiccups. My game does still struggle a little in high render areas where there are lots of lights and people and then things will take a second or three longer to load than they should, but I am positive that this is due to my device and am hopeful that this too will be addressed in the next big patch.
All in all, I do believe that I am not experiencing the full glory of Night City-based mainly on my older Xbox but even with that, the game still runs very well and is a heck of a lot of fun to play.
Final Thoughts
With all things considered – Cyberpunk may not have been the game that we were hyped for since that sneaky reveal at E3 2018, but it is still definitely a game that will be the main competitor for the upper echelons of my gaming list. The story is incredibly well made and with in-game choices and side missions being aplenty, there is so much to do to keep you exploring the richness that is Night City for hours!
And with the recent announcement of a FREE DLC for Cyberpunk dropping in the next few months, there are even more hours of game time to convince you to spend the money and hit the streets.
I definitely give Cyberpunk 2077 a solid 8 out of 10 stars as it’s one of the most captivating and fun games I’ve played in a long time.
So - wake up samurai, we have a city to burn.
A big thank you again to our friends over at Prima Interactive for giving us a chance to review this game.
The mic on the G2 II is detachable, which I have my own personal reservations about (ie. misplace) with a small little windscreen over the mic sensor to help eliminate the noise from the heavier breathers out there. The mic itself is easily moved around to get the best placement for comfort and clarity – both very important when barking out orders to teammates as you dominate the playing field.
The G2 II boasts 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound which fully immerses and gives the player game critical sounds to boost skill that extra virtual skill tier. This headset does not have vibration feedback but it really doesn’t like the bass and all other sounds come through crisp and clear.
The headset volume and mute function is easily controlled on the on-cable controls with the cable stretching far enough for you to rage back from the keyboard with little risk of ripping something off your desk – but with this sound, rage should happen less.
The 50mm drivers mean that the ear cuffs are large and comfortable with their soft leatherette padding which blocks out almost all the annoying background noise that can feed the wrong information to us.
The mute function is easy with just the click of a button with a small LED indicating muted or unmuted.
One shortfall of the headset is once again the software. Now being easier to find as it is not my first time with this rodeo. I had hoped for the software for the G2 II with it being called “Edifier Gaming Center.” These hopes were dashed as soon as I double-clicked though as the same outdated-looking control center opened up before me with very limited controls and things to do within the program. Adding to my frustration was the fact that I need a whole new program installed on my PC, which is exactly the same, for the same brand of headset. This is not a problem if you only own one – but when reviewing, you tend to have more than just one headset and so multiple programs with the same function is a little tiresome.
The software again is a big let down as I was once again left with a bitter taste for not being able to do more and personalize my experience even more.
So, all things considered, I give the G2 II 7.1 Virtual Surround Sound Gaming Headset from Edifier a solid 8 out of 10 stars.
The ear cups have a metal mesh finish with an RGB ring on the inside of each cup. The RGB is simplistic enough to keep the G4 looking classy but also - it is RGB. So, it’d fit in with most RGB crazy PC builds.
Edifier has opted for the retractable mic for the G4, which slides neatly up into the left ear cup when not in use. They have also included an RGB strip on the mic which is an easy way to see if your mic is muted or not.
The controls are easily found on the cable, with the cable itself being long enough to plug into any hard-to-reach USB port without feeling like you are hamstringing yourself.
The G4 also includes vibration feedback in the headset which, at first sounded and felt weird, but after playing with it for a bit, the responsiveness of the vibrations is not just hearing, but giving a feel to that 7.1 virtual surround sound, added to the responsiveness of my in-game reactions.
With me being a bit of an entry-level audiophile, I was skeptical of the choice of 40mm drivers over the 50mm drivers that I have become used to in other headsets. But the G4 has shown that sometimes dynamite really does come in small packages, with their drivers putting out some decent, good quality sound in music and gaming alike. The bass does feel a bit lacking in the headset and I did sometimes struggle to hear it in important game-clutch situations and in more subtle-bass music.
The first time I used the G4, I immediately put it through the bass test of Skrillex and it seemed to blow my mind away – but then, the next time I used it, it suddenly didn’t anymore. After some fiddling, I realized that the vibrations were turned on in that first, out-of-the-box experience and I had since turned them off (the thought of my ears vibrating was a bit much for me). So - flicking the vibrations back on, I got that same deep bass feeling again. The G4 really does bring new meaning to “Good Vibrations.” Again – I am fully aware that vibrations in headsets is not for everyone, in fact, I am still not entirely convinced of it myself, but do not write the G4 off just for having it.
The mic quality was good with people I spoke to not complaining once that they could not hear me, or of the dreaded in-game echo. I am also a fan of the retractable mic, as removable mics come with their own issues (losing it or temporarily misplacing it being a big one) and the traditional mics that flick up and out of the way can catch and break as well. With the G4 having a retractable mic, it also means that you really can position the mic well to maximize both comfort for yourself, as well as clarity for your teammates.
One big downer for me with the G4 was its software.
I felt that the software was not easy to find as it did not initiate with the plugging in of the device and had to be sourced from the Edifier website. Once you know where it is, it is easy enough but living in the world we do with plug and play, this did add to set up time a bit. The software itself also left much to be desired in my opinion. It felt a little more like something you would find on Windows Vista rather than a modern gaming headphone driver software. The software is very limited in use and the only thing you can do with it is a basic EQ.
The new Call of Duty game, produced by Treyarch, sees us going back to the Black Ops series which, in my humble opinion, is among the best Call of Duty games. Now some might immediately be put off due to the direction that the Black Ops arc took with Black Ops III and even with IV (which was released after the “boots on the ground” promise) but Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (referred to as Cold War from here on out as that is a mouth full of a name) takes us back to the days of Mason and Woods with some plausible deniability action in the true Black Ops style.
Multiplayer – as has been the staple for Call of Duty games since the start, the multiplayer menu sees all the game modes we know, like Team Deathmatch, Free For All, Hardpoint and many others. Cold War does, however, have a few unique game modes that sees teams battle it out across a handful of well-designed and intricate maps. On top of this - customisable loadouts, weapon skins, new operators, clan tags and emblems are all still there, along with the information about your skills that you don’t want to look at but need to see.
And for those of you who are wondering, no – there’s no Nuketown… yet.
Zombies – once again, some very sinister experiments have gone horribly wrong (or incredibly right depending on which side of the fence you’re standing) and Zombies have been released back into the world. Take on wave after wave of the undead horde alone, with friends or in a public queue and send the undead back where they belong. Learning from it’s past, Cold War Zombies has objectives that can be followed to unlock the underlying story in Die Maschine and find out exactly what those evil scientists were getting up to behind the iron curtain.
Also, hidden within Zombies, is a game mode called Dead Ops Arcade. This game mode has been sneakily tucked away in Black Ops games since the original Black Ops in 2010. As this is a “hidden feature” in the game, I’d rather just let you try this one out for yourselves. I will say this though, if you’ve played Dead Ops Arcade in any of the previous Black Ops games, then this one is definitely worth it.
Warzone – Call of Duty’s very own Battle Royale mode sees it’s second rendition come to life with Black Ops Cold War and, like with Modern Warfare, it will be free to play and stand almost as its own game within Cold War. If you’re still playing Modern Warfare Warzone and are worried about your future with that game, Call of Duty have assured us that Modern Warfare will still be getting updates for a long time to come.
The download size of the game sits neatly under 85GB (come one Modern Warfare) with the total size being broken up into optional “data chunks” which you can choose to keep or remove from your storage to better manage your space.
With exception of the compulsory base game size of 21,7GB, the optional data chunks are as follows;
- Campaign – 38,7GB
- Multiplayer – 15,3GB
- Zombies – 3,6GB
- Dead Ops Arcade – 6,2GB
- Content Packs – each of these are only 10.1mb
This is well played by Call of Duty as players who never make use of Zombies or players who have completed the campaign can choose to uninstall those chunks from their storage and save on precious hard drive space. This is especially cool for Warzone only players who do not have access to the other modes and so they can then just have the base game and Warzone installed.
What this looks like for future update sizes, I cannot say. But it is looking a lot better than the massive updates we’ve had to put up with on Modern Warfare.
One minor issue I did experience with the graphics of Cold War was during the cinematics. Now this issue is not really game based, but the fault more so lies within outdated and underspec hardware.
During cinematics, because of the high quality of the graphics, my xbox would really battle and what I was watching would become jumpy and laggy and the audio would often complete long before the video as I then had to suffer in actual silence as I watched till the end of the cinematic. This didn’t happen all the time and I did find on longer cinematics that my xbox eventually caught up and everything was smooth and synchronised. My old boy apparently just needed some time to catch his breath for all the hard work I was making him do.
Although irritating, this minor issue is really not game breaking in my opinion and still makes the game well worth it.
The game plays incredibly well across all game modes and each needs its own strategy and skillset to really excel at it. Gone are the days of sprinting and going Gung-ho on everything and anything that moved.
Focussing in a little more on the multiplayer game mode now - once I knew where to expect people and what angles I could get shot from, my stats significantly improved as I was able to make the key movement decisions needed that only come with map knowledge and game specific experience.
In this version of Assassin's Creed, the usual Brotherhood vs Templar battle is, of course, raging in the shadows (cue the motto) with the Templar order being the undisputed stronger party in the start of the game as it's wretched hand stretches across continents and its influence can be seen everywhere. In Valhalla, the names of the factions look a little different with the Brotherhood going by "The Hidden Ones" and the Templars going by "The Order of the Ancients."
I like it.
Eivor is a devoted and skilled Viking warrior who takes on a lot of the responsibility of establishing a new home for the Raven clan in England. He also is not afraid of death as he can be heard many times in the game making statements about destiny and his death being woven into the fabric of time.
As a bonus, Eivor is almost fully customisable as you can choose from a variety of hairstyles, beard styles and tattoos to create your own personal look.
England is a stark contrast to the snowy expanse of Norway but has its own beauty in all of the well-designed areas. The land is as diverse as the people fighting over it, with green hills, swamps and forested areas being broken by small villages, stone walls and Roman ruins. The weather in England helps add to the effect with thick fog and bursts of rain making it all the more realistic.
One thing that needs to be commented on, with my playing this on the original Xbox One (here's to hoping I get a Series S or X soon) the graphics, although not as great as they would be if experienced in all its 4K glory, are still incredible. The game does favour frame rate over graphic quality though and so I did notice that in times of "high-render" the quality of what I was seeing would drop ever so slightly so as to keep the game running silky smooth. Now some might not like this too much, but I don't really have an issue with it.
The gameplay focuses more on turning your foothold of a settlement in England into a stronghold of a homestead and securing allies in different territories than it does on taking down the members in the Order of the Ancients. You can, of course, focus in on the Hidden One's missions and eliminate every Templar scum that you can, and you will get some cool perks for doing this, but if you choose to just go a vikingr then you will only eliminate those Templar that sit where the interests of the Hidden Ones and the interests of your settling in England align.
Along with this, Viking (to raid) is a massive part of the game as you storm monasteries, army camps and strongholds from your longboat, burning and pillaging as villagers and monks flee in terror, flailing arms included. All so that you can take the hard-earned resources back to Ravensthorpe and further build and establish your Viking Homestead in England.
So, overall. I give the 12th, latest and best (in my opinion) Assassin's Creed title a whopping 9 out of 10 stars.
Now – with all that being said about the glory of the original game, Mafia I did come with its fair share of issues. It was not alone though, as most games from that era experienced similar limitations in what was known and possible within the realm of technology that existed then.
And so, 2K did something that a lot of other developers have done before them – take a classic and try and bring it into today’s era of gaming.
And they did a damn fine job of it too… mostly.
Voice Actors – 2K recast a lot of the voice actors in the overhaul of Mafia I which was met with a mixed bag of opinions. A large portion felt that the voice of the game’s protagonist, Tommy Angelo, was not quite up to the sound of the character he is made out to be in the game. Personally – I had no issue with his voice and thought it sounded fine. My struggles came in more with a certain Detective who keeps buying you coffee. His Irish accent just wasn’t doing it for me, and I can’t quite place my finger one why that is. I just know that I didn’t enjoy hearing him speak during the game’s many cinematic moments.
Driving – driving mechanics in the original game was very clunky and unresponsive. In the Definitive Edition however, the driving mechanics are a lot smoother and easily mastered as you send 1930’s vehicles sideways through intersections while missing old ladies, other vehicles and trams all taking up space on the roads and sidewalks of the city.
NPCs – the change to the way the NPCs react with the player and the environment is probably one of the biggest (second to visuals) overhauls that the game underwent. Like most NPCs in games from around 2002 (and some even today) where NPCs were more like mannequins and crash test dummies that didn’t really exhibit realistic human behaviours, the NPCs interact a lot more “human-like” in the Definitive Edition. Both with the player, as well as with each other and the playable environment.
Visuals – as expected in a remake/remaster of a classic, a drastic improvement in graphics and visual aspects of the game to bring it to more modern standards is a given. Can I just say, 18 years and a few generations jump have done Mafia I good. The textures of the game have been smoothened out and rendered well, even on my OG Xbox One console. Light and shadows move well while driving and walking and the visual aspects of the cinematics look good. Although some emotional face movements seem to have fallen away a bit (too much Botox in the code?).
It must be said that not all is fantastic in the visual department though. While driving or fighting, some surfaces occasionally take a bit longer to render in, causing a “shadow flash” effect as it snaps into existence. This also sometimes happens with cars that suddenly appear to fall in front of you or get caught up in some mystical obstacle in the middle of the road.
Apart from these changes to the overall look and feel of the game, not much else has changed in the Definitive Edition as it is a remaster of an old game, and not a remake. The story is mostly unaffected and unchanged, apart from a few added or altered lines. So, players returning to the game should not expect a new experience, but rather a remodelled experience of a classic. Think putting a fresh spray and wax on that classic car.
The game is also a lot less repetitive than Mafia III, where I felt that missions were very montonous and were all the same run, gun and kill a boss type of play but he world of Mafia III was more open and exploring between tasks was always a temptation. Mafia I’s missions came with a little more variety, which was helped a long by the deep story being told throughout the game of the rise of one immigrant cab driver to power and prominence in the "family" in the early 1930s.
The game really does focus on storytelling and so I often caught myself falling into getting from task to task to focus on the story. This is very different to my usual play style which is look everywhere and anywhere and take ages to get to task. With this aspect semi removed from Mafia I, I felt that the game could feel a little linear at times.
I did still enjoy playing the game a lot and really enjoyed the more relaxed feel I got from it. Whereas I often feel a little more tense after competitive gaming, Mafia I Definitive Edition really brought me back to the kick back, put your feet up and relax type of gaming that is sometimes so needed in a busy world.
With all that being said – if you have played Mafia I before, I wouldn’t recommend getting this one unless you are a fan or collector as there is no change to the story. You would essentially be buying a good book with a new cover, which there’s nothing wrong with. Just not if you’re only interested in the story.
If you haven’t played Mafia I before then I would suggest this for the great story telling and modernising of a classic game. As well as the relax game sessions that are so needed.
Overall, I would give Mafia I: Definitive Edition a solid 7 out of 10.
The game needs the following minimum specs to play on your system;
OS: Windows 8.1 or newer
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 @ 2.4ghz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 64000 @ 2.4ghz
Memory: 4GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 or ATI Radeon HD 5570
Direct X: Version 11
Storage: 32GB available space
But, of course, better specs will mean better performance and high quality.
The game then allows you to toggle between legacy and remastered graphics at any time during the game by hitting the space bar. I almost broke my space bar in the first 10 minutes as I was smashing that thing to see what it looked like back in 1999 and what they’ve changed.
I must say – this is probably one of the best remaster upscales I’ve seen as the game is smoother and much better quality and the difference is VERY visible, even to the most graphic blind gamers out there. Being an RTS game – don’t expect super realistic shadows and nature, but rather see an RTS game looking like it should in 2020.
I personally feel this was done so well as the remaster team at Petroglyph Games included members of the original dev team from Westwood Studios.
Playing through the campaigns of both of the titles included in the Remastered Collection, I was reminded again of the old school grind of games as walkthroughs on YouTube didn’t exist back then and so I again chose to push through and beat levels by figuring it out myself and saving often. So, if there are walkthrough and “game hack” methods on YouTube and other services, I don’t know because I haven’t checked. And that is the best way to play the game in my humble opinion.
The overall playing experience of the Remastered Collection has been tweaked and doesn’t feel as “clunky” as a lot of older games do feel when you replay them. Missions are challenging and require some tactics and strategy. Rushing through them will often result in a mission failure (I saw my fair share of these while playing the more challenging missions) or in a sub-par result.
Based on nostalgic value alone (which by now you would see is quite high for me), I’d give them Command & Conquer Remastered Collection a 12 out of 10.
But based on a fair play of the game and taking all things into fair consideration (including nostalgic value), I would give this game a solid 8/10.
The guys over at EnerGhack were super generous in sending some my way for me to test and try. And test it I did, as you’ll soon see, as I put it through the paces as I used it through a very busy time of my life and pushed EnerGhack to its limits, as well as my own, as I experimented with it in other areas of my life that fall outside of gaming.
While most energy supplements claim to help you with reactions, focus, endurance, energy and hydration while gaming, EnerGhack takes it a step further and out of the realm of gaming and makes the claim that it will help you with studying, gym and other high energy activities.
So, I took this statement are really put it to the test.
Luckily this drink came at a very busy time in my life (as you will see in a bit) even though lockdown started in South Africa and things were meant to quieten down a bit, in my life – it was the opposite.
So, I used the product in the following scenarios to see how it would help;
With all coffee shops and that being closed at this stage of our lockdown in SA (not that any would be open at 2am), the only source of extra energy I had was the EnerGhack that I brought along with me – and it REALLY did help. The minute I felt the drowsiness of a long day kicking in in the early hours of the morning, a few sips of EnerGhack really snapped me out of it and kept me going for an extra hour or so.
Overall, EnerGhack really did deliver on what they said they would and in all of the scenarios and times that I used the product, no jitters or slumps were experienced and I wasn’t left with that weird artificial sweetener taste in my mouth.
While we're on the topic of taste – the flavours of EnerGhack are all incredible in their own way but mixing them literally blew my mind as the flavours merged and worked in ways my brain could not even comprehend. I even let my wife have a few sips and her exact words were “you can taste that it’s an energy drink but its not gross at all,” which is all the proof you need knowing that my wife absolutely hates the taste of other energy drinks.
Currently, EnerGhack comes in four flavours. These are Raging Raspberry, Blueberry Bomber, Tropical Pineapple and Cosmic Lemon.
Of all the individual flavours, Raspberry and Pineapple definitely came out on tops in my books, and the mix of the two is very high up on my list of favourite mixes.
Being fortunate enough to have access to the full flavour range, I experimented with various different flavour combos and my favourite mix is definitely Lemon/Pineapple, followed closely by Raspberry/Pineapple. I even went as far as to mix all 4 flavours into one and, while not bad at all, it just turned into a “just fruity” flavour and definitely didn’t feature on my list of need to try again combos.
I do hope that new flavours will be added to the menu soon like hint hint mango, litchi and guava.
The game starts its introduction with a well-planned money heist with enough of a take that everyone involved could retire early and very happy.
However, as you guessed it - this is not the case!
Through massive betrayal and being forced to take a bit of a rest – as being shot in the face might require, Lincoln sets out on the world’s biggest revenge quest. Our friendly neighbourhood protagonist recruits the help of a CIA agent who he worked closely with in Vietnam and the two start on a path to not just kill those responsible for the betrayal, but to completely dismantle their kingdom from underneath them one brick at a time, plunging their world into instability the likes of which they've never experienced from their lofty thrones.
Unfortunately, this is another game that takes on the well-worn path of revenge but it does so in a unique way that almost brings a breath of fresh air into it, with snaps of real life (looking at least) clips of a court hearing to delve deeper into the slaughter that was Mr Clay’s takeover of New Bordeaux.
Before I give away the whole game (this isn’t a walkthrough), lets looks a little closer at what MAFIA III is.
From the start up
The Definitive Edition is not a remaster of the game, as I originally thought, but rather a repackage of the game into one collection in anticipation of the remaster of MAFIA I releasing later this year.
The repackage includes the base game of MAFIA III and all DLCs, as well as the Family Kick-Back pack which gives you a few exclusive cars and weapons to make use of in the game.
But is it really exclusive if everyone has it? Asking for a friend…
The total download size of the game on Xbox is around 56gb and can be yours for the low low price of R549 (at the time writing), or you can own the entire Mafia Trilogy for R999.
Not too shabby hey?
The Setting
As said above, the game is set in a fictional version of New Orleans, known as New Bordeaux. 2K has done a great job at providing us with a huge playing space and each area having it’s own unique flare and style, as well as each of the mafia in those areas having a slight twist to them.You really have everything from man eating alligators and red-necks brewing moonshine in the Bayou to classy upmarket suburban areas with pompous denizens with flashy cars and beach front homes.
There is no fast travel system available in game and so the map must be manually traversed (we recommend finding a car). This can sometimes be a tad tedious, but I learnt to love the drive with good music and classy drifts, enjoying the ever-changing city in each of the different areas. The game is well rounded off with a difference in the areas during the day and at night, and a full weather cycle.
Gameplay and Controls
The controls of MAFIA III are fairly easy to master with it having a very similar vibe to other criminal type open world games. You play in Third Person and control camera angles with the right stick and movement with the left. This allows you to move in one direction while quickly having a look down an alley or through a window without being too obtuse.
Combat is challenging but manageable as standing in the open will result in you getting gunned down. Moving from cover to cover is a must - obviously. Firing from cover is quite easy as using the aim control will automatically cause Lincoln to stand up or peer out of cover while aiming down sight. Aim assist can be adjusted from full snap on to nothing at all.
Gameplay is quite broad with various missions and collectables to go find spread out across New Bordeaux and there are a few races and just generally interesting places to go check out.
Building up your team and seeing how they start to benefit you, especially if you put a little time into building up their rackets, is a nice addition to this game as it does give the gamer that little bit of motivation to focus on something else other than just plodding along the main story line.
One aspect of gameplay that I personally found lacking was the actual variation in the main mission types. After taking my second area and starting on the third, I already got that dreaded gamer’s Deja vu feeling of the same monotonous gameplay. This feeling only heightened as I played on through the story and actually started to detract from a fairly captivating and well written story of revenge, albeit a bit of a cliché storyline.
The missions really did fall into a creative rut with every mission being attack this hot spot and this one, do a few cash steals or destroy stuff to a certain value, defeat the lieutenant who came in to check what’s up and then defeat the boss once you removed all his lieutenants from the area.
You’d think after 4 or 5 of these, the lieutenants and area bosses would wizen up and not walk into a well "defended area" that fell straight into the plan of our highly trained and incredibly motivated hardened killer.
Cars and Driving
Although I could’ve included this section under gameplay and controls, I feel it deserved a section of its own as the driving and cars in MAFIA III were really a redeeming factor for the game in my opinion.
With there being various types of cars and styles, I often found my car …ahem… shopping took a little longer as I’d find a model that I liked, drive 100 metres and see it in a better colour and slam on brakes to get that one rather. This did lessen substantially after I unlocked a certain benefit that would bring some really good-looking cars right to me. This did then result in my spending way too much time and hard-earned money in Big Rick’s Custom Auto getting my cars kitted just how I liked them and purring like a kitty.
And then returning later again after winning more stuff in the different races scattered across the map.
The driving in this game was really enjoyable as you learnt to time the drift perfectly around an intersection and learnt when the drift needed just a little more gas, a brake or a hand brake to successfully complete depending on the car, road surface, speed and sharpness of the corner you were attacking. The sense of absolute satisfaction I got from nailing the perfect drift on this game time after time really kept me coming back for more and I really didn’t mind the long trips between places once I had this down. In fact, I’d sometimes plan the long route on purpose just to enjoy the car a little bit longer.
And the classic tunes coming through the radio, especially on WNBX, definitely helped set the mood and contributed to my sheer enjoyment of driving on this game.
Final Thoughts
Although the game did fall into a bit of a monotonous grind in the missions, I found there were still many aspects of the game that kept me coming back for more and actually made me think less of the same type of mission I was playing for the thirtieth time. So, although the monotonous factor is one big negative factor for me, there were lots of little positives that helped redeem the game and turn it into an overall enjoyable experience. The main ones of these definitely being the tunes, cars and driving.
I also enjoyed the break away from the traditional Italian Mafia of the previous two games with the twist of Lincoln growing up as an African American on the streets of a very prejudiced era and carving his own type of justice to the Italian Mafia.
Just one final word of warning before giving my final rating of the game.
To accurately represent the times, MAFIA III does have a lot of racial and sexist slurs and stereotypes as was common in the 60’s. 2K does give a nice explanation as to why they went with this route in the opening of the game. On top of this, profanities and nudity is about a dime a dozen and coupled with the slurs and violence, this really is a game that is made for the older crowd of gamer.
With all that being said and balanced in my brain. Taking the good and the bad, as Will Thatcher’s dad taught me, I give this repackaged version of MAFIA III a solid 7 out of 10.
