After Lost Heaven, a fictitious version of Chicago, in the first Mafia and Empire Bay, inspired by New York, in the second, it's the turn of New Bordeaux, in which we will easily recognize New Orleans, to make its appearance in series. A significant change of time is also at the rendezvous since we are now moving to the end of the 60s. But the biggest upheaval comes from the origins and history of the hero. African-American and former soldier freshly returned from Vietnam, Lincoln Clay is obviously not part of the Italian mafia. On the contrary, his journey will lead him to fight Sal Marcano, the local godfather. We remember that Mafia II had been stupidly accused of anti-black racism, and it seems that the publisher has decided to make amends. A little too much even, since the new episode of this politically incorrect saga opens with two soothing and well-meaning messages that immediately dampen enthusiasm. First of all, we are entitled in small print to the kind of speech already seen in certain Ubisoft productions in particular, which specifies to us here that the game “was designed and developed by a diverse team with varied beliefs and religious affiliations”. Then comes the second layer, which ignores all subtlety and tells us in full screen that the developers find "odious the racist mentalities, words and acts of certain characters in the game" and think that "not addressing this very real and shameful aspect of our past would have been offensive to the millions of people who face intolerance, discrimination, prejudice and racism in all its forms, then and now". On the other hand, no message to explain to us that killing people is bad, that drug trafficking is not good, or that it is strongly discouraged in real life to run red lights and drive in the wrong direction...
A NEW BORDEAUX WITH THIGHS?
This kind of politically correct message is all the more regrettable as the game does not hesitate to draw on the sad history of our past to support its narrative. Events such as Duvalier's rise to power in 1957 are alluded to, and the game's entire storyline unfolds through multiple flashbacks, which punctuate the hearing of John Donovan, chief of paramilitary operations for the CIA, who aids Lincoln in his vendetta against the Italian mafia of New Bordeaux. Fiction therefore mixes with reality, just as the present mixes with the past, and the game ultimately manages to keep us in suspense throughout the adventure. The choice to place the action in a city in the south of the United States is also judicious, since this New Orleans which does not say its name allows us to meet different communities and visit well differentiated areas, the festive French quarter not having for example nothing to do with the bayous. The topics covered are adults (prostitution, drugs, trafficking of all kinds, etc.), the violence is uninhibited, and the atmosphere of a gangster film perfectly respected.
On the other hand, there is no real remedy for the other faults of the game which, alas, are quite numerous. Especially with regard to the technical aspect, which leaves something to be desired and betrays a development interrupted too soon.
Compared to its predecessors, the game innovates by introducing a small neighborhood management system, somewhat reminiscent of that of the Godfather 2, but lighter. After liberating a given area of the city, you can indeed assign the traffic connected to it to one of your colonels. By doing so, you will get regular income and different gameplay bonuses depending on the chosen personality. Among the latter we find in particular Vito Scaletta, the hero of Mafia II, who still looks good in 1968 despite a few wrinkles and additional white hair. This sympathetic cameo helps us to appreciate the system of colonels which, objectively, blows hot and cold. The management aspect is appreciable, but the unfolding of events is a bit too systematic. We undermine a traffic to get its manager out of the woods, we assassinate him or enlist him on our side, then we move on to the next one until the big boss of the neighborhood points the tip of his nose. All you have to do then is kill him and move on to the next district. Side missions and a few subtleties of gameplay (such as the tapping of neighborhoods, which notably reveals the location of Playboy magazines or vinyl records to collect) do try to bring a little variety to this routine, but that does not not enough to erase the strong feeling of repetitiveness. It is therefore advisable to play through the game in small sessions to alleviate this problem.
RATED M FOR MATURE
On the other hand, there is no real remedy for the other faults of the game which, alas, are quite numerous. Especially with regard to the technical aspect, which leaves something to be desired and betrays a development interrupted too soon. Artificial intelligence would thus have deserved much more care. As it stands, the stupidity of the opponents is such that playing in infiltration mode is a health walk. Pure and simple bugs also number in the dozens (collision problems, non-functional mirrors, sudden change in ambient light, etc.) while the graphics are very uneven. While some areas and shots flatter the retina, others take us back a few years. Bland textures, unsightly skies, rudimentary management of physical debris… it really doesn't feel like 2016. Worse still, Mafia III does worse than Mafia II on many points. It is no longer possible to open the trunks of cars, to go to the automatic car wash, to close the doors, to open the taps, to help oneself in the fridges, to gently pick the doors of the vehicles, to leave bloody footprints when stepping on a corpse, etc. The only consolation in all this, some of these gaps should soon be filled by the developers, who have thus announced the arrival of outfits for the hero and vehicle customization in an upcoming patch. It will take that, and more, to put some balm in the hearts of fans of the saga, who can legitimately be disappointed by this third half-hearted episode. Too bad, because the course of Lincoln Clay through the mafia remains interesting to follow, and the city of New Bordeaux really does not lack assets.
