And he spoke with the game’s Senior Writer, Charles Webb, about how, precisely, the team came to the decision to make players confront racism in a head-on way.I want Hangar 13 to lean in harder, to tackle the racial and political tensions of the 60s directly. When it releases in October, I want to adore Mafia III. The hours I spent with it showed me a game that is taking risks while simultaneously delivering on the fundamentals. I want Hangar 13 to bring to bear the skill they've used to make New Bordeaux feel vibrant and alive to this new challenge. If they can bring the harsh noise into tune, they might find the harmony between historical drama and pulpy crime thriller.
“Crashing Klan rallies and shooting up cop cars feels liberating and transgressive even as it is safely enclosed within the narrow escapist limits of a videogame. It remains transgressive, however, for the same reasons the Black Panthers regally posing for photos with rifles and African spears was: it challenges the unspoken understanding that the Second Amendment is only for white people, that a “well-regulated militia” could also define a band of black brothers and sisters from the ‘hood, including veterans, students and ex-convicts.
The modern gun-control debate fails to consider the experience of poor black men and women in dealing with the police, even today. With cops in many American cities willing to open fire at the slightest provocation, and who view black people as displaying naturally “violent tendencies,” is it so outlandish to worry about giving up your own guns to an enforcing body that is more than happy enough to use them on you?
Cameron Kunzelman offered up a fantastic examination of how the game's violence serves it's storytelling so well.Part of Mafia 3’s appeal is its ability to represent the daily indignities and frustrations that might lead someone to feel this way. Pass by an officer on the street and he will snap his head in your direction, warn you to watch your step, and end with a diminutive put-down like “boy” even as Clay towers feet above him. Wander into the wrong store and have the cops quickly called on you for daring to trespass as a black man in a whites-only establishment. And when the cops do arrive, it is with guns drawn and blazing.”
And yes, the game does suffer from some staid copy-paste mission design, particularly in its side-quests. But, two years on, I can’t help but feel like Mafia III is one of the most important pieces of work in the AAA space this generation. If you do have PS Plus and haven’t played it yet, well, I encourage you to try it.Have thoughts? Swing by Waypoint’s forums to share them!Every fight is the same. The handgun, the submachine gun, and the finish. That part shifts from time to time. Sometimes Lincoln Clay, bleeding and out of ammunition, charges out of cover. He has a rifle, but he has no bullets, and he can't stop here. There's no possibility of retreat. The enemies are in front of him, and he charges. I'm hitting the melee button, and between that character and myself there's some yearning desperation. We've gotta make it out of here. This desperate repetition, not its exposition, is how Mafia III makes its story.