Sixteen minutes of action from the third game in 2K's mafia franchise, released on October 7 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

The "difficult second album" is a music industry byword for the struggle a new band faces when releasing a follow-up to a hit debut. Offer up more of the same and face accusations of going stale, go off in a new direction and you risk alienating your existing fanbase.

In the games industry, it's more a case of the difficult third entry in a trilogy. Sequels are relatively easy. Maintain momentum, polish up the graphics, increase the scope and size and improve on what worked well in the first game while removing the bits that fell flat.

"Threequels" are a different case entirely. By this stage, fans want something more. You need to step things up, deliver something original without losing track of what made the series great in the first place. It's generally regarded as the make-or-break moment where a franchise either becomes an annually updated behemoth or fizzles out entirely.



Mafia III is a textbook case. The first two games in the series were your standard wiseguys-at-war affairs, full of Godfather nods, mob-based action and the age-old family loyalty/betrayal tropes.



That's not to say they weren't enjoyable. Both had their moments. The second game in particular was a critical and commercial hit, despite the fact that it was widely regarded as yet another Grand Theft Auto clone.



It was obvious that 2K were going to have to switch things up a bit if Mafia III was going to step out of the shadow of its inspiration, and after spending five hours with it at a special media preview event in Sydney, early impressions suggest that they've done exactly that.



Shattering stereotypes

Mafia III takes place in 1968 New Bordeaux, New Orleans in all but name.

Going by the title alone, you'd expect Mafia III to be a New York, Chicago or Vegas-based game, full of Italian gangsters, racketeering, made men and their glamourous broads.

The revelation that the third game in the series was to feature an African-American protagonist, and would be set in New Bordeaux, a fictitious representation of 1968 New Orleans, led to predictable online outrage when it was first announced last year. At first glance, it not exactly what you'd expect from a Mafia game.

In reality, it's exactly the breath of fresh air that the series needed. The mob are still a big part of the game but this time you're viewing them as an outsider looking for revenge as opposed to a young hoodlum looking for a way in.

You play as Lincoln Clay, a recently returned special forces agent from the Vietnam War (which conveniently explains his Rambo-like combat skills) who finds himself struggling to re-establish himself in late-60s society.

Race relations

The very first thing you see when Mafia III begins is a disclaimer. You'll have to forgive me for paraphrasing here as we weren't allowed to capture anything from the game's prologue but it was along the lines of "The views and language used in this game are offensive and deplorable, while we don't agree with their nature, we felt that it was important to include them to give an accurate depiction of life and society at this point in history."

All well and good for a game that tackles such weighty issues but I couldn't help noting that you would never see anything like this on a film or TV show that covers similar ground.

After an hour or so with the game, you soon understand why it was deemed necessary. The introductory heist job sees you forced to carry bags of money, continually referred to as "boy" and threatened with violence if you step out of line.

A later mission requiring you to attend a meeting at a whites-only country club sees you greeted with indignation when you pull up at the main gates. After being reluctantly waved through, you notice a woman moving her handbag from one arm to the other as she walks past.

Shifty looks and defensive behaviour seem unusual at first but soon become second nature. Whiter districts are patrolled by cops that won't hesitate to pull you up for the slightest indiscretion and certain bars and shops raise eyebrows as soon as you step through the door.

It's rare to see a game set in the era of segregation and even more unusual to play one that puts you in the shoes of a protagonist that has to experience it first-hand. Handled badly, this could have been a disaster. Thankfully, it's an eye-opener that immediately sets the tone for what is to follow.

A dish best served cold

Without resorting to spoilers, an early game event pits Clay on a collison course with the mob, requiring you to disrupt their operations, whether it's in the sex, drugs or protection market.

This follows a similar format to previous Mafia games, where you have to expand your influence within a specific geographic area of the map, but this time, it's all about hitting the bosses where it hurts: in the pocket.

Targeting a certain bar or bordello will knock dollar values off their take. Capturing and interrogating key players will make it more difficult for them to collect and kicking the hornets' nest will push the story forward as you seek your revenge.

As you expand your influence and establish your own crew, you'll be forced to make decisions on which of your underlings to reward. They'll almost always conflict, and each offer their own unique perks and rewards, so you'll often need to make a tough decision on which one to back at the risk of annoying another.

Cinematic realism

By far the most striking part of Mafia III is how slick and engaging its narrative scenes are. Cut scenes in action games are often something you want to be over as soon as possible, but I found myself actually looking forward to the 2-5 minute vignettes that bookended each bout of action.

Certain sections are done in a surprisingly effective documentary-style, with talking heads facing the camera and reflecting on events that are yet to happen in-game. Rather than spoiling the story, they heighten the tension.

Importantly, you don't see everything through the eyes of the protagonist. Key scenes take place that Clay won't have been aware of, increasing the cinematic feel where you're seeing things develop as a third party.

Add to that excellent writing, well-rounded characters, impressive voice acting and facial capture and a soundtrack worthy of any big budget Hollywood movie. It's hard to think of a game that surpasses this one for "playing a film" realism.

Clone wars

The Mafia series has always been seen as somewhat of a GTA-clone. While it's true that this game features the same basic format of open-world action, car-stealing transport and third-person shooting as its inspiration, it also feels like a deliberate attempt to step out of its shadow.

You can go anywhere, tackle missions in any order you feel like and start a shootout with the cops if you like, but apart from that, Mafia III is a lot more story focused and narratively-driven than anything Rockstar has served up.

Everything you do is geared towards a single purpose, every choice you make has a ripple effect and there's a distinct feeling of risk and reward, that your actions have consequences, that is absent from any Grand Theft Auto game.

Five hours wasn't nearly enough to pass judgment on Mafia III, and its worth noting that after the initial two hour prologue, we were jumped ahead 15 hours to give us a taste of the late-game content.

Early access events are always designed to give you a glimpse of a game in its best possible light, but I was incredibly impressed by what I saw. The production, attention to detail, mixture of stealth and action and overall slickness left me eager to see how the full game pans out on October 7.

Lee Henaghan travelled to Sydney courtesy of 2K Games