semiconscious said: i loved mafia 3, & still don't understand the level of backlash it received for doing this, which's something many other games have done & continue to do, but aren't criticized for nearly as severely... Click to expand... Click to shrink...

Mafia 1 started as a very unique and distinguishable game: offering tight and linear storytelling with an authentic background and, back then, a huge city that felt alive and supportet the atmosphere. The city felt like a theater stage, not something to be vastly explored but to exist to convince you of the setting and to give you just a little bit of freedom on which routes you get to the destination. You didn't get lost in side-activities and you could proceed with the story to your liking and pace. It had well directed and lots of cinematics, an overarching plot with different sub-plots and twist.Mafia 2, while storyline and ending is subject for debate, did deliver on that quite well. Mafia 3 on the other hand tried to fill the city and stretch to story's pacing with repetitive grinds and mission where nothing really happens (except from faceless bad guys being robbed or killed). Many sidequests didn't offer cutscene but the game still took controls away from you. leaving Lincoln standing infront of the talking NPC (less directed dialogs, like Dragon Age: Inquistion and Mass Effect: Andromeda did as well). The revenge plot line wasn't original and without any twists (except for the very last one involving Donovan... that was pretty awesome). Most missions (those you have to do before you're allowed to proceed) aren't at least scripted, making them kind of 'unemotional'. It's literally arriving at point A when and how you like and deal damage (means, killing and looting). While that's often the point in shooters, there are other things that happens in more scripted missions (take the ship mission for example, where you follow your target after everything was blown up; or the very last mission where your target starts a conversation with you).Mafia 1 wasn't perfect, by all means. AI (enemy's and friend's) wasn't good, shooting from within cars were inaccurate and some early car chases weren't particual fun due to authenticity and, thus, slow cars. Playability also suffered, when you were hit and unable to move because of a hit-animation, while you still catching further bullets. That led to unfair sequences and uneven difficulty at times.Main mission's cutscene direction, gunplay and driving simulation is what Mafia 3 does well. I wish the story design were more like the ones of the DLCs.