The Mafia games always had incredible writing with such great characters. Mafia 1 and 2 also, especially 2 in my opinion, have great gameplay that doesn't feel numb. This is where Mafia 3 fails. The gameplay after the initial heist mission and ensuing chaos is a repetitive mess. The open world isn't even that ambitious either. It's more open than Mafia 2 as it tries to have you do other activities, but these activities are just random fetch and grab missions where you have to drive to the swamp and take it to a safehouse wherever in New Bordeaux. There's also some races but I never cared for those in open world games like this. If they had activities like what we see in GTA or The Witcher 3 or even some Assassin's Creed games, then the open world wouldn't feel so boring. Exploring the city is a joy though, New Bordeaux is beautiful. And my main issue with the repetitive gameplay was how predictable each part of the game was. You go through territory after territory killing random people, rushing gang spots to bring a boss out of hiding and then kill them. This is the whole game. It grows weary when you realize you've been playing the same routine for 30 hours. I really wish it was more like Mafia 2 where it concentrated on a solid story without the mundane action. The only pleasing thing about the gameplay were the different areas it brought you.

Anyway, I really loved the story but wow they really butchered the gameplay.

The Mafia games always had incredible writing with such great characters. Mafia 1 and 2 also, especially 2 in my opinion, have great gameplay that doesn't feel numb. This is where Mafia 3 fails. The gameplay after the initial heist mission and ensuing chaos is a repetitive mess. The open world isn't even that ambitious either. It's more open than Mafia 2 as it tries to have you do other activities, but these activities are just random fetch and grab missions where you have to drive to the swamp and take it to a safehouse wherever in New Bordeaux. There's also some races but I never cared for those in open world games like this. If they had activities like what we see in GTA or The Witcher 3 or even some Assassin's Creed games, then the open world wouldn't feel so boring. Exploring the city is a joy though, New Bordeaux is beautiful. And my main issue with the repetitive gameplay was how predictable each part of the game was. You go through territory after territory killing random people, rushing gang spots to bring a boss out of hiding and then kill them. This is the whole game. It grows weary when you realize you've been playing the same routine for 30 hours. I really wish it was more like Mafia 2 where it concentrated on a solid story without the mundane action. The only pleasing thing about the gameplay were the different areas it brought you. Anyway, I really loved the story but wow they really butchered the gameplay.