• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

No Mafia III Review Copies Ahead of Launch

In a year where we've already had The Witness, Uncharted 4, Doom, Dark Souls 3, Forza Horizon 3 etc., I think Mafia 3 is up shit creek with a turd for a paddle trying to win GOTY.
Until DOOM gets an "all demons are klansmen" mod, that won't be the case.



someone please make that mod pls
 
It also hasn't been playable on the show floor of any recent events, they've all been hands-off. Which I thought was super weird.
 
The only review that should matter to anyone is their own.
 
Nope. My money goes elsewhere for the time being (and yes, this was a 100% purchase if reviews didnt tank).
 
Just cancelled my bestbuy preorder, I think the game will be fine but I dont think its going to be as good as I thought it was going to be after this.
 
Hey man not everyone has that kind of money or time

Has nothing to do with money or time. If you're interested in playing a game, why would any review sway you one way or the other? Mafia III could get 0/10 from EVERYONE and I still would pick it up next Friday and play through it. Gamers put way too much stock into reviews as if those people reviewing the games are the so called experts. They're not. Half the time, games either get overrated or get a free pass or on the flip side, are underrated because of some stupid dumb ass reasons despite the overrated games doing the exact same thing yet get a free pass.

Seriously, fuck reviews.
 
Bought it digitally. Shame on me.

Has nothing to do with money or time. If you're interested in playing a game, why would any review sway you one way or the other? Mafia III could get 0/10 from EVERYONE and I still would pick it up next Friday and play through it. Gamers put way too much stock into reviews as if those people reviewing the games are the so called experts. They're not. Half the time, games either get overrated or get a free pass or on the flip side, are underrated because of some stupid dumb ass reasons despite the overrated games doing the exact same thing yet get a free pass.

Seriously, fuck reviews.

What a horrible, unsustainable opinion.
 
Canned videos. That 16 min video they debuted last week was what you got at Gamescom.
Huh. I didn't realize that. For some reason I figured they were doing hands-on at recent shows. That's kind of surprising.
The only review that should matter to anyone is their own.
In a perfect world where we all had the time and money to spend on luxury media, sure.

But we don't live in that world.
 
lol what?

what game besides DOOM hasn't been average to bad when the developer ships review copies late?

I have the game preloaded after my love of the first two, but I'm pessimistic.
Xcom 2 just came out on consoles with no early codes or previews or anything of the sort and it's excellent and runs fine.
You could say well it's almost a year old but then I'd say well then what'd they have to lose!
I'll keep my preorder at Best Buy and wait for impressions before I open it
 
In a perfect world where we all had the time and money to spend on luxury media, sure.

But we don't live in that world.

Again, has nothing to do with money or time. If the game sucks, you can easily sell it and get back most if not all of your money. Second, just because a game reviews good doesn't mean that you'll think that it's good or deserved the score that it received. Just like if a game gets reviewed badly doesn't mean that you'll think that it's bad or deserved the score it received.

Seriously, the only way to know if you (or anyone for that matter) will like the game and enjoy it is by playing it. Reading reviews and listening to others opinions means nothing because those people may not be a fan of the series/developer/publisher, may not like the genre that the game represents, may not like certain aspects of the game or context in the game even before playing it. Reviewer could also play it on easy so they can breeze through it in order to meet the deadline. Most reviews that I have read always miss so much stuff that I see and point out on the first day.

Way too many variables when it comes to reviews yet people take them so seriously which is fucking ridiculous. Don't want to spend $60? Then wait for a sale or the game to drop in price before buying and playing it but to go based on a review from someone who's being paid to play the game and then write a few short paragraphs about the game should be of no importance to any gamer for one simple reason - that person isn't you.

Seriously, why should I go by from whoever reviews the game on IGN or GameSpot or wherever when I don't know the specifics of how they played the game, length, difficulty, etc.?

Would you go by my opinion? Come on, have to got to be kidding me. I know the type of game that Mafia III is going to be and it's perfect for me. I know what im getting. And even if by the remote chance I dislike the game, it will be for my own personal reasons based on playing the game as opposed to someone else telling me why I should dislike the game.

But to each their own.
 
True. Best to just base your buying decision for a game on screenshots and publisher videos, you can't go wrong with that.

Gameplay videos on youtube is what I go by the most because im seeing what the gameplay is generally going to be and I can tell easily if it's for me or not. Mafia III is easily for me. I don't need any review to tell me what im getting with the game. I already know what im getting.

And why would I base my decision to buy a game on someone else's paid opinion? That's worse. Far worse.
 
Something tells me be this will have the EXACT same pros and cons of Mafia 2. The story and linear shooting segments will be great, but the sandbox element and driving will be equally obnoxious.
 
Gameplay videos on youtube is what I go by the most because im seeing what the gameplay is generally going to be and I can tell easily if it's for me or not. Mafia III is easily for me. I don't need any review to tell me what im getting with the game. I already know what im getting.

And why would I base my decision to buy a game on someone else's paid opinion? That's worse. Far worse.

Because reviews often point out issues which aren't evident in short gameplay videos. For Paper Mario 3DS, the gameplay videos looked fine to me. After playing it, I regret my buying decision as reviews criticised absolutely everything that makes the game bad for me. Wasn't as evident from the videos, which only featured a brief look at the game.

And well, that "paid opinion" seems to be a hit these days. Damn those paid liars in all media.
 
Because reviews often point out issues which aren't evident in short gameplay videos. For Paper Mario 3DS, the gameplay videos looked fine to me. After playing it, I regret my buying decision as reviews criticised absolutely everything that makes the game bad for me. Wasn't as evident from the videos, which only featured a brief look at the game.

And well, that "paid opinion" seems to be a hit these days. Damn those paid liars in all media.

And more times than not, they don't point out shit. Take MGSV for example. Easily a checklist box game with repetitive areas, locations and side missions and objectives yet not a single fucking reviewer mentioned any of this. Add in the shitty story and boring characters and well, if it wasn't for the gameplay and Kojima's name on the game, it would have barely hit a 7/10 if that. Point being that some games get a free pass and are praised to the Gods despite usually being underwhelming and disappointing.

Uncharted 4 is another perfect example. Two horribly misused characters. Same lame ass ending as the ones before, only one action scene, boring flashbacks which were just a copy from Uncharted 3, gameplay that wasn't great at all and whoever made the cover/roll whatever button the same button was drunk that day.

These are just two examples of games that while good are nowhere near great or classic or perfect. Yet because reviewers say they are, people tend to be like sheep and just follow the herd.

As for Paper Mario, I can't comment on since I don't care about Nintendo these days but okay, one game where the reviewers were correct but how many times have they actually been correct for you? Majority of the time for most people, they're wrong and usually way off. I know they are for me. Hell, if reviews even match my opinions on games 10% of the time, I'll be shocked.
 
Again, has nothing to do with money or time.
It has everything to do with time and money. Especially when time is money.
If the game sucks, you can easily sell it and get back most if not all of your money.
Most people would rather not waste time mucking around with a return process trying to get back parts of their money if they can just avoid turds before they get them.
Second, just because a game reviews good doesn't mean that you'll think that it's good or deserved the score that it received.
It gives a rough baseline of quality that you can presume is there until you try it yourself.
Just like if a game gets reviewed badly doesn't mean that you'll think that it's bad or deserved the score it received.
Playing the "what if I have a crazily divergent opinion" game isn't really how most people go around making purchasing decisions.
Seriously, the only way to know if you (or anyone for that matter) will like the game and enjoy it is by playing it.
Obviously, that's the only definitive way. No one is suggesting that reviews are a definitive answer to if you will like the game.
Reading reviews and listening to others opinions means nothing because those people may not be a fan of the series/developer/publisher, may not like the genre that the game represents, may not like certain aspects of the game or context in the game even before playing it.
All of those are perfectly valid and interesting opinions to consider from the standpoint of a review, and all largely useful to various groups.
Reviewer could also play it on easy so they can breeze through it in order to meet the deadline. Most reviews that I have read always miss so much stuff that I see and point out on the first day.
I don't think playing on a lower difficulty has as large an effect as you're supposing.
Way too many variables when it comes to reviews yet people take them so seriously which is fucking ridiculous.
People take their leisure time and money seriously, shockeroo.
Don't want to spend $60? Then wait for a sale or the game to drop in price before buying and playing it but to go based on a review from someone who's being paid to play the game and then write a few short paragraphs about the game should be of no importance to any gamer for one simple reason - that person isn't you.
This becomes a quickly asinine way of viewing products once applied to other mediums.
Don't want to spend $1,000 on that new laptop? Then wait for a sale or for the laptop to drop in price before buying and driving it, but to go based on a review from someone who's being paid to use the laptop and then write a few short paragraphs about the laptop should be of no importance to any user for one simple reason - that person isn't you.
And yes, before the inevitable, "But a laptop is totally different from a game," yes there is an obvious difference. The point is that reviews of games are used much like a hardware consumer report. People are reading them to see if the game works, if the netcode is good, if the story is coherent, if there's a long-playtime, etc etc.
Seriously, why should I go by from whoever reviews the game on IGN or GameSpot or wherever when I don't know the specifics of how they played the game, length, difficulty, etc.?
Presumably you would go by whatever reviewer you trust and who you know has a similar set of tastes to you.
Would you go by my opinion? Come on, have to got to be kidding me.
No, because you're some nameless schmoe on the internet who I've never interacted with before.

Now some other posters on GAF who I trust and whose opinions I have come to value over the past several years? Sure, I'd go by their opinion.
I know the type of game that Mafia III is going to be and it's perfect for me. I know what im getting.
But you don't know what you're getting. You know what they're selling, you don't know what you're getting. Will the story be good? Will the shooting be fun? Will the game have enough activities to not be repetitive? Will it have technical issues on your platform of choice?

You don't know anything. All you know is what you've been fed by marketing teams. And if I have no idea why someone would willingly choose to make their purchasing decisions purely based on marketing hooey, rather than try to put a few degrees of separation between the devs and themselves.

For what it's worth, I don't love the status quo of gaming journalism and reviewers right now. I think there are far too many amateurs and not enough experts. But the solution to that issue isn't to just throw the whole critic system under the bus and leave people to the whims of marketing. Given your "what if they're not fans of the genre/series/developer" comment, it seems like you're less of a free-thinker pushing back against amateurish mainstream criticism and more like you just want to live in a self-created bubble.
 
*snip*

You don't know anything. All you know is what you've been fed by marketing teams. And if I have no idea why someone would willingly choose to make their purchasing decisions purely based on marketing hooey, rather than try to put a few degrees of separation between the devs and themselves.

*snip*
Excellent post
 
I just watched Angry Joe's early playthrough of Mafia 3, and he was very impressed. He said he didn't think it would play like GTA, but it did. Other Joe was impressed too.
 
i dont trust youtubers with anything because they get paid to talk good about games anyway

cant wait for mafia 3 tho ! im gonna like it
 
Feels like I have already seen everything the game has to offer based on the various gameplay demos. Not a good sign either.
 
In a perfect world where we all had the time and money to spend on luxury media, sure.

But we don't live in that world.

I do, I don't have to work ever again and all I do is shitpost on gaf and yet I still check out reviews and port reports simply because devs don't get my money if their game is not good(which you can still get from reviews), on principle.
 
And its not like most people only wait for the Metascore and go "80% I buy it, 79% I don't". Rather you can read the different reviews and "filter out" what seem to be common issues people have with the game, read player impressions if those issues persist there as well and then decide how that matters to you.
 
These threads always goes the same way every time a game announces this...

- "Red flag."
- "It'll be fine."
- "But NMS."
- "But Doom."
 
I'm interested but I'll definitely wait for reviews with this game. The more gameplay footage I've seen, the more sceptical I've become.

And yes, never pre-order! And never trust random youtubers (I do trust a few such as Angry Joe). The hyperbole in many of the youtube videos of Mafia 3 out there is ridiculous and often clashes with what is shown.
 
Yeah, no thanks. The games I've preordered were always to my liking and I'll keep doing it.

I enjoyed Mafia 2 and I can't wait to play this one. OST is superb.
You could also just walk into a store on day one and buy the game. Preordering videogames is a completely ridiculous concept that the publishers have tricked many consumers into.
 
When I was poor I used to worry about these things

Now I just buy whatever looks cool to me

You have red box/steam returns/gamefly etc
 
Didn't Mafia 2 get a 4/10 review from a major site before release? I guess they learn their lesson, as even an undeserved review like that, before release date, would hurt sales.
 
Top Bottom