One of last year’s surprise reveals, Mafia III looks poised to take GTA on (despite coming from the same umbrella company, Take-Two Interactive). What makes it different and possibly even better than Rockstar’s veteran gangster franchise? The Bitbag has written up on just what that might be.
For one, Mafia 3 is set in the past: 1968, in New Orleans. The setting was chosen for a good reason: the 1960s was a time of great change in the USA, and New Orleans in particular was the birthplace of jazz music. There’s a lot that Hangar 13 could stand to teach by setting a game in this time and place.
How Mafia 3 handles the open world will be interesting to see, and the Bitbag theorises that without the player freedom of the GTA series, Mafia 3 might just end up telling the better story.
Then there’s the return of Vito from Mafia 2. GTA rarely brings back former characters and even then, restricts them to brief cameo roles. This could change, if the rumours for GTA V DLC are to be believed, however (CJ might just make an appearance alongside Franklin from GTA V).
It will be interesting to see how Take-Two chooses to differentiate the Mafia franchise from the GTA one from here on out: or how it chooses to make them similar. The comparisons will no doubt continue as more info on the game is released over the coming months.