@mirado: I've thought the combat animations, both from your character and npcs, look hella repetitive as well. I'm hoping the rest of the game is good enough to over shadow that stuff. But, I'm also not going to play this game for a while because I can't handle a game that big right now.

@mirado: Personally I think cinematic camera cuts for melee kills are a terrible idea that really take you out of the game. I don't need a mini-cutscene each time I clobber a guy. It's much better when the game never breaks camera position and lets you retain control over the character - otherwise it looks stiff and forced.

@humanity:Deus Ex was the biggest offender this year by far, with an actual fade to black before each melee animation. I can't believe they couldn't iron that out in the time between Human Revolution and Mankind Divided.

On top of the melee kills, the death animations are also repeated, with the same "clutch your stomach and flop like it's a silent movie" loop repeated quite a few times, along with @shoguns_decapitator's instance of a bomb causing it:

@mirado: Yeah Mankind Divided was such a bummer for me in that respect. It was one of my biggest pet peeves of the first game and it only seemed to get worse in the second one. I was really hoping they would finally transition to full first person for everything, but nope. There is something really awkward about the way that game goes in and out of third person. I agree that moving along cover in third person gives you better situational awareness, but it seems like a lazy solution for not being able to figure that out for first person.

so no review copies at all huh?

Is Mafia 3 a Made Man? Or, is it sleeping with the fishes? Only you can decipher this Sicilian Message.

@humanity: Max Payne 3 did a great job of maintaining an uncut shot using the player camera while also pulling off a cinematic close-quarters action sequence. More games need to learn from the kind of attention to detail Rockstar put into that game.

@impartialgecko: I think Phantom Pain was also pretty good about this but I agree that Max Payne 3 definitely doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

What's up with the Friday release?

No review copies but there's youtube footage around.

I hated the first game but loved the second. The first was just entirely unplayable. Ran a red light? 3 star wanted level! And the random one hit kills because you could get headshot. Pure frustration.

No one mentioned it yet but this game has an absolutely phenomenal soundtrack: http://mafiagame.wikia.com/wiki/Mafia_III_Soundtrack

Me too it looks fun!

I also love in that gif how the guy with a bag over his head is the first to see the grenade and the delayed reaction of the chair which suddenly remembers it's supposed to shoot backwards!

I am curious to see what complaints/qualls people have and what people really like about it. What has been the general reaction on youtube? (I don't want to watch it for story spoilers purposes)

I didn't enjoy GTAV, so the less its like that, the better for me.

Combat wise this looks so similar to Mafia II, including those repeated animations. Gameplay in that game was just okay.

Looks a lot like Mafia 2, new setting characters etc, but mechanically very similar. I enjoyed 2, but its a very slight, if not well presented experience.

@humanity: as someone who just beat Max Payne 3 again about a week ago, this is so true. That games cinematography is a god damn master stroke by Rockstar. Everything was so smooth and you were only taken out of character if attention went to a new character or chapter. That game just had style, also I would say the shooting in that game may be some of the best 3rd person shooting of last gen.

Man, Max Payne 3 is fucking awesome.

Damn straight Max Payne 3 is soo good I would love for RS to remake Max Payne 1 with the rage engine.

Honestly what sold me was Vinny and Bakalakalakular laughing so hard on the Beastcast about Clay pulling himself into a trashcan. Loved 2, 1 was decent, and this one looks like it has just the right amount of rough edges still that make me laugh while the world begs me to take it too seriously (a la GTA V when Michael keeps shooting his pistol while laying on the ground recoiling in pain). I was on the fence, thinking I could wait for a sale, or just hang out but these third person action games are just so fun to find those cracks and goofy moments in that I can't pass it up.

Honestly what sold me was Vinny and Bakalakalakular laughing so hard on the Beastcast about Clay pulling himself into a trashcan. Loved 2, 1 was decent, and this one looks like it has just the right amount of rough edges still that make me laugh while the world begs me to take it too seriously (a la GTA V when Michael keeps shooting his pistol while laying on the ground recoiling in pain). I was on the fence, thinking I could wait for a sale, or just hang out but these third person action games are just so fun to find those cracks and goofy moments in that I can't pass it up.

@shoguns_decapitator said:

This is exactly what I need to see. The men hit by whatever explosive that was were totally unaffected and a room full of people are blown backwards. I love shitty physics because it makes me instantly pause the game due to the paralyzing laughter.

@sackmanjones: I remember Max Payne 3 having a rough start in terms of gameplay because I couldn't wrap my head around it. At first I tried playing it like old Max Payne games and it felt clunky, heavy, I kept getting stuck after dives and gunned down. Then I tried playing it like a modern cover shooter and that didn't work either because the AI was too smart for that and the combat arenas were made in such a way to keep you moving. I remember it took a long while before I figured out how the weight and momentum played heavily into dodging - something the tutorials never teach you. Once I got a handle on how to dodge roll properly, maintaining momentum and forward movement, man did it all start to flow together nicely. Each combat encounter was this great ballet of bullets and I took personal pride in chaining successful kills together in the most stylish way imaginable.

On top of all that the story was actually really great in my opinion. What a great tale od redemption! Here is this guy at his lowest possible point in life and then he decides to pick himself back up. The best part for me was that it was Max that wanted to get out of the gutter. He wasn't really doing all this for that rich family, he was doing it for himself to prove that he's not a complete piece of shit, that he can accomplish something. I dunno I felt that was great but no one ever mentions it so it must be just me.

This is making me skittish as well. I hope they don't release with performance issues...

Loved 1, but got bored with 2 before finishing it.

Will this have a similar structure to the old ones, where the open world is mostly for driving between story missions (no side missions, activities etc)?

Game is out in 10 hours on PC. Streamers have just got early keys, maybe press has too. Lots of streams on twitch. I really want to know if it's good so I can pre-load in time.

@lovcol: This is a completely different developer except they hired some of the studio from mafia 2. You can't expect anything about this one to be similar. I'd be surprised if it has any code from Mafia 2 in it either.

@lovcol: IF anything this new one appears to go full out for the modern game design with a lot more side activities to dive into.

I decided to take the plunge and started preloading it. It's been awhile since I've bought anything stupid and it seemed like the right time. ?

There's a Rumour going around that its locked at 30 FPS -.- hope there's some .ini file you can adjust.

@humanity: Too bad, then.. Kinda enjoying more sparse games these days. Just quit Deus Ex as well - too much stuff everywhere.

@lovcol: I have been looking at impressions on Reddit and if they are to be believed the PS4 version runs really well.

@soulcake: did you watch the same stream as I did? He contacted the PR person that gave out the key and they seemed surprised at the 30fps cap so maybe it isn't intentional. We wont know until it's out I guess.

This will be pretty disappointing - having made the switch to primarily PC gaming I really hope this dies as a trend/design decision. I know the other benefits like load times are still better and in the end a game is playable in 30, but when you get a taste of that sweet, sweet 60+ I just feel like that's what's expected in [CURRENT YEAR].

30 FPS ughh might refund.

Welp, that's certainly a fun rumour. Not that my PC would've been able to handle this game anyway and I'm planning on buying this on PS4 if I will, but that still blows.

Gamefly just shipped a copy to me. Hope it turns out okay! It's been awhile since I played a GTA style open world game.

The 30 FPS lock is really bad news. I was looking forward to Mafia III, but I can't play games like that.

Are there seriously people who are not going to play this game because its locked at 30 FPS? Such a petty thing to completely avoid a game for... its not that big of a deal...

@pompouspizza: I was talking about gameplay, not performance. Good hearing it runs well though.

I don't know, I can understand that decision when the limitation is done on a platform that would have the possibility to easily run the game on a 60 FPS, but is being prevented from doing so. I'd at least like to use my PC to it's full potential when playing a modern game.

Anyway, been watching the GBeast stream now. I'm starting to get a bit hyped, think I might go grab myself a copy tomorrow.

It seems there patching in a 60 FPS setting https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/784085273776906240

Just watched the intro live stream with Vinny and Alex (having seen barely anything of this game before) and it looks really great. The interview/documentary style presentation is something I've not seen in a game before and works really well, the voice acting is fantastic, the music cues remind me of a Scorsese movie. Unless the game takes a hard turn into garbageville after the first couple hours I am totally in on Mafia III.

Interested in this too. Will wait for reviews though but if it gets 7/10 or above i'm in. Not rich enough to gamble with games anymore sadly.

Maybe it's because I'm mid-way through the last Assassin's Creed, but the stream with Vinny and Alex made me think of that game, with just updated weapons, vehicles, etc. Not saying that's a bad thing, but......eh.

Yah I wasn't too sold on the game up to this point but that stream made it seem like it's a lot more cinematic and really well put together than just running around a sandbox town doing side activities to fill in areas on a map. Might actually pick this up release day to tide me over until Titanfall 2.... drops.

Right? It's not a twitchy game where you'd need the precision 60fps brings, who gives a fuuuuuuuuuuuck?

From what I've read/heard it's not just the 30FPS issue, there's quite a few other technical issues. Glad I decided to hold out, looks good but the PC version sounds a bit of a mess. Happy to at least hear Gears 4 is a very solid PC version.

Are any sites selling North American keys? Sorry if posting about this is a grey area, but I can only find EU steam keys, and I can't justify paying $80 CAD on any game.

Wasn't planning to buy the game tomorrow, only because I am invested in Bioshock, and I ruined my playthrough of Salt and sanctuary last time by jumping. That said, This 30 FPS freak out I just saw in chat got a little sour real quick. I'm hoping for 60 fps myself, have gotten to appreciate it. In FPS's probably always did. But I am not stomping gonads over it. I thought it more wise to see(and hear) the game, and I am on the positive side happy I did. Just want to skip that predictable first days/week wonkiness that seems such the norm lately.

Aren't those sites mostly shady and most developers would prefer you had the balls to pirate the game yourself?

30 fps isnt a game breaker for me but what the fuck is happening to PC "ports" these days.

I feel like for a long time it was bad, but then we had quite a few years were it was very good, great even, and you only had a few outliers like dark souls 1. And now its back to shit where every other big title is an mess on PC.

@planetfunksquad: to be fair, a lot of people give a fuck. I can play a game at 30, and it'll be fine - but I didn't buy a 1070 for a game to just be fine. It's pretty crazy to me that developers wouldn't want there to be a "best possible" version of their game, so why lock an extremely capable machine to lower specs? It's like bringing the game out for PS4 Pro or Xbox Scorpio and saying that it won't take advantage of the features that make that console a selling point...why?

I'll still play it, and that TB tweet @soulcake referenced is a good sign, but a very healthy chunk of potential customers look at that as a must have in any game.

As baffling as it is to you guys that anyone would care about framerate that much, I, and many others, can't understand how someone could enjoy any game at a framerate as low as 30. And that's fine! It's great that you don't mind, I'm seriously envious. But I'm not being petty when I can't bring myself to enjoy an experience that feels sluggish and stuttery to me... I just can't. I see no reason to dismiss that.