It is repetitive. If you compare it to games like GTA that it tries to emulate, its a pretty shallow copy. But that is GTA, which the bar is high.

If you compare it to any city shooter open world games released in the past half decade, it clears. The reality is that this game is pretty mid, but the current offerings are so abysmal that ppl are now finding these games more appealing and worth your time, as you can tell that ppl actually put effort into what they worked on in this game, regardless of whether it was successful or not. The music, the setting, and the acting is genuinely worthy of a solid movie or high budget tv series. Even the gunplay was surprisingly strong, with smooth cover mechanics and responsive parkour, along with bullet time being a surprising mechanic as its not mentioned in tutorials, though it exists and works consistently well.

If you want a consistently good time in this game, install visual mods that remove the washed filter that hides the actual vivid colours and detail of the city, along with an immersive mod that makes gunfights more high risk high reward, so it nullifies that sense of repetition with general adrenaline in you, as most enemies can be taken down in 2 to 3 shots but so can you.

You know the bar is lowered significantly when more recent games like Ghost of Tsushima - which shares very similar strengths and weaknesses to this game, such as great art direction and setting, but repetitive ubisoft-esque design - is considered as a masterpiece while this game is seemingly forgotten. No dig to GoT ofc, its good game thats worth ur time, which is why i make the same case for this game, especially in the current drought that we are in.

For a closer comparison, the game is a lot like Watch Dogs, another game trying to mimick GTA and fails when placed next to it, but still stands as a smooth third person shooter (actually in hindsight gameplay-wise Mafia and Watch Dogs are nearly identical) with its own distinct identity, with more ppl now referring to it as misunderstood and under appreciated. Don't get me wrong, these games are still fundementally flawed, and 10 yrs ago ppl are justified in criticising these choices considering the sheer quality and quantity of games we were spoiled with back then, but In a world of Saints Row, Starfield and Star Wars Outlaws, the "mid" rules supreme.✊

Mafia III is a disappointment to the franchise. I didn't think it was possible, but it’s actually worse than Mafia II. While there are some pros—such as the visually stunning world, improved gunplay, nice cinematics, enhanced graphics and sound—the positives end there.

The story feels lackluster compared to the previous installments. There’s no garage to store vehicles, and fewer vehicles you can "own." Car customization is minimal, with many options locked behind tedious, repetitive tasks. The game forces you to grind through these tasks just to unlock certain upgrades for vehicles, guns, etc.

Additionally, there are no stores where you can buy items. In Mafia II, which came out in 2011, you could buy a freaking hotdog. You could also customize cars better in the previous game. Instead of building on the cool features from Mafia II, they decided to remove or lock them behind a grindy gameplay loop.

Overall this game doesn't feel like mafia.

While Mafia 3 does not feature as strong and compelling a story as its predecessors, and keeping in mind the game is structured in a way that the majority of your activities will feel very repetitive, it is still a fun experience. The gunplay is solid and improves massively once you start unlocking combat perks, the driving features heavy physics and just makes sense, and the worldbuilding and atmosphere are top-notch.

Also, the cinematics feature some of the most memorable performances I can recall in a long time, as far as story-driven action games are concerned.

A respectable 7.5/10 game that does not scream about being the best, but is worth a shot. New Bordeaux awaits!