Mafia III is one of the most anticipated games of the year, and for good reason. A completely open-world game taking place in a faux New Orleans in the 1960s, the game has a diverse cast, compelling story, and tackles a number of prevalent social issues that still plague us today, such as race. Now, we at Video Game Culture HQ are not ready to unveil our review of the game for the simple fact that we’re not far enough in the game to give a comprehensive critique (we’re roughly 30 hours in the game.) We are deeply disappointed though because the initial Mafia III reviews are unacceptable.
Now, this does not apply to every outlet that has reviewed Mafia III to this point, as almost a week has passed since the game’s release. There were some early reviews that were incredibly irresponsible though. 2K Games actually did not release any review copies early (we had the opportunity to apply for one, but it was caught in our spam folder) and all copies were distributed upon release. Yet somehow reviews came in prior to the game’s release. Not only that, but they were rushed and poorly written. One outlet even gave a shout out to their local “dealer”, an unnamed retail store, for providing them with an “early copy”, clearly breaking the street date. Is this what we have stooped to as journalists? Do we need to be first and give a half-assed review just to get clicks? Granted my review won’t be the first one out, but it will be thorough and it will be fair. Many early reviews simply weren’t, and the score had nothing to do with it. They were rushed in a race for first place in order to generate hits.
While one of the criticisms is that Mafia III is repetitive, it makes me wonder how far these “reviewers” have gotten in the game and whether or not they have ever played any gangster-esque game before. All mafia-type games have you recruit and acquire rackets in order to increase your cash flow. Missions can be repetitive. Does that take away from the enjoyment though? So far, I would say no, but again, let me make this clear: this is not my review of Mafia III and our review for Mafia III will be released when we feel that we have experienced all the game has to offer.
What these “reviewers” may or may not realize is that these “rushed” Mafia III reviews actually do affect game sales. There were several people even ready to cancel their pre-orders of the collector’s edition, which contains a number of goodies including the game’s incredible soundtrack, based off of one early review. Mind you, these outlets reviewed copies of the game that were not provided by 2K and these reviews were simply written to generate quick traffic without any care in the world in regards to quality. That is not what gaming journalism is about. Granted, this outlet is relatively new, but we take a professional approach in everything we do. We receive review copies from gaming publishers, give comprehensive reviews, always make sure to send our reviews out to publishers. We’re still establishing ourselves and shooting for the stars, but the behavior regarding early Mafia III reviews is unacceptable and certain outlets should be ashamed.
Look for our comprehensive Mafia III review, coming soon!