Mafia III's Driving Drifts By In New Developer Video
Slippy slidey wheels
One of the great pleasures of the original Mafia was flicking on the speed limiter and cruising around 1930s New Heaven, obeying the traffic laws. I remember people complaining about its slow, period-appropriate cars at the time, but now it seems to be a fondly recalled part of the experience.
Mafia 3 seems to be going for something more traditional for driving in 1968 New Bordeaux, in that its motoring is inspired by Steve McQueen movies like Bullitt. So says the developer video below.
I don't mind that the cars are faster and the backends like to slide around - real cars do that too, sometimes - as long as running a red light earns me a fine and an angry bobby on my tail.
How about that city, though? I'd forgotten completely, despite reading articles about it, that the game was set in a city based on New Orleans. Heck, here's the opening to Adam's article:
Mafia III’s rendition certainly looks the part. More importantly, it sounds just right. I’m becoming accustomed to impressive crowds in games and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to accept urban locations that only contain a handful of people. This “fictional version” of The Big Easy (creative director Haden Blackman specified the “fictional take” several times during his presentation) is busy, noisy and bustling. As lead character Lincoln Clay walks through the streets, the soundtrack switches from jazz to rock and then to the barks and insults of pedestrians.
It's the freshest thing about a game, it seems. I hope it holds up come October.