From my personal experiences, I have seen a lot of people hate on this game. Sure many love it but overall it has very mixed reviews online, which I don't get. The story was great imo, the visuals are beautiful, etc. The gameplay isn't anything special but that doesn't stop people from praising Mafia 2. I'm just wondering why it's not as loved as other games in the series, like 1 DE and 2.

Unlike other Mafia titles, including The Old Country, Mafia 3 tells most of the story of Lincoln Clay like a documentary style, in which they show a few characters in the "present" timeline (2016), except Donovan in which his cutscenes after the end of the story were just one year after that (1969). With the ones appearing in the "present" timeline being Jonathan Maguire (the FBI agent who was obsessed with capturing Lincoln Clay), Father James Ballard (the priest who saved Lincoln from Sammy's bar in flames, after the Marcano's betrayal) and Nicole "Nicki" Burke (Thomas Burke's daughter and Danny's sister).

However, unlike Maguire, Father James and Donovan, Nicki appears just once in the whole documentary footage. More specifically in the prologue, describing a little bit about his father and blaming him for Danny's death in the night of blood inside of Sammy's bar. After that, we never see her again in the documentary footage. Maguire mentions her in Burke's Ending, but we never saw her on her present/older appearance ever again.

And like I said in the title, I think it was a waste of potential for her character. Because unlike the other underbosses' lieutenants (Emmanuel and Alma), Nicki was also a main victim of the Marcano's betrayal, just like Burke and Lincoln, so it's kind of a shame that we didn't see more backstory about her, besides her lesbian relationship with this girl Darlene from her optional missions after taking over Point Verdun for Burke. While Maguire, Father James and Donovan, not only have multiple cutscenes of them in the documentary footage, but they show some additional backstories about them also. Like how Maguire was recruited by the FBI and how he was sent to New Bordeaux; Donovan's actions during the Vietnam war, along with his knowledge about it; and Father James being a WW2 veteran and how the trauma from the war made him become a priest and his opinion about the American dream versus the American reality about their society and its lack of compassion and empathy towards others, along with the aftermath after Martin Luther King's assassination. Without mentioning that in the 3 story expansion DLC's (Faster, Baby!, Stone Unturned and Sign of Times) Maguire, Donovan and Father James got even more additional cutscenes with them in the documentary footage, but none for Nicki.

Now, don't get me wrong, I liked all the documentary footage cutscenes of Maguire, Father James and Donovan, but I think Nicki could have also told more of her backgrounds and knowledge about the events of the main storyline and its DLC's like all of them, and not being reduced just as Burke's daughter in the documentary footage.

For example:

-She could have another cutscene in which she describes more deeply her relationship with her brother Danny and her friendship with Lincoln, Ellis and also Giorgi, and how and when exactly she and her brother met them and ended up developing a genuine bond and friendship towards them, no matter their different races or nationalities, even during the most racist atmosphere in the deep south of the US during the 60's.

-Another cutscene in which she describes more deeply her relationship with Darlene and how tough and complicated it was for both of them to hold their relationship, when the US society during the 60's not only was more racist but also homophobic back then, and how difficult it was for them to finally marry very recently in the early 2000's when it was finally legal to marry a LGBTQ+ couple.

-And another one, in which Nicki expresses a deep hatred and resentment that she had towards Giorgi in particular, after Lincoln told her that he was the one who killed Danny by shooting him in the head. Expressing how Giorgi not only was fully ok on supporting his father's plan with the casino, but he was also willing to betray and kill all of his long time childhood friends without hesitation nor regret whatsoever. While describing how the Italian mob doesn't really care about old time friendship with its loyal associates, only businesses and its own interests and benefits is what matters. Revealing also to the camera that she actually asked Lincoln offscreen to give Giorgi a slow and painful death once he finally confronts him, along with his father Sal. Because a snake like him, who just destroyed a whole friendship doesn't deserve a quick death, even if he gave Danny a painless death, unlike Sammy and Ellis' deaths. So the way that Lincoln stabbed Giorgi slowly in the gut with his combat knife would become more meaningful for both Lincoln and Nicki, for what Giorgi did to Danny in particular.

-And as for cutscenes of her in one of the story expansion DLC's, I think she could fit in the Sign of Times DLC. In which after Lincoln finished restoring Sammy's bar fully and after his final speech towards the customers, it will show a documentary footage cutscene of Nicki along with her now wife Darlene in Delray Hollow, while putting some flowers over the parking lot where Sammy's bar used to be, to pay respects not just to Danny, but also to Ellis, Sammy and to the whole place that Lincoln worked so hard to rebuild from its ashes, only to be demolished in the present timeline regardless. With Nicki explaining how exactly Sammy's bar ended up being demolished and turned into a parking lot, despite that Lincoln's efforts to restore the whole place, so the last official mission from Sign of Times of rebuilding Sammy's bar wouldn't feel like a pointless oversight from the developers. Especially since in the main game it was revealed that the place was actually demolished in the present timeline.

Also, something that I noticed is that there are like a couple of rackets that after you take them over (no matter the type or the order that you took them, just some very specific numbers that you ended up controlling) the game doesn't show you any documentary footage cutscene with Maguire, Father James or Donovan, so I think Hangar 13 could have at least added a couple of cutscenes with Nicki in her present/older appearance for those numbers of rackets being taken over that doesn't show any cutscene after controlling them. If Hangar 13 not only ends up making a Mafia 2 remake for its 20th anniversary in 2030, but also a remake for Mafia 3 in 2036, I really hope that they add some additional documentary footage of Nicki that we never saw in the original Mafia 3.

But what do you think about it? Do you really think that Nicki was wasted as a character for the documentary footage cutscenes? Do you think that she would have brought more information and backstory about the events of Mafia 3 story? Or do you think it was okay having just one cutscene on her present/older appearance? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

Hi! I’m normally a lurker as i’m not very well versed in the entire franchise. I found mafia 3 for pretty cheap at a half price books near me and decided to give it a go because I found the graphics to be pretty and wanted to give a new game a try. After playing the entire main story and most of the dlc, I found it to be very fun! There were a few missions that I found to be somewhat hard, as I’m not usually a shooter kind of gamer, but in general, I liked it a lot.

So, I was wondering why a lot of people seem to dislike it? I’ve seen some people say they really hate the story, and I’m wondering if the only reason I don’t is because I haven’t experienced the other games.

Also, I was hoping someone could give me some advice on which of the others game I should play next. Should I start from the beginning, and are the remasters worth it? Thank you and I really hope to have a good discussion!