Hangar 13 brings us the next installment of the Mafia franchise with Mafia 3: does this third installment become the Don, or does it get buried with the fishes?
Mafia 3 takes place in 1968 in the southern United States city of New Bordeaux, a re-creation of New Orleans. You play as Lincoln Clay, a bi-racial Vietnam veteran and orphan who never felt like he belonged anywhere. Returning from the war you fall back in with the only family you’ve ever known (the black mob), and find out that your family is in debt to the Italian mob and it has to be repaid. When you pull off a job with the Italians to repay the debt they betray you and leave you for dead. Clay sets out on a revenge mission to take down Sal Marcano, his family, and his empire.
Mafia 3 is an open world third-person shooter that does some things well and others not so much. In Mafia 3 you will recruit three different capos: Cassandra, the leader of the Haitian gang, Vito Scaletta, an exiled member of the Italian Mafia from empire bay, and Burke, leader of the Irish mob who also lost his son because of the Marcanos.
There are a total of ten districts to control and each district has a certain crime syndicate that you must take over; you can destroy their supplies, interrogate the informants, or kill the leaders and enforcers. By the 5th district it becomes a bit tedious as you do the same thing over and over again, and going the extra mile more than you need to just to get more money. Taking over rackets allows you to assign one of your capos to run the racket and will allow a bigger kickback to you. Once an entire district is taken over and the boss is killed, you then have a sit down with your capos and assign one of them to the district which will unlock a new perk for you.
The driving in this game feels smooth, with the muscle cars pulling tight corners with a nice drift. Unfortunately, the cars in the game are not licensed.
Mafia 3 is good, but does not keep you interested for more than 20 hours. The soundtrack is fantastic, filled with classic rock and roll, jazz and country from the 50’s and 60’s. The unfortunate thing about the game is that it becomes very repetitive with each district, the collectibles are a bit tedious, and the world that was so alive during the time of the 60’s seems a bit dull. However, you can’t help but continue to see how the story unfolds as you attempt to collect as much money as possible.
Pros: story, time period, character development, writing, soundtrack
Cons: glitches, mechanics, repetitive, lifeless environment and collectibles.
Mafia 3: 8/10
Reviewed by ICE at Gamers of the Round Table

To rent or purchase Mafia 3 go to Gameaccess.ca Canadas number one video game rental service

Gears of War 4
It’s time for a review on a large game that everyone (err… most people) have had their eyes on – it’s time to get gruesome with the newest installment of the Gears series. Let’s find out if it’s worthy of that name or if it puts the series to shame.
Story: now admittedly, I am brand new to the series so many aspects of this game or throwbacks are either brand new to me or go over my head. But I think I get the main idea of the story, many people are getting snatched away by creatures being called “The Swarm”. You play as Marcus Fenix’s son James, who is trying to rescue some of the crew. Later on you learn that these “Swarm” have some sort of connection with the old enemies called “The Locust”, however we don’t learn a whole lot in this game as it feels the developers are setting up for the story to really take place in a future installment.
Gameplay: this game handles extremely well. It strongly urges the use of using cover as often as possible and the weapons while varied all feel incredibly satisfying to use. Whether killing an enemy by filling them with bullets or ripping them in half with a chainsaw, you’ll be right at home no matter the weapon you enjoy using.
Conclusion: this game is really enjoyable. It was well worth the price and I am always eager to get in and try out the multiplayer modes in the game. The story mode while not being short didn’t feel like it dragged on too long, nor did I feel like it was ever a chore playing the game.
That being said I personally didn’t personally enjoy the three Fabricator segments in the story which are essentially wave survival modes.
Score: while this game does do a lot of things right, it is not without its flaws. The Fabricator sections feel like they breakup the story a bit too much and at times just feel forced on the player. As for the story, while being amazing, feels a bit like filler to prepare for a future game. I give this game a score of 7/10 (note: this score is purely personal opinion and you should try the game for yourself before passing judgement)

Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 1 and 2

Trainer_Red, Gamers of the Round Table

Today my review on Telltales Batman is based on how well the amazing storytelling company worked with the Dark Knight’s lore, as well as evidence from what I’ve played so far (there are only two episodes out currently). Telltale certainly knows Batman better than I do and have done the Batman name justice so far.

Story: The story takes place during an election campaign where District Attorney Harvey Dent is running against Mayor Hill in order to improve Gotham City; luckily for Dent he is being supported by his good friend Bruce Wayne. But when Falcone shows up at the Wayne mansion during a meet and greet, the good name of the Wayne family starts to take a turn for the worse. In all honesty this game delves into lore I’ve never even heard of, including what Bruce’s parents – Martha and Thomas – were actually like personality wise.

Gameplay: As per usual Telltale style, the game revolves around the choices you make in conversation and alters the story based on your choices. The action scenes using quick time events requires players be paying close attention to a game that at times can feel like a visual novel, and the planning for when Batman has to clear a room is done so seamlessly that it’s near perfect.

Conclusion: TellTale certainly has a good grasp of the Batman universe and certainly delivers suspense, making me and many others excited to see what they have in store for the future episodes of this game.

Score: While the game is currently unfinished, what I’ve played so far is amazing and I’ve only run into a few issues (odd times where quick time events don’t respond despite a button being pressed correctly), but overall I feel I must give Batman episodes 1 & 2 a 9.5/10.