It has been awhile since I’ve said anything about this upcoming game, but some new and cool information has been released for Mafia 3 over at Gamespot. Now I’ve mentioned some things about this Mafia 3 in the past such as the setting and who the character is, but there has been some more in-depth information released so lets take a look to see what is Mafia 3 about and other interesting info.

First and foremost, this game takes place in New Orleans though in the game it is actually referred to as New Bordeaux. Not to worry though it is modeled very closely to the real city of New Orleans although it is not the present city. It is 1960s New Orleans and trust me, you’ll notice the difference as the skyline is missing many key skyscrapers that are present today.

First off, let’s talk about the main character in the game. His name is Lincoln and he is returning to the New Orleans like city after being in the Vietnam War. According to the article at Gamespot, Lincoln is also bi-racial and an orphan. I certainly believe that will play an interesting part for this character. As he returns to this city, things inevitably happen to where he’ll got sucked into a life of crime.

The game takes place in the late 1960s which as you know was a fairly turbulent time in US history with the Cuban Missile Crises, the assassination of JFK, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War. Things were especially turbulent in the south as racial tensions heated up because of the rise of the Civil Rights Movement.

That will almost certainly give our main character more depth since he has to deal with the fact that he is bi-racial during this difficult time.

The city of New Bordeaux looks like it is going to be pretty big as there are supposed to be 9 different districts one of which will certainly resemble the French Quarter in New Orleans. It wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t in the game since that is what this famous southern city is known for.

There’s also supposed to be a lower class/poor area which I can assume would resemble the lower ninth ward, an industrial/warehouse area, suburban like area and also the swamps surrounding the city. Now I wasn’t alive during this time period so I can’t say exactly what New Orleans in my experience looked like back then, but I’m sure the west bank of the city was not too heavily developed yet at this time and don’t know how big the surrounding suburbs of Kenner and Metairie would be at this period either.

From one of the screenshots it does look like the original bridge from the current day Crescent City Connection is there that goes over the Mississippi River. Since they’ve renamed the city of New Orleans in this game, it makes me wonder if they will also change the name of the river. I also wonder if Algiers will be in the game which is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown.

Another thing that is mentioned in this article of this upcoming game is that the main character will form relationships with other people in the game that will certainly have an affect on the personal and professional aspects of Lincoln in regards to crime. The article from Gamespot does mention some of the characters you’ll meet and work with, but I don’t want to spoil them here. You can read the article if you wish to see who they are and their backgrounds.

Something else that does sound quite interesting about this game is that you can take over territory and task some of these people working for or with you to protect this territory. It somewhat reminds me of the crazy series Saints Row where you would take over territory from other gangs, but I think Mafia 3 will have a much more serious way at how it is done compared to the goofiness of the Saints Row series.

Now this article also makes mention of something that sounds really cool called wire-tapping. Before the days of internet hacking, there was wire-tapping to gain valuable information which law enforcement and other government agencies such as the FBI used heavily at this time to try and bring down organized crime.

It appears that in this game, you can use it to your advantage to gain valuable insight of your enemies that can help you plan your next move or how to best bring them down. The article does mention of a puzzle of sorts to get the wire-tap to work, but it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Another thing that is mentioned here is that you can either kill your enemies or get them to be on your side. I’m curious to see how this will work and hope that more information will be released about this aspect soon.

It is mentioned that there is more than one way to complete a mission which is something I like and reminds of the recent Grand Theft Auto games where you can do that as well. You can sneak into places or just flat out open raid a place. The choice is definitely yours and it gives you a reason to play the missions over to see how you can do things differently.

Since this is an open world game, you need ways to get around the map and what better way to do that than the vehicles of this era. Muscle cars are getting popular during this time and the developers have said that they are in the game and they will drive like their real life counterpart. The person who got to have some hands on time with this game at Gamespot said it was difficult to get used to driving them at first, but eventually got the hang of it.

It is said also in the article that you will unlock other cars as you progress through the game and there will even be some upgrades or modifications you can do to the vehicles as well. It is also mentioned you can steal cars from the in game pedestrians, but you will not be able to keep those vehicles.

Finally, one of the last things the article mentions is that there will be a lot of unique and licensed music that will generally fit that time period. Think of bands and singers such as The Beatles, Jimmy Hendrix, the Jackson 5, etc. It will definitely help make the game unique and fun to play.

Well there you have it! A general idea of what Mafia 3 is about, the setting of this open world game, the character’s name and some of his background, some vehicles you’ll be able to use in this game, licensed music, and more. I for one am excited for this upcoming game and it will be the first game I’ll have ever played in the series.

I will definitely post more info about Mafia 3 as it becomes available. As for a release date for this game, it is slated to come about on October 7th according to GameStop’s website.