8 Ways Mafia 3 Proves The Past Is Best For Video Games

3. Obviously, The Soundtracks Are Amazing

Mafia 3 Soundtrack
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If you were going to choose your favourite GTA soundtrack, it simply has to be Vice City's.

That irreverent blend of '80s pop rock and dance was the perfect backdrop for Rockstar's recreation of Reagan-era Miami, and its scope meant you were never left to succumb to a repetitive radio for too long.

Mafia III takes the approach pioneered by Vice City and one-ups it completely, using it to further reinforce immersion and contribute to the sense that Hangar 13 just plane get the zeitgeist of sixties America. Even when you're on your sixth play of Creedence's 'Bad Moon Rising', it still sounds just as good, and who can forget that killer opening when you escape a bank heist via boat to Steppenwolf's 'Born To Be Wild'? It's just brilliant, and the soundtrack is far from short of artistic talents, drawing upon everyone from Aretha Franklin to Same Cooke and even The Rolling Stones to create an authentic musical accompaniment for Lincoln's story.

At times cliched, at others poignant, Mafia's soundtrack is a testament to just how brilliant historic releases are. And no, I'm not trying to be 'that guy' knocking modern day music and such, but there is something particularly resonant about hearing pop culture anthems blare as you dispatch some mid-twentieth century mafioso in a hail of bullets.

Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.