8 Ways Mafia 3 Proves The Past Is Best For Video Games
2. Modern Day Clichés Are Completely Erased
As I've said before, Mafia III doesn't stay away from history's darker moments. At times it tackles them head on, providing a nuanced social-commentary absent from plenty of titles that get a modern setting, namely GTA.
Don't get me wrong, there have been moments where Rockstar's foremost franchise has managed to offer some great commentary on contemporary issues (torture, for instance, in GTA V), but more often than not the studio's commentary defaults to little more than innocuous satire; comedy that apes South Park's irritatingly successful blend that dares mock anything even vaguely resembling an opinion. It's painfully awkward, and, when put next to the narrative leaps the series does attempt to make, loses any and all reverence in the page-to-screen translation that could've possibly been there in the first place.
It's a harder thing to mess up when a title is set in the past, seeing as how developers are a little less crass when it comes to dealing with matters of historical importance. If writers were more willing to make a statement instead of coddling their audiences in some poor attempt at satire, the genre would be way, way stronger than it currently is.