Mafia III Day 1 PC Performance Review

Conclusion

To put things simply Mafia III’s PC version could have used some extra polish, a delay for a little as a week for the developers to fix some of the game’s issues on the platform and provide PC gamers with a much better gameplay experience.  

Today the main topic of discussion is the Mafia III’s locked 30FPS limit on PC, which is a shame as there is quite a lot to like about the game.  

After a few hours of play, I found that I enjoyed the game’s soundtrack, gameplay style and even its story, but sadly this game has been released with an unnecessary FPS lock and a graphical options menu that leaves a lot to be desired.      

When Hangar 13 releases Mafia 3’s framerate unlocking patch, we will give this game a second look, but for now, it is a game that we just cannot recommend to PC gamers, especially those who are framerate junkies.      

Graphically Mafia III is pretty but not exactly a graphical showcase for the PC platform, leaving us confused as to why GPUs like the GTX 1060 and RX 480 struggle to achieve a steady framerate of 30FPS at 1440p. This also leaves us concerned that we may struggle to get this game to run at 60+FPS when the game’s first PC patch releases.      

Mafia III’s aesthetic is somewhat ruined by how blurred or muddy the visuals can be, lacking the usual sharpness that a resolution of 1440p or 4K can provide. The game is using heavy Anti-Aliasing techniques like FXAA and TAA that limits aliasing at the expense of visual sharpness. This is a huge problem as the game has no way of turning AA off entirely or switching to a more demanding, less blur-inducing AA variant. This lack of choice will no doubt annoy a lot of PC gamers.      

What should be learnt from Mafia III is that not all PC games have a solid launch and like No Man’s Sky is a lesson that gamers should wait for reviews and other forms of critique before purchasing a game. Hanger 13 is currently working to address a lot of the issues with the PC version of Mafia III, though sadly this incident will no doubt turn PC gamers off this title for quite some time.  

We will be reaccessing this game when the upcoming framerate unlocking patch releases, testing our usual suite of GPUs and conducting more in-depth analysis of this title.  For now Mafia III is not a game that PC gamers should be in a hurry to buy, as no doubt the game will give PC players a much better experience in the future. 

 

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