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Rumor: Mafia 3 moved to 2K San Francisco (Rod Fergusson), restarting from scratch

Hip Hop

Hip Hop

Member
Well, looks like this game is stuck in development hell once again.

I guess it has become a norm for the series. They had found the great formula in Mafia 2, I don't see why it should take so long to finish the 3rd one.

So many bad choices, they could have rode the wave of success of the 2nd game.
 
styl3s

styl3s

Member
Hopefully it gets made because i really enjoyed Mafia and absolutely loved Mafia 2. Currently replaying Mafia 2 on PC (originally played it on 360) and the physx stuff makes the shooting sequences so much more satisfying.
 
M

Marcel

Member
Neuromancer said:
Why is it Rod Ferguson is always the one who's sent to whip troubled games into shape?
Click to expand...

Dev from generic actiony-shooty series patching up another generic actiony-shooty series entry so it's not entirely unexpected. He'll push it out the door at the very least.
 
E

E92 M3

Member
Neuromancer said:
Why is it Rod Ferguson is always the one who's sent to whip troubled games into shape?
Click to expand...

rod_fergusson-600x250.jpg



...bitches
 
I

IdreamofHIME

Member
Drop the open world. Mafia II was a great action game, but a horrible sandbox game.
Driving around empty lifeless cities at night is boring, LA Noire fell right into that sinkhole too.

Chapters. Stages. Levels.
Call them whatever you want, but use them.

Marcel said:
Dev from generic actiony-shooty series patching up another generic actiony-shooty series entry so it's not entirely unexpected. He'll push it out the door at the very least.
Click to expand...

Bioshock Infinite was a generic actiony-shooty game?
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Neuromancer said:
Why is it Rod Ferguson is always the one who's sent to whip troubled games into shape?
Click to expand...

Marcel said:
Dev from generic actiony-shooty series patching up another generic actiony-shooty series entry so it's not entirely unexpected. He'll push it out the door at the very least.
Click to expand...

Rod Fergusson is something of a production management methodology legend in the game industry.

He's known for running strict iron triangles and getting games out on time and at expected quality.

He's had a ton of presentations, but here's a somewhat recent one: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/...on_Describes_Timeliness_As_Key_To_Success.php
 
B

Buckethead

Banned
Also, if I'm an investor/business exec, it doesn't matter too much to me if it's a critical darling or anything like that.

It has to be a commercially viable product and bring in money.

speculawyer said:
GTA has never been a huge draw.
Click to expand...
On PS1 it wasn't.

So my point was while I was recommend they rebrand, GTA didn't, and eventually became successful.
 
M

Marcel

Member
IdreamofHIME said:
Bioshock Infinite was a generic actiony-shooty game?
Click to expand...

The gameplay and some aspects of the game's structure certainly were generic, yes. Showed obvious signs of development hell hastily covered up by the metaphysical/sci-fi conceits of the story. A notable example I recall is when you're in Finkton going through the same map backwards (now with ugly grey and brown war color palette!).

Laaaazy.
 
F

FloweryMarston

Member
Marcel said:
The gameplay and some aspects of the game's structure certainly were generic, yes. Showed obvious signs of development hell hastily covered up by the metaphysical/sci-fi conceits of the story. A notable example I recall is when you're in Finkton going through the same map backwards (now with ugly grey and brown war color palette!).

Laaaazy.
Click to expand...

ultra lazy! right!?
 
Certinty

Certinty

Member
As long as we get a Mafia III I'm not too concerned.

Makes me wonder if another 2K studio will take over Top Spin though, or perhaps it's time for 2K to ditch it.
 
A

Aklamarth

Member
Seems to me 2K Czech (Illusion Softworks) had a very turbulent history.

- they did the first mafia , then almost get shattered.
- after a long time they started working on mafia 2, got bought by 2K and eventually released the game after a turbulent development (i really enjoyed it by the way...much better than gta from my point of view).
- started working on mafia 3, layoffs and now this.

Personally i hope this is not true and these guys are ok and they'll release Mafia 3 someday.
 
S

speculawyer

Member
Buckethead said:
On PS1 it wasn't.
Click to expand...
My apologies. I didn't realize the words 'never' and 'on PS1' meant the same thing.

Buckethead said:
So my point was while I was recommend they rebrand, GTA didn't, and eventually became successful.
Click to expand...
Ah . . . so maybe they should have rebranded GTA after the mediocre PS1 games instead of making it a better game like they did and then they might have had a big success (which they did).
 
S

sirseanconnery

Banned
I enjoyed Mafia II and all but the fact that it got some hefty content cut from it was really disappointing, hopefully they get all their ducks in a row this time around.
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Cumpkin Hubris said:
"Undercooked" is a good word. It just didn't feel finished to me, despite taking forever to come out.

The overworld looked nice but there was really nothing to do in it.
And collecting cars was pointless because the game narrative meant your stash got wiped out repeatedly.

Also, it seemed to introduce characters and then never revisit them for some reason. Like, "Oh here's a weapons guy with an eyepatch! Welp, that's the last you'll see of him". The first game built up a cast that you got familiar with.

Definitely, one of last gens bigger disappointments for me. Not that it was a bad game by any stretch, but I was so hyped because I loved the first one so much. I should've learned by now.
Click to expand...

Yeah there was a lot of things they introduced like they were setting it up for side mission type stuff and then nothing came of it, or what did felt like it was not what was originally planned.

The entire prison term part of the game was horribly rushed. Most of the last few chapters were very fast paced, rushing you to the end, and quite a few chapters just felt like they could have used some more time. What was there was a ton of fun. The driving and gunplay is my favorite in an open world game. It was all so meaty and well done.

They said they forwent side missions and stuff because they didn't want to cheapen the main story which was their focus with goofy games and stuff like GTA has, but anyone with a brain could figure out they could have achieved secondary missions and other activities that fit the narrative tone and style to help expand the world and characters in support of the main story and not in contrast to it. You could immediately tell they did everything to just get the main campaign done well enough and ship out the game.

After probably 5 years of development they were told "get us something to sell," and that's what they delivered. I still think it was worth the 50 or whatever it was, but it was definitely all that it could have been, should have been, or likely what they planned it to be.
 
Q

QuicheFontaine

Member
Enduin said:
Yeah there was a lot of things they introduced like they were setting it up for side mission type stuff and then nothing came of it, or what did felt like it was not what was originally planned.

The entire prison term part of the game was horribly rushed. Most of the last few chapters were very fast paced, rushing you to the end, and quite a few chapters just felt like they could have used some more time. What was there was a ton of fun. The driving and gunplay is my favorite in an open world game. It was all so meaty and well done.

They said they forwent side missions and stuff because they didn't want to cheapen the main story which was their focus with goofy games and stuff like GTA has, but anyone with a brain could figure out they could have achieved secondary missions and other activities that fit the narrative tone and style to help expand the world and characters in support of the main story and not in contrast to it. You could immediately tell they did everything to just get the main campaign done well enough and ship out the game.

After probably 5 years of development they were told "get us something to sell," and that's what they delivered. I still think it was worth the 50 or whatever it was, but it was definitely all that it could have been, should have been, or likely what they planned it to be.
Click to expand...

Definitely the feeling I got from it. I remember finding a train yard (in the east of the city, I think) that was huge and incredibly detailed. You could walk around the whole thing. Beautifully modelled trains and everything, someone must have spent a really long time making it. Yet you never went there in the game. I imagine there was going to be a mission set there but it was cut because they just had to get the game out of the door :-/
 
Elektro Demon

Elektro Demon

Banned
I liked the first and especially the second one. The third one was pure garbage. I didn't mind the story that much but the repetitive missions is what killed it for me.
Hopefully, they learned from their mistakes.

EDIT: I see know this was necro'd. I'm an idiot.
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
Mafia III was a great 8.0/10 game for me. Amazing soundtrack and voice acting. Excellent story and characters. Visuals were good but had some issues. Gameplay and combat was brutal and violent but clunky and generic. The biggest issue I had with the game was the open world aspect. It would have been a lot better as a linear story driven game instead of being open world.
 
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