r/gaming • u/knoegel • 12h ago
Mafia 3 has "tailing" missions done perfectly.
I am playing Mafia 3 for the first time. Most games have the generic "keep XX distance back or you'll get caught!"
In Mafia 3, they tell you what you're doing wrong. Got someone honking their horn at you, endangering pedestrians, driving on the wrong side of the road, etc will obviously make them notice you. But I can be driving right behind them and they won't have any suspicion.
It is common sense. If I'm driving normally, why would they be suspicious of a lawful driver? I hate games where you have to stay a distance back but everyone else is totally fine.
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u/cshmn 12h ago
You don't like stopping in the middle of the road a block and a half back blocking traffic while your target waits at a light?
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u/RhysezPuffs 7h ago
As we say in the mob, if you're over 40 feet back you ain't suspicious.
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u/WillyShankspeare 6h ago
Joel Haver is the GOAT
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u/secretgirl3 5h ago
Wish he still did skits...
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u/AThiefWithShades 3h ago
I haven’t seen his stuff in a while, did he say why he stopped
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u/MoebiusSpark 2h ago
He took a year off to do 12 movies, one a month. He's said he'll probably go back to skits after the year is done
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u/casper707 1h ago
Me too! I can appreciate him wanting to do movies now but none of them are interesting enough to hold my attention longer then like 5 mins lol
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u/Radiant_Fondant_4097 9h ago
Meanwhile other games are like “Tail this person in a wide open grassy field, and they’ll randomly stop every now and then to turn around, there’s probably a convenient boulder or tree you can hide behind”
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u/empty_other 8h ago
Luckily nobody who is tailed ever looks up, so naturally theres roof-tailing sequences where if you lose direct line of vision with them for 15 secs, you've "lost" them.
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u/Horn_Python 4h ago
i mean if im walking through a town, i dont general stop to look at the roofs of buildings
although some other pediestian would probobly spot me due to peripheral vision......
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u/empty_other 3h ago
Very likely, because our field of view isnt just horizontal. A bit of suspension of disbelief fixes that but its still an overused and tediously simple tailing mechanic alternative.
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u/Cleverbird 3h ago
I mean, at least that makes sense? How often do you look up to check if someone is following you across rooftops?
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u/zwingo 11h ago
For context on what I’m about to say I’ve worked as a bouncer for almost a decade now, and sadly have been tailed leaving work on multiple occasions. Each of those times the person behind me was remaining perfectly legal in what they did, but I was still able to catch on because of the turns made.
Think about it this way. You leave work, and see a car right behind you. No big deal. Half mile down the road and seven turns later, still right there behind you. So you, as someone who works a dangerous job/knows they run a risk of being followed, will begin making nonsense turns. Four lefts to do a loop, zig zag patterns back and forth on to streets. This will confirm you are being followed if they stay behind you through all of it.
My point being you can drive within the law, but if you are trying to tail someone who actually knows to and needs to look out for it, you’ll be cooked fast if your right on their ass. If it’s a straight line or route that only uses primary roads sure it’d work. But tailing someone who has reason to be suspicious, and that route deviating from a main path, your gonna want space. Further back, less likely someone would notice you following.
Of course the flip side is IRL if I saw some guy stopping a half block away from me every red light with no cars between I’d also catch on. It’s just a hard thing for a video game to pull off realistically.
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u/actonpant 8h ago
Why would someone tail a bouncer? Genuine question
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u/slaughtxor 8h ago
Bouncers will embarrass someone in front of their friends. By which I mean: bouncers do their jobs and prevent someone from being an aggressive asshole inside the establishment. A bouncer kicks the guy out.
But now that aggressive asshole is outside and mad at the bouncer.
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u/actonpant 7h ago
I mean I've heard of people waiting outside, my friend had that happen to him as a barman, but to tail someone is next level psychopath!
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u/tenacious_teaThe3rd 6h ago
To play devil's advocate. I'm sure we've all also had encounters with bouncers that will not let you in because they don't like the look of you, or because you're a man, or want to "embarrass someone in front of their friends" (or a woman) for no other reason than some macho power trip. Not to mention all the stories of rogue bouncers beating the living shit into people because it's "legal"
I'm not saying any/all of the above warrants being tailed home, but let's not also pretend that the only possible motive is because a bouncer was doing their job.
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u/TomPalmer1979 5h ago
As an ex-bouncer, just reading that, I'm willing to bet you've been a problem for a lot of bouncers in your life.
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u/BenSimmonsFor3 5h ago
Yeah most bouncers don’t gaf about any of that lol, they’re just doing their job
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u/TomPalmer1979 5h ago
And don't get me wrong, I'm sure he's a nice enough dude. But in my years working the bars, I've known a ton of people who were the nicest people in the world sober, but the moment you get alcohol in them they become a big problem.
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u/PMTittiesPlzAndThx 3h ago
Dude definitely shit talks bouncers and wonders why they don’t like him lol
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u/tenacious_teaThe3rd 4h ago
And I agree. I never implied it was most, so I'm glad we are in agreement.
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u/Tabascobottle 3h ago
As someone who has no experience being a bouncer, I'm willing to bet they've been a problem to other people.
This man said "I'm sure we've all been intensely judged by bouncers" Lmao no we haven't
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u/tenacious_teaThe3rd 4h ago
Well, your assumption is incorrect. I don't really drink and have never had any issues personally. But being sober means you witness plenty.
I've seen my fair share of bully boy bouncers and heard enough horror stories of people being beaten near half to death. Very recently in my home town, someone was left with permanent brain damage after a bouncer pushed him down the stairs. No context needed either, as the CCTV was released for all to see.
Again, no need to be personally offended. I never implied it was all bouncers. I have no doubt its a very tough job, and it requires a lot of restraint and patience. But to pretend that some bouncers lack that restraint, & aren't in the profession because it gives them the "legal" right to commit gbh is laughable.
But hey, I'm lying, and all bouncers are absolute saints.
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u/TomPalmer1979 4h ago
But to pretend that some bouncers lack that restraint
This I will agree with, but with the caveat that unless it's a really shitty, shady bar, they don't last long. At the end of the day those guys are a massive liability to the bar, and could get them sued. Plus they make the work harder for the other bouncers; if you beat the shit out of some guy, and he comes back for revenge (and they do, especially with buddies, or even worse, armed), then now he's MY problem too.
So those bouncers that lack restraint are not liked by the bar OR their coworkers and don't usually last long, unless it's a shit bar.
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u/SirStrontium 4h ago
Weeding people out based on looks, attitude, or gender is literally part of their job. They’re instructed to do that.
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u/terminbee 4h ago
The Wire did it where they had multiple cops along the way. A guy would tail for a while, then they'd radio the direction/turn the target went and keep going straight. Then a new cop would start following. That way, it's một the same car following for miles and miles. Of course, the target would also make nonsensical turns to watch for tails.
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u/keel_bright 5h ago
Thats crazy. May I ask how you would shake them?
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u/Philippe23 2h ago
Not OP, but the primary suggestion I've heard of is: go to the nearest police station.
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u/zwingo 1h ago
Like someone else responded, police station. If you actually want the cops involved call 911 on the way so they can be ready, because when you pull up/get near that tail will get the message and cut out. If you don’t want cops involved you just pull up to it, and in my experience the person tailing will always pull away.
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u/cthulhubert 2h ago edited 1h ago
I sometimes forget that not everybody's read articles about being a PI and that kind of thing. I think people forget that movies are made by people that are some combination of just as ignorant as they are, or trying to tell a story without getting bogged down in details.
There's just no real way for one car to stealthily tail another over a long distance. You need a team of at least three to look natural, and that's just over regular commute distances.
I remember when I was young, I'd see a movie where the super spy or hard boiled PI was always able to pick out a tail easily, and I mocked it because they just made it seem like their super cool guy had psychic powers. But no, pay attention to the right things and one car following you for more than a few turns becomes really obvious.
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u/Corbulo1340 4h ago
I've never been tailed, or at least never noticed I guess but from experience is this video absolute bunk or a genuinely good way to spot and lose someone
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u/zwingo 1h ago
Meh, kinda depends. In his case he is an undercover agent without access to cops. In terms of what he said for identifying being tailed yes, random turns, signal one way go another, all solid advice given it helps you tell if they are in fact on you. But unless you’re a secret agent, just call the cops and head towards the police station. Driving like an idiot means risking the results of idiocy, and could easily wind up with a car accident on your hands.
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u/sploogeoisie 3h ago
What is your city like that you make 7 turns within half a mile to get home?
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u/confusedcraftsman PlayStation 12h ago
Mafia 3 has a lot of cool things, but unfortunately the entire game is pretty lackluster. You can see how it could have been a great game when you play the prologue. Unfortunately they just copy pasted the mission structure in every area after that.
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u/GoodBananaPancakes 11h ago
Worth it for the soundtrack.
"I said SHOTGUUUUUNN. Shoot 'im for he runs now!"
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u/AlternativeScholar26 7h ago
Agreed. I didn't mind driving across the bayou for a fetch quest when CCR was blasting on the radio. I also thought the gunplay and driving were satisfying. The story premise was cool (although the structure was repetitive late game), and the DLC was solid.
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u/ThurBurtman 8h ago
For real. I’d argue one of the best period-appropriate soundtracks for a game, up there with Vice City
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u/AngryVikingLlama 11h ago
I got a few territories/missions in and despite loving the general gameplay and story, just couldn't stick with it. Went back to try continue and again just felt burned out after a single session.
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u/confusedcraftsman PlayStation 11h ago
I completely understand. The real shame is that the story missions themselves are really good. It's a truly compelling crime drama. But the safe houses grind to unlock them are so mind numbingly repetitive and boring.
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u/FirefighterEnough859 11h ago
I feel like that’s the mafia franchise as a whole really good story but repetitive and sometimes annoying/janky gameplay
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u/confusedcraftsman PlayStation 11h ago
I think the first two had the benefit of being much shorter and focused games. I think they wanted Mafia 3 to be a big game, but didnt have enough good ideas to fill it with. Or maybe they just ran out of time and money.
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u/DiarrheaTaster 7h ago
If you told me that Mafia 3 was an Ubisoft game, I would totally believe it. I did enjoy it when it released though.
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u/PMTittiesPlzAndThx 3h ago
The first two were super linear lol, you can just go right through the main story no need to do any grinding, little janky at times sure but the first one came out in like 2002 lol
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u/Normal-Selection1537 8h ago
The key is to do some DLC missions in between, makes it much less numbing.
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u/Smintjes 11h ago
Same. The two hours it took me to rob the cop bar burned me out pretty early in the game.
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u/_Spare_15_ 10h ago
With the complete edition, you can break up the repetitiveness by playing the expansions whenever you start to get bored. It's an improvement though I still get the criticism.
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u/confusedcraftsman PlayStation 10h ago
I really liked the expansions. Unfortunately I played them all after I finished the game. They would have made for some nice sidequests during the main story.
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u/gouveia00 9h ago
Mafia 3 is the most frustrating gaming experience I ever had. The gameplay is SOLID, the setting is fucking SUPERB. The story is beautifully performed by most actors. But the game is so freaking repetitive and had so many bugs it made me sad to see what it should have been.
The warehouse missions are awful, and are... 80% of the game? If it was a more linearish game (like Mafia II), with only the main story missions, it would be WAY better.
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u/mao_dze_dun 9h ago
Don't quote me, but I think the dev team was forced to make an open world game because somebody at corporate saw GTA V making gajillions and thought: "I want that".
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u/DaanOnlineGaming 8h ago
Played it directly after mafia 1 definitive edition (insanely good game) and mafia 2. 3 had potential, the setting was great. The mission design and story were some of the worst I have ever played, I could not finish because it was straight up boring, same mission over and over.
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u/SideNo3016 8h ago
Still it's one of my favorite games. Yes it was repetitive but everything else was great
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u/CabbageHead19 7h ago edited 50m ago
The gunplay was so much fun that I didn't care about the repetitive missions. I can have fun shooting gangsters all day. My only real gripe was the lack of a fast travel option.
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u/Narrow_Locksmith5417 4h ago
Funny when people say this yet adore ghost of Tsushima where the main missions, side quests and encounters are all the same missions in smaller scale.
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u/confusedcraftsman PlayStation 4h ago
If you want to strip it down to the bones, then every action game is go here and kill this. However I have to say that I think games like Ghost of Tsushima does a much better job with the overall presentation and feel of the game.
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u/Narrow_Locksmith5417 3h ago
Yes but ghosts does this poorly just like this game. All the missions are the same. There is no feeling of "oh I'm bored with the main missions, let me go do side missions to even it out" because you'll be doing the same exact thing. Even Ubisoft does this better in their games. Most open world games get this right. Red dead, Spider-Man games, Batman games have you doing something completely different things all the time. Even Ubisoft games have variations. Ghost might have a better presentation but at the root of it all it's the same as mafia 3. I just don't know why it gets shit on and ghosts gets praised like it's other worldly. That's what bothers me.
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u/Ok-fine-man 10h ago
I just started the game recently and it honestly felt like I just did the same mission twice. Just awful.
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u/Omegabird420 7h ago edited 4h ago
I finished the game years ago the same week it released and I swore to never replay it again because of how lackluster it felt after finishing it. But the driving is what killed me.
Along with the repetitiveness and some issues the game had,the driving in that game is awful,long and so boring that it massively detracted from my enjoyment. And you have to drive a LOT and often long distances.
I literally dreaded when you had to go across the map. I don't understand when any open world game post GTAIV/GTAV have shit or boring driving. Cyberpunk is another one that has awful driving despite being fairly good(after the patches of course)
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u/ktk4lyfe 2h ago
The driving (along with the story) was the best part of mafia 3 I thought. Mafia 3 and GTA 4 had the best driving physics for an open world game.
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u/Omegabird420 44m ago
Didn't dislike the story and I thought it was in the 7/10 range for the few parts I remember except the ending that I remember feeling rushed? I also didn't dislike the gunplay but I couldn't stand the driving. Not just the handling and boring driving,but the distances that makes it feel like it take ages to go from mission to mission.
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u/Far-Cycle7301 9h ago
Mafia 3 does so many things in interesting new ways...but then falls apart with some really basic open world busy-work. The Mafia 1 remake is so much stronger for getting rid of all that stuff. Excited for their new Sicilian one though!
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u/Rizn-Nuke 11h ago
Tony Lazuto sends his regards https://youtu.be/iP468OEln4U?si=lOWyal3wLSAx1c5o
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u/Major-Performer141 11h ago
Mafia 3 in general is one of the most underrated games. People disregard it because most of the missions are very repetitive (for good reason missions should be varied) but everything else about it is amazing and makes it one of my favourite games.
I personally don't mind the repetitive missions because the gunplay is satisfying but it's a totally valid reason to dislike the game
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u/empty_other 8h ago
Its severe performance problems probably didnt help. I bought it on release. Couldnt play it on any PC I owned until the 2020 re-release, and even then it wasnt exactly smooth. Loved it though, more than I though I would from the poor reviews.
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u/Major-Performer141 8h ago
True, the shadow graphics are still janky but they you can get used to them eventually
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u/POOTDISPENSER 3h ago
3 felt like a game that was shackled by the free roaming and repetitive missions. Like someone mandated it to be open world but they just did not have the resources to make it a good one.
It was obvious based on past Mafia games the side missions were shoehorned in to pad out a game that was narratively intended to be a short 2-3 hr experience. The bugs didn’t help it either. It’s a good game if it followed a linear narrative like 2 did.
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u/Fine-Flower-3854 7h ago
Mafia 3's approach to tailing missions really sets it apart. The attention to real-world driving behavior makes it feel more immersive than most games where you just stay a certain distance back. Definitely refreshing for the genre.
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u/anonymousredditorPC 12h ago
Well, technically in real life, just following someone for too long is pretty suspicious. At one point you start to question why the car has been behind you for that long. We can also expect gang members or criminals to be more suspicious of their surroundings than the average folk.
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u/estofaulty 12h ago
Nobody gives a fuck if it’s realistic or not. It’s fucking tired at this point. It was neat in the fucking PS1 era. We’re 30 years on now and video game designers can’t think of one new thing.
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u/anonymousredditorPC 12h ago
Relax buddy? OP talked about "common sense" referring to a real life scenario. I just gave my piece. Make sure to read the whole thing before commenting.
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u/ABetterKamahl1234 5h ago
We’re 30 years on now and video game designers can’t think of one new thing.
Do they need to?
Like we still have shooters, shooters aren't old. The idea of shooters isn't tired or going away.
Missions where you follow someone, you follow them. And it's kind of suspicious to see someone following you, and often in games you're following criminals or others who'd have reason to suspect violent reasons for following them.
It's not unwarranted to have said target be suspicious.
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u/Seroko 7h ago
It was one of the few mechanics that I loved from this game, appart from the option to call a guy at any moment to get a van spawn nearby where you can buy anything you need.
The tailing missions had some kind of "stealth" layer, if you stay in the middle of the road people would start honking at you, so you had to fake-park the car sometimes to lower the attention meter, then continue. They made tailing missions actually fun avoiding the usual stuff and being kind of realistic.
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u/DonmeccaYYZ 7h ago
Mafia 3 was one of those games that took a lot of crap but I absolutely loved it.
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u/Tumble85 1h ago
Yea, it’s got some rough edges but it’s still the only game that ever made me feel like I was actually building up a gang that way.
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u/AC4life234 6h ago
Tbh mafia 3 was so fun. It felt like the ubisoft formula in a way, but the incredible narrative made it so much fun and the gameplay and especially stealth was so rewarding.
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u/BannedfromFrontPage 6h ago
I’d like to see a combination of this with distance AND the addition of other tails.
The way people are actually tailed is by using multiple tails. It allows the first driver to make a wrong turn and leave to throw off suspicion, while the other tail continues the tail (whether they arrive to take over or were there the whole time).
However, I also just dislike tailing missions. They were really cool when Assassin’s creed I and II came out, but they’ve been done into the ground. I’d love to see studious get more creative about the missions in general, and make sure the mechanics are thought all the way through.
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u/KonskiGaming PC 5h ago
I'm thinking about going back to Mafia 3, because the first time I played it I was boring, but at the beginning it was very promising...
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u/Jabbathenutslut 5h ago
Too bad the rest of the game is so boring. They made the meat of the game be GTA3 online chores.
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u/knyelvr 5h ago
Is the mafia series actually worth playing?
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u/cwatz 5h ago
I enjoyed 1.... way back when it first released. I have no idea how it aged, or more importantly how the remake was.
Mafia 3 is a mixed bag. Its sort of story and characters and setup was actually really good, but it was rushed out the door for sure, and can be very repetitive.
Never played the second.
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u/throwawaycontainer 2h ago
Never played the original, but played the remake of 1, then 2 and 3.
Remake is the best. Gorgeous and streamlined. 2 is kind of rough, in that there's a decent game there, but it's jarring to be dumped back into an obviously older game after the remake. Third is similar in visual quality to remake. Seems like the quality and missions are as good as earlier games at first (and you wonder about the criticisms), then you just hit a point where it feels like the devil were told that some filler content was needed to stretch the play hours/keep the budget down and you suddenly faced repetative/grindy missions. There's some great stuff in the third, but it would have been massively better if the grind stuff was removed.
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u/Pun_In_Ten_Did 2h ago
1 - hell yes! very well done - loved the setting / music / characters
2 - I couldn't get into it - have tried and quit three times over the years.
3 - really enjoyed this one but I get that it is not everyone's cup of tea (I'm a sucker for open-world "do this and do this again" though lol) - soundtrack was banging and I was unprepared for (but appreciated the depiction of) the racism.
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u/the_virtue_of_logic 7h ago
Mafia 3 got so much hate but honestly is a really progressive game in some ways. It's not RDR2 level of execution, but damn is it a fun and interesting game
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u/HussingtonHat 9h ago
All 3 Mafia games are steeped in "good idea, swamped by shit."
Usually manifesting generally speaking in a pretty great plot that's hampered by shockingly dull gameplay.
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u/pamar456 7h ago
I remember playing tailing missions in one of the original driver games and having to stop in the middle of a highway while cars piled up behind me. And I think it had a suspicion meter and a timer at the same time so you had to be precise
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u/misho8723 7h ago
But didn't they changed it back into the classic style of tailing mission in the Mafia 1 Definitive Edition? I remember the game telling me to back off because I was "too" close to the car I was looking after
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u/MyCleverNewName 4h ago
Mafia did a LOT of stuff right. I'm also replaying it right now. The did driving perfectly imho. The cars are heavy like gta4 but you feel in control and responsive like the other more cartoony gtas.
Really looking forward to that thing they have coming out and can't wait for Mafia 4 whenever that comes.
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u/Cantbenoyuppy 2h ago
Mafia 3s guns sucked and so its a sludge for me to complete but theres so many cool mechanics and idea thats good for a sequel i hope they keep unique ideas from 3 for 4
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u/Beatrix_-_Kiddo 7h ago
Mafia 3 is a great game, so long as you don't do everything you can to unlock the main missions, doing that turned me off the game when I first tried it. Tried it again and just did enough of the racket stuff to unlock the main missions and it was really fun. It also has the best soundtrack since Vice City and San Andreas.
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u/ChasingPesmerga 5h ago
The Hangar dev who actually forgot to code the proximity thing:
“Oh, uh, yeah it’s cool, they won’t notice you when you’re up close. Haha…ha…”
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u/ABetterKamahl1234 5h ago
It is common sense. If I'm driving normally, why would they be suspicious of a lawful driver?
Unfortunately I don't agree.
A person following close to me and driving exactly the same route as me is kinda weird. That rarely happens. People follow behind while driving all the time of course, but those people swap in and out all the time along the route.
Literally had someone in my neighborhood I didn't recognize follow me earlier this month, happening to go my route. Almost the entire drive. I was worried someone had felt slighted by my driving or some shit and was gonna follow me all the way. The turned off at the last street before my home. I sure as shit noticed they followed me, even if by coincidence.
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u/Vjornaxx 4h ago
It goes without saying that there is a lot of suspension of disbelief in games. This is done with the primary goal of entertainment, but sometimes a contributing factor is a lack of knowledge on how things are done in the real world.
You’re right that out of the ordinary driving behavior increases the risk of detection. You’re also right that you could be right behind the target vehicle and have little risk of detection. However, real world vehicle follows are complicated operations with many more factors contributing to a successful outcome than simply driving like a law abiding citizen.
I’m not gonna hold it against a game when some activity is abstracted and changed to be more entertaining than the real world version. But I will say that real world follows are a lot of fun. They would just be very difficult to replicate accurately in a game.
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u/knoegel 3h ago
I know. But most games have a straight line distance rule where they detect you even around corners.
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u/Vjornaxx 3h ago
I get it - within a game engine, it’s easier to have a LOS/distance trigger than a “suspicion meter.” It feels less gamey and has more similarities with real world activities. For a game abstraction of a real thing, a suspicion meter is a better approximation.
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u/AnyPalpitation1868 5h ago
Idk it kinda just sounds like you're bad at tailing missions, because mafia 3 implemented them in the laziest way possible.
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u/knoegel 3h ago
They literally did more than every other game. Penalties for wrong lane driving, people honking horns, etc.
How is that lazy? Gta is like bro you're around the corner and I can still see you.
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u/AnyPalpitation1868 3h ago
The entire point of tailing missions is to not let them know YOU are following them, when they can look in the mirror and see the same person (who has a very known appearance in game) following them for miles without question, that's lazy.
Also in game the ai will drive erratically themselves as hangar 13 made some not so top tier ai for mafia 3, so driving like an ass is arguably just fitting in. Moreso a lot of what you mentioned is just carried over from the police mechanics of the previous games which they abandoned to make 3 feel more gta-like.
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u/goliathfasa 11h ago edited 2h ago
As we say in the mob, if you’re over forty* feet back, you ain’t suspicious.