A compelling story elevates Mafia 3's latest DLC above its predecessor. Donovan's shady CIA past and humorous relationship with Lincoln makes each mission exciting fun. With exciting turret battles, jungle warfare, and a nuclear warhead up for grabs, Stones Unturned is a high octane DLC you shouldn't miss out on.

 

INTRODUCTION

Mafia 3's latest DLC, Stones Unturned, is a significant improvement from its last DLC, Faster Baby. The storyline about Donovan's CIA and Vietnam past is far more compelling than the horribly racist town of Sinclair Parish. Considering that Lincoln spends most of his time in New Bordeaux being called the N-word by white racists and then proceeding to shoot said white racists, doing the exact same thing in a new town didn't feel fresh. Fortunately, Donovan is a much more interesting character and his hunt to find a stolen nuclear warhead feels a lot different than your other missions in Mafia 3. Combine that with a whole new location away from New Bordeaux and fun (although way too easy) turret battles, and Stones Unturned is a DLC well worth your money.

 

STORY

Stones Unturned shifts the focus away from Lincoln Clay to his rogue ex-CIA helper, John Donovan. Donovan was easily one of the most interesting characters in Mafia 3 with his Vietnam stories, great relationship with Lincoln, and hilarious shouting matches at the Congressional hearings about the Lincoln's systematic destruction of the New Bordeaux mafia. His character seemed to have a lot of layers and Stones Unturned peels back the Vietnam aspect of Donovan's past.

 

An old enemy named Connor Aldridge has recently entered New Bordeaux and Donovan recruits Lincoln to help him unravel why Aldridge is here. It's telling that for the first time Donovan appears scared. While he mocked the New Bordeaux mafia and never seemed to doubt Lincoln's ability to decimate them, Donovan's close-lipped and fearful of Aldridge. And we immediately see why, since the first lead on Aldridge leads to a massacre at a  bar.

 

From then it's a chase to find Aldridge, as Lincoln and Donovan slowly unravel Aldridge's master plan. Throughout the missions, we learn why Donovan and Aldridge hate each other and what exactly happened in Vietnam. The story leads Lincoln and Donovan to secret CIA safehouses in New Bordeaux, to an island with a downed plane, culminating in a final battle at a secret nuclear silo.

 

Part of the reason Stones Unturned is so engaging is that stakes are upped to such a high degree. While it's feels justified to seek revenge for your murdered family and strike a blow against 1960's racism, it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Lincoln's story never extends beyond Bordeaux and Faster Baby's story never extends beyond the small town of Sinclair Parish. But Stones Unturned storyline has far reaching implications tha could affect the world balance and all of America, maybe even the world. Don't forget, Mafia 3 is set at the height of the Cold War. America had just narrowly survived the Cuban missile crisis. The detonation of one nuclear warhead could lead to nuclear apocalypse if the United States blame the Soviet Union or vice versa.

 

Lastly, Stones Unturned is a lot of fun becauses of the rapport between Lincoln and Donovan. You can tell they've been friends and worked together for a long time before the events of Mafia 3 and Stones Unturned. They have little verbal jabs back and forth and have the ability to make jokes in tough situations. It reminded me a lot of buddy-cop movies, like Lethal Weapon. My favorite was a running joke in the final mission about who keeps setting of the alarm.

 

Full review here:

 

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