2) 2K’s Mafia III Booth
Certain companies, like 2K, tend to like to build gigantic constructions that combine three or more different games into one piece of real estate. They did it last year, and the year before, and ended up doing the exact same thing this go around, for Civilization VI, NBA 2K17 and Mafia III. However, although NBA 2K17 had its usual free throw challenge — complete with pretty, scantily clad, NBA jersey wearing girls and a partial basketball court — it was nowhere close to showing up Mafia III. Little did, though, to be honest.
As you may know, Mafia III is set in a fictional version of New Orleans, which is a rather interesting city with lots of unique qualities in which to pride itself. Based on what we’ve seen, it looks like the game will do its setting a great deal of justice, with lifelike representations of the city, its saloons and the neighbouring bayou, with its river boat gambling. It also provided the booth designers with a lot of great inspiration from which to draw from, and they took full advantage of the opportunity.
The first thing I saw when I entered the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall was Mafia III, which was fitting because it was my first appointment and happened to easily be one of my most anticipated games. Mafia II was a personal favourite, and this one looks to be right up there with it.
What caught my eye wasn’t the game’s logo, but its saloon-like booth, which was set up in the spitting image of a 1970s-era New Orleans bar. It was rustic, detailed, realistic and full of atmosphere, thanks to a hired jazz band and real life fortune tellers whose tables I didn’t get around to visiting. Needless to say, it was as authentic as you could imagine and deserves kudos for being so elaborate and exquisite.