Our Mafia 3 review will be late - here's why

Mafia 3, 2K and Hangar 13's big budget open world game, is hitting shops today, so you may be wondering where our review is. It's likely it won't be hitting the site until early next week, as 2K has elected not to make the game available to press prior to release, meaning we're getting our copies as it makes its way to shelves this morning.

Should that be cause for concern? Not necessarily - it's a publisher's prerogative whether or not they provide code to press, and there have been recent examples of review copies being withheld until release day for games that went on to receive critical acclaim. Earlier this year the absence of early code for the Doom reboot set alarm bells ringing, yet id's accomplished shooter is one of the year's finest games.

As for Mafia 3, it's impossible to say where it'll land. It's an ambitious open world game that tackles some challenging topics, though its lineage is a little shaky. There are already reports of annoyances on PC, so I'd say its best to exercise caution for a little while. If you're really keen to sample some of Mafia 3's deep south flavour we've compiled a Spotify playlist of its impeccable soundtrack to tide you over until it's a little clearer where the quality of the game stands.