The Godfather

Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather is seen as one of the greatest movies ever made and one of the best books ever written by most people. Before Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas was released in 1990, The Godfather was seen as the definitive portrayal of life in the Mafia. In 2006, a game adaptation was released. Its about the same things the film is (money, power, love, revenge and betrayal).

You play as a character (who's default name is Aldo Trapani, so we'll call him that) who's wiseguy father was killed by Don Emilio Barzini of the Barzini family (one of the strongest families in New York City) in 1936, fast forward nine years to 1945, he is a young hoodlum (probably in his 20s) who ends up working his way up from being a simple enforcer for the family to being the Don of the whole city.

This game has a very close relationship to the movie and doesn't deviate from the plot very much. In it you get to meet major characters like Don Vito Corleone, Michael Corleone, Sonny and Tom Hagen. You get to be involved with the killings of Virgil Sollozo and you also help kill the rival family Dons. But your character's main goal is to take over the city for the family and get his revenge on Don Barzini.

I give this game a solid 10/10 for its amazing graphics, controls, storyline and gameplay.

Grand theft auto spawned a whole new generation of free form, sandbox game. From Streets of LA to Mafia. This is EA's take on the subject using The Godfather for limited inspiration.

The game itself is very lacklustre and anyone who has played similar games will immediately see that this is a very poor example of both how to make a game and how to use what is solid gold subject matter. Considering the quality of the original film it seems surprising that this game made it out the door.

The graphics are no better - and in fact worse than Mafia even though this game was released some 3 years ago. In a similar vein the city is a dog to drive around and to make matters worse the cars are some of the worst ever done in a game of this type.

The actual game itself is over far far far too quickly. Whereas similar titles have some 50 to a 100 levels the Godfather gives a meagre 25 and most of these are either small or taken up at the start as tutorial missions. The remainder are usually just generic missions with only a few relating to the film.

Action in the game is equally bothersome. At times it seems as though enemies are either made of wet tissue paper or are full on bullet proof. You will very often find yourself cursing at the screen because a mobster takes 5 magnum hits to the chest and takes you down with one seemingly devastating long range shotgun blast. The only saving grace is the style that you get to execute some finishing moves; with names such as hats off execution or Face-off execution.

All in all this is not worth the time or money. Its just a lazy way for EA to cash in on a game area that they have no expertise in. Rent the game, borrow it or play it at a friends. mafia handles the same subject of 1940's gangsters better and Grand theft auto gives you far more too do and gives you a hell of a lot more fun while you do it.

5/10

I remember playing this game when it was released and it was alright, something that stuck with me was the shake downs and how you could extort stores of their money as a mafioso. Now that I revisited the game 15 years later I must say this game is quite a let down and if it wasn't an adaptation of Mario Puzo's greatest work, you wouldn't give a chance to this game either.

The game follow most events of the films and have you, The Player (aka Aldo Trapani, but I don't recall being called that at all in-game), as a new character seeking revenge over Don Barzini, this vendetta is mentioned in the first mission and the last one, so this personal quest of revenge doesn't seem really revengeful. Also, the Player is put on spots that aren't necessarily shown in the film so, for instance: ever wonder who told the Corleone family about a specific event? The Player was there watching it first hand. How did a character escape after being in enemy territory? The Player lifted that character in their car.

To be honest, most of those moments where The Player was introduced don't seem far-fetched, it is just that The Player end up doing a bunch of things and still he is a low level member in the Mafia.

There are some new additions to the story too, but they are too rushed and you both don't get enough time to bond with new characters, nor the game tried to make them more present in The Player's life, even by doing mundane missions, so those new additions feel bland and unnecessary.

As for the game it self, extortion was something that stuck with me, but it gets old real quick and there are A LOT of stores there to be extorted, do you have to extort them all? Not if you don't want 100% or don't care about money that has the following purpose, to buy: clothes (there isn't a clothing store, you have to buy it in the load menu), weapons (both ammo and 3 levels of weaponry), safe houses and buying out rackets (you can extort them if you don't have money, but buying them out guarantees you will get the maximum money they have to offer).

Then there is the insufferable driving, the game has 5 horribly looking cars: a truck, a pickup, a sedan, a sports car and a compact, other cars are variations of skin of those types. The manoeuvrability of the car is bad, somehow cars chasing you will always be faster than you so it doesn't matter if you bother taking the fastest car in the game, the NPCs can easily get to you. Also, you can be going as fast as possible, you won't ever take damage if you bump your car, is a bit annoying. Cars don't have "radio", we mostly hear instrumental music when driving, but weirdly some rackets do have real life music in it, so why can't I hear those in the car?

There was this movement issue with the character that really annoyed me, you can only move in one of the four directions: forward, left, backwards, right. Want to go forward left? Nope, if you were walking forward you will keep walking forward, if you were walking left you will keep walking left, it is a bit annoying, specially when enemies appear ouf of nowhere.

In the end, I know this is a The Godfather game, but if you took all the famous characters, you will be left with a shallow game that is a bit repetitive, have you go back and forth to do simple missions and end up being boring.

The thing that i like most about the game is that it follows the main plot of the movie while also creating a story of its own. In the game you will be able to play the missions from the movie and also do a few that were mentioned but you never saw them. For example you get to be the living crap out of the two guys that beat Bonasera's daughter and you get to sneak into Jack Woltz' mansion and do a little stealth stuff with a garrot wire until you finally reach his bedroom.

The game is kind of like gta with a free roaming mode but i wouldn't say they copied them, gta just created a new saught of thing for gangster games. You can do the usual stuff like on any other mafia game such as killing randoms, stealing cars, robbing banks and bombing places. You can get a good range of weapons and it is pretty cool being able to use 1930's tommy guns, pistols, shotguns and molotovs. The cars are a bit over the top but the handling of them is simple enough. A thing that will get to anyone though is how accurate New York is. You will find that you keep having to look at the huge map in the start menu to make sure that you don't get lost. It will take you about half an hour to get used to controls but once you learn them you are covered.

In the game you will encounter all the same guys you saw in the movie such as Clemenza, Rocco, Al Neri, Tom Hagen etc. The only issue i have with one of the characters is that he is not the same and i am talking about Michael. The guy does not have the same personality and is not the cool smooth Michael that we experienced in the film. James Cann and Robert Duvall reprise their roles and do an excellent job with the voices and so do a few other guys.

I would recommend this game to anyone who is a godfather freak unless you have something wrong with people making it into a game and even if you haven't seen the movie or don't like it, it is a great gangster game.

Following the plot of the first film, this has you as a foot soldier of the Corleones(and you have to avenge your father), and you work your way through the ranks, take over NYC(that is half-heartedly recreated, with locations looking essentially the same) and become the new Don. This Grand Theft Auto rip-off is a one-trick pony. You drive(with mostly adequate controls... and forget about drive-bys, only in a few of the handful of cool, memorable of the missions do you get a partner in the car who will do so when he wants... they don't even import the thing from Enter the Matrix where you can tell him when, and he can only do it for a while before having to rest for a little bit) in a mere half a dozen different cars(I wish I was kidding; and only one kind is fast, and four others are moderate, the rest are useless; and none of them break in an noteworthy manner), you extort(businesses, warehouses and transport hubs... you find the owner, tell him you want to take over, and he'll either agree right away or you have to smash his store and/or threaten to beat him up(or go ahead and do so) until the bar reaches the green portion(not the red, or he'll say no... meaning you can push someone beyond the point where they will agree to do something for you; I guess the developers realize something the US military won't), and be careful not to kill him(this gets old really quickly); those are the only ones who have faces that look different, too, these that you only see once per person... goons have two appearances, and you can only tell who they work for by the color of their suit), and you shoot. That last one is a big part of this, and it's the most painful. You are usually forced to use a target-lock(you can't fire around corners or from cover(only by pressing the trigger can you ready yourself to, and they pop up and down quickly) without it(also, they come from several angles, so you'll often be caught with your back or side to someone who slaughters you), and when it works, it's your best bet for getting critical hits on those pesky foes that run around), and it is partially broken. Examples? It'll go onto a civilian when there are perfectly fitting *armed* opponents around(and you can't tell it to "move on to the next possible one"), it'll stick to ones that are far away and/or hidden instead of ones out in the open, and worst of all, when you move it around(yes, apparently they figured that you'd want to go for knees and the like, instead of eliminating them quickly... it doesn't make them easier to get when they're temporarily slowed down, as depressing as that is to realize and type out), it can aim over their heads(*WHY* would you ever need that?!?) and you can empty clips at their face... with every bullet missing! There are few situations you can get past without at least a certain amount of luck(meaning you can complete in ten minutes what has just eluded you for hours purely from chance). This goes back and forth between excessively challenging bordering on impossible to piece of cake. There is nearly no consequence to anything. Dead? Don't worry, you lose nothing other than your most recent progress(you don't even start over on your objectives, any you completed are still done if you reached a checkpoint). In jail? They don't even take your ammo(one nice thing is that you can't carry a lot of it, forcing you to strategize). You can restock that at any safehouse, that has all four(! No, that's seriously it) guns(a .45 pistol, a .38 snubnose revolver, a magnum, and the essentially useless Tommygun(it eats bullets, and few hit anything)), molotovs and dynamite(you can also get bombs... no clue what they're for). To complete this, you have to take over all rackets and the like(only once, no one reclaims them), and blow up the other compounds(two buildings per, and you have to get them both). You can keep playing. There's no reason to, since unlike the game it steals from there is absolutely nothing to do in this once you have. The graphics are fine(except for the many glitches, including doors that open weirdly), but like everything else in this, they're phoned in(and all cut-scenes are in-engine). Voice acting varies; the stars do well, and slang and accents are more or less there. There is a fighting system, and it's really awkward and tough to use. Those you're up against either run to you and try to take you on(and they are either no trouble or freaking unstoppable), or, well, blast you away(...OK, I'll admit, I might also pull an Indiana Jones in that situation). You start by using MobFace to choose your appearance... well, that one aspect of it... and it's so limited, it barely matters. The length is appropriate, though you'll have tried all there is in this really early on. You relive scenes from the movie, playing an important part in them. Stealth sucks, and is only useful when it's required(same goes for the garrotte wire). The police barely care about you, and getting chased by them just isn't that exciting. I haven't played the GTA franchise(the only thing this has on that is time period) since Vice City, and that one is superior to this in every way. There are four or five years between the two, and yet that one comes out victorious, and it isn't even close. This is why I avoid EA Games. Though I don't know if they always do this, it's happened a lot at their hand, and I hear it has even in titles I haven't tried by them. There is a lot of bloody violence and a little strong language in this. I recommend this to those who have to see it for themselves. 6/10