The Godfather

"Little Italy > Hell's Kitchen. Face it, it's true."

The Corleones need a favor. Are you a bad enough dude to help them out?

Wait, dang it, wrong game.

Getting bullied is not fun. It causes mental damage, it hurts, it puts you in the hospital. What's even worse than getting bullied by a bully is getting bullied by your own ‘friends', or whoever you hang out with. It isn't fun, but there's not much you can do about it. So, be thankful that the Corleones are looking for you, specifically - at the request of a worried mother, on the day of the Don's daughter's wedding day. So there you are; getting helped out by the Corleones. Next stop, gangsta action!

Wait, wrong game again. Prepare yourself for class; this is the mafia. You do as the mafia says for now, understand? They want you to go to the butcher, get him to pay for your protection. Not so tough, walk right on into his shop and give him the offer up front. What if he refuses, though? Why, remind him why he needs protection in the first place, of course! Beat the man up using the right analog stick exclusively - nifty, huh? - and then ask him again. Still no bite? Smash up his shop; break the cash register, take some cash from it while you're at it. Break his weighing scale. Ask again. Convinced him yet?

Get the job done, and move on. Except as you drive down the streets in your new car, which you jacked from some poor fellow, you're stopped by a rival family with a road block. You could try and crash right through it, or get out and get shootin', with auto-lock on capabilities or free aiming, whichever suits your fancy at the time. These guys aren't push-overs, either; they'll put up a decent fight. Maybe shoot the guy with the shotgun in the legs, get him to spill to the ground. Or disarm that handgun wielder with a shot to the arm. Blow ‘em up with a molotov. Run ‘em down with a vehicle.

Sometimes, you'll have to do some sneaking. So sneak up quietly behind the guys you're sneaking past and choke ‘em to death, nice and smooth. Thankfully, these fellows are idiots, lost in their own world, often unaware of your existence. I mean, they can see for miles ahead of them, but stand beside them oh-so-slightly angled away from them and they won't notice. Or maybe you're just so damn slick. Either or, you get to choke the guy in the end, so it's all good, for a rather abrupt change of pace.

Driving? Yeah, you'll do a lot of driving. The vehicles, man, these ain't no random cars here; these babies spin, slide and zoom with the best of the unrealistic. Not a problem, because it doesn't make itself a problem. Slick handling for such an experience as this is good news, and makes things easy. Dodging the cops isn't nearly as easy, though; rampage through the streets and those wackos will ram into your car head-on without remorse. Or maybe a rival family is trying to take you down - watch as they come up beside you and try to push you into oncoming traffic. Clever, but you have the exact same tricks at your disposal with little consequence. Until the car bursts into flames, of course. Then it's time to high-tail it outta there before the thing blows you to hell.

So you'll do a bunch of this and a bunch of that, in different positions and areas throughout a good sized campaign of an experience. Tidbits that are particularly enjoyable include cool fighting/grappling moves, like the ability to smash a guy into a wall or toss him off a building. Really, everything is well executed, though you should've expected no less from the mafia. It's a wonder-world of New York, from Little Italy to Hell's Kitchen, and it's beautiful in all its gritty glory.

Get to know the faces of the Corleones; the Don would expect as much, you working to become a part of this family and all. Meet Luca Brasi, the man who freed you from those bullies in the first place. Been a while, hasn't it? Damn if that face doesn't look like the man on the big screen, too. Hell, sounds like him as well. Meet Tom Hagen and Sonny, who get the same treatment. Fat Clemenza, Willie Cicci, hey, they're all here in their glory. Photo realism? Kinda, not really, but close. Details like the moving eyes and such are a wonder look, and the detailed buildings with washed out wall papers and dark city streets help to make your experience in New York a dirty one, and that's a wonderful feel for this game.

So yeah, you work your way up. Things play out like in the flick, so it's all kinda predictable if you know how it goes. No Michael Corleone to be seen - or rather, no Al Pacino looking Michael - but it's ok, he's busy doing that Scarface joint. It's a surprisingly strong grasp on the license, and well executed, too; movie trash this title is not, and I admit I was skeptical when I saw that this would be an EA game. But the experience is profoundly entertaining; better than Grand Theft Auto III, the most similar of free-form games to this piece. Work your way to the top and become the Don, become the ruler of the mafia and the streets, become the all mighty and powerful. This is an offer you can't refuse. Like pumpkin pie. Mmm, there ain't nobody in the world that don't like pumpkin pie, I'm tellin' you. Are you a bad enough dude to eat the pumpkin pie?

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/29/06