The Godfather: Blackhand Edition

"The Godfather; must have for the Wii"

The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is a sandbox-style, 1940's mobster themed game based on the popular Godfather movie trilogy. It's also the first Godfather game to be released on a Nintendo console.

First of all, story. The story is based on the original Godfather storyline, with the exception. The character you play, who's default name is Aldo, is not in the original story, and hence the story has been modified to include your character.

The game starts with a cutscene from the past, showing the death of Aldo's father. Nine years later, Aldo is involved with a petty mob. His mother asks Don Corleone to set her son straight, and this begins the story.

After the cutscene, it's your choice to decide what you look like. There are endless options, including resizing your facial features, adding scars, blemishes, moles, wrinkles, changing your hairstyle, facial hair. There's plenty of options to get the exact look you want. You can also change your clothes at the tailor, who sells vests, shirts, jackets, pants, shoes, hats, and sunglasses. You also gain levels throughout the game, and skill points can be used to increase skills, such as shooting, negotiation, bribery and damage.

Gameplay is where this game shines. It plays similarly to GTA games. The player is free to roam around the city. There's various things to do it the city; buy weapons from corner merchants, extort businesses and rackets, fight opposing families, hijack cars, the list goes on. Missions are also unlocked.

There are a variety of mission types; story-orientated, hit contracts and favors are some examples. When you start to complete a mission, the game has a more linear play to it, and if you die or fail the mission otherwise, you can begin it at a mission checkpoint.

Controls are excellent. The Godfather has one of the most unique fighting controls out there. Flicking and shaking the remote and nunchuk can produce moves such as punching, kicking and execution combos. You can grab the opponent, for a whole range of new moves, including shaking, choking, shoving and smashing. There are also a number of execution moves that can be used with each weapon.

Graphics are decent. Good for the Wii, but doesn't compare to the PS3 and Xbox. Still, they're easy on the eyes and they've made some nice fire and weather effects. Sound is excellent. There's original music from the movie, which automatically plays when you enter a car. Sound effects are good. Cinematics and voice acting are excellent.

Replayability is good, considering it's such an open ended game, and there's plenty else to do, such as optional missions, extorting businesses, and collecting film clips.

After completing certain missions, or collecting enough film clip items, short clips from the movie are unlocked, and can be watched at any time. Also, much of the movies scenes are animated and remade throughout the game.

This game is a must have for the Wii, especially if you're a Godfather fan. On the grand scale of games, it gets an 8/10.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/07