The Godfather

"Tommy Guns and Italians. A winning combination if you ask me."

Before Tony Montana told people to say hello to his little friend, we had Don Vito Corleone giving us an offer we couldn't refuse. And now over 30 years later the movie has inspired a sandbox action game that is very impressive and worth every penny.

So who do you play in the Godfather game? YOU! Or at least some unnamed gangster. The story simultaneously tells the plot of the film as well as the plot of your character's journey to become a made man. See, when he was a little boy his father was gunned down by a number of armed men. And after witnessing this gruesome sight the boy was approached by Don Vito Corleone who told the child that he would take care of him. And one day, that he would get his revenge. Years later the boy grows up to be a tough streetwise punk in the 50's that's just right to become a made man for the Corleone family. He starts as a grunt, but eventually he'll work his way to the top and earn his respect. That's the game in a nutshell. It follows the plot of the film and changes scenes to make it appear like your character had something to do with it.

The graphics are okay. Not great, just okay. But again, this title was already on the Xbox. Not that it didn't look good but if you saw this game on the 360, and then the original, you wouldn't see too much of a difference. But I digress. The facial animations of the characters are extremely well done and the cutscenes are all top notch. The town of Manhattan captures the feel of the 50s everywhere with their old fashioned clothing, ancient automobiles, and awesome tommy guns. All of the characters from the film look exactly as they do in the film....too much actually. And your main character? You can customize his appearance with a good selection of choices. Want facial hair? Wanna be a blonde? Wanna have bushy eyebrows? You'll have the guy you want to make.

And to compliment the great graphics we get treated to great audio as well. All of the actors (or most of them) from the film reprise their roles once again for the video game. James Caan, Abe Vigoda, Robert Duvall, and the late great Marlon Brando whose last work would be this game by the way. They sound amazing and it makes The Godfather perfect presentation wise. The music in the game is also taken from the film and it's excellent. But I do have to say that you can only hear the Godfather theme so many times. And unfortunately it's playing like every 10 seconds in the game. Other than that the voice acting is great, the sound effects are great, and it's good audio.

There are no issues to be had with the presentation. And I got good news for ya! The game's fun to play too! Now at first glance the game seems pretty much like Grand Theft Auto set in the 50s. You're set in the big open sandbox city of Manhattan. You can steal any car you see. The more mayhem and/or mindless destruction you cause, the more the police crack down and try to whack you. If you've played GTA before, you're gonna feel right at home. But it's not a complete rip-off and it does do some innovative things that keep the game interesting. For example, the actual fighting system. Most of the combat has you grabbing an enemy and having you way with them by punching them, whipping them around, and you can even smash their heads on tables and such. But the coolest thing about the combat is that you can actually strangle a person to death by clicking both of the analog sticks down. And I must say, crushing people's necks has never been better.

Another thing that sets this game apart from GTA is how the whole mafia thing is handled. You are part of the Corleones and you're one of 5 different gangs controlling the city. Your aim is to be the only gang left and to be in complete control of everything. So you actually go to all these different businesses and force the owners of said business to see things your way. How? Well you can try bribing them but if that doesn't work, a good ol' fashioned beat down always does. Well kinda. You actually have a negotiation meter and you need to cross the line so that they'll give in. You cross that line by slapping him/her around a bit, or by damaging the property in the store. And if you push'em too much they refuse to help altogether. It's a fun diversion and it's really addicting. Like at times I left the main storyline alone just so I could go and extort all the businesses. The more you extort, the more money you'll be making. And money makes the world go round.

Actually the only thing you'll spend money on is upgrades for your weapons which can be found all over the city. You can buy new clothing for your character but they're not too expensive and all of the clothing options are open to you right at the beginning. So once you pick the look you want, you'll never wanna change it. The weapons you can use? Standard action game stuff. Handguns, shotguns, molotov cocktails. The new thing which you don't see often is of course the great Tommy Gun. Those need to make a return sometime soon. Anyhoo, you can extort businesses or get to the missions in the game. The missions have a variety of different objectives and they never seem to get old. Sometimes you're racing around with your car, other times you're breaking your way through an enemy stronghold, the list of things to do is endless. You can even do side-missions like hitman contracts and requests to the Don.

Your character can also upgrade his stats the more you play. With each business he extorts, or mission he accomplishes, or even with each gang member he shoots dead, the man gains respect. And respect apparently comes in numerical form and earns your characters special upgrades like a bigger health bar, better shooting skills, and smoother conversation skills for those who need convincing. And you'll need those upgrades as well as the better guns. Mainly because the enemies you come across are not friendly. There are many, and they are trigger happy. It's not too difficult a game though. And that's The Godfather in a nutshell. If you're asking why an Xbox game has been re-released onto the 360, I can't answer that. I don't work at EA. Apparently some new missions were added, and the AI on the enemies got smarter. But I played this on the PS2 prior and I haven't really noticed any difference. If you already own this on PS2 or Xbox, it's the same game so don't be fooled! But if you don't, then by all means go ahead and play.

IN THE END...
The Godfather isn't like your typical movie games. It's actually good! It's got great presentation, great gameplay, and it's lengthy enough with all of it's sidequests and stuff that you should be busy for awhile. It's good to be a made man.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/27/07