Reviewed: September 24, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
EA Redwood Shores

Released: September 19, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Mature

8
8
8
9
8.8

Supported Features

It’s my understanding that the Xbox 360 version of The Godfather The Game was always planned, but why it was delayed nearly six months is beyond me. Sadly, for those who lacked the patience to wait, you more than likely already picked it up and played it on any of the formats earlier this year.

For those wise enough to wait, or for whatever reason haven’t already played this game, you can now rest comfortably in the fact that the best version of this classic movie turned videogame has arrived, but is it too late?

With games like Saints Row already wowing 360 owners and other gangster titles like Scarface and Reservoir Dogs right around the corner, the appeal of these crime simulators might have reached the saturation point.

Admittedly, all of these games are prime fodder to fit into the GTA mold, which has already proven to be a financial juggernaut for Rockstar Games. The Gathering of Developers already took their stab at a Mafioso style game with Mafia back in 2002 and in my opinion, remains one of the best action games ever made.

Now its EA’s turn to take their second shot at the gangster genre, and with more money than the mafia it was certainly no trouble to cash in on the granddaddy of all gangster licenses. Oh yeah…let’s bring Marlon Brando along for the ride just to give The Godfather The Game the ultimate touch of authenticity.

Recreating the movie scene for scene would be boring, so EA allows you to create your own original character using a stripped down version of Tiger Woods Game Face tool, suitably renamed Mobface for this game. You then insert your character into the established world of The Godfather mythos where you will interact with famous characters from the movie like Sonny Corleone, Clemenza, Tom Hagen, and Don Corleone.

The game and the movie share many of the pivotal plot points, usually as key cinematics that you get to watch unfold rather than participate in or try to change. So your personal adventure intertwines with the events from the film but you are relatively free to explore your own path within the rules of the game world.

The game plays out in a thriving city and you learn the ropes with a short guided tutorial that will teach you how to shake down store owners for protection money, take over businesses to skim some profits, and bribe the cops to look the other way when you are beating up a thug in an alley.

The fight engine is pretty solid and you have a good selection of moves and grapples. The ranged combat can be a bit troublesome when you use the auto-lock, but there is a free-aim mode that works better with some practice. The one thing you will like about the auto-lock system is that the longer you hold the lock the more accurate your shot, and you can even start targeting limbs or heads, often with special rewards.

The way you kill somebody is almost more important than the killing itself. The more stylish the hit the more rep points you get, so busting somebody’s kneecaps then performing one of many brutal executions will help establish your bad ass reputation.

The best thing about both melee and weapons combat is that you only learn the very basics during the tutorial, but the more you play the more you realize just how deep and how many moves are actually available. It really keeps the gameplay fresh a lot longer than its GTA cousin.

AI is surprisingly good, for enemies, innocent bystanders, and even the cops. In fact, it’s even been enhanced on the 360 so those who have played other versions may be in for a surprise. Pull out a gun on a populated street and watch what happens. All of this ties into the elaborate respect system (your rep), which is multi-dimensional and tracks all sorts of subtle nuances.

In the beginning nobody knows you and they are pretty rude, but as you increase your rep their attitude will slowly change, as do their comments when you talk to them. Women will start to flirt as they sniff out your financial success, but if you get the rep as a woman beater they react accordingly. This makes the game unfold in a totally dynamic way for each person who plays it.

Much like GTA, you can play The Godfather for hours and hours and never even touch on the core story elements that drive the main game. New York is a massive place and there are hundreds of stores and business opportunities for you to take over and invest in. You’ll need to either intimidate the store owner (trash his store, threaten customers) or bribe them, and you might have to deal with rival gangs or the occasional crooked cop.

Almost every legitimate business is also home to some backroom racket that you are encourage to take over as well. In fact, you don’t assume total control over the property until you are running both the front and back end. Taking over the backroom operations is a bit trickier since these are often run by thugs with bodyguards. You can try to pave the way with cash or go in with Tommy Guns blazing.

Speaking of weapons, everything smacks of 1950’s authenticity and there is a great selection of classic firearms that look, sound, and react accordingly. Like GTA, you can carry anything you can find, and figuring out the best weapon for each encounter is important. Weapons can also be upgraded.

New York is a big place and you’ll need a car to get around in a timely manner, not to mention, in style. You are free to jack any car in the game, which only made me long for the Mafia days of having to learn how to jimmy a lock first. Driving is no real challenge and the physics are really good, but there aren’t that many missions that require driving. There are a few, and they are excellent, but for the most part, cars are just a mode of travel in The Godfather.

There are more missions in this game than I care to count including several exclusive missions just for the 360, and you get them from a wide variety of sources. You have your main story missions that drive the game forward, plus numerous side jobs and hitman assignments. Then you have the whole business and territorial acquisition thing going on.

The Xbox 360 also throws in the obligatory Achievement points, which revolve mainly around reputation and ranking. Prepare to spend a lot of time with this game if you want to earn all 1000 points. There are also leaderboards to rank your mob skills with the rest of the criminal underworld.

One of the more interesting additions is your new ability to hire thugs to back you up as you take over the Big Apple. They are controlled with surprisingly good AI and you can revive them if they get knocked out. It would have been a totally original concept if Saints Row hadn’t already introduced the “homies” first and done it slightly better. Even so, the addition of thugs for hire helps to even the odds against the new and improved AI.

A lot of this is because the color palette is limited to a lot of depressing grays and flat pastels. Cars are neither colorful nor shiny and even when a bright color does stray into the scene it seems to be overpowered by the overall sense of depression in the game.

Character animation is excellent, especially in the brutal fight moves that are painfully fun to execute and watch unfold. There is also a good physics engine that includes multiple levels of property destruction.

The 360 takes the good graphics of the Xbox version to a whole new level of excellence with new special visual effects (the opening alley fight with all the new fire blew me away) and the facial features are even better than before, almost to the point where it looks like live-action actors overlaid on CG backgrounds.

The faces also now have a persistent damage attribute so you and the people you beat on get progressively more banged up. To me, they look more dirty than bruised. Lighting has been enhanced along with shadows and even self-shadowing and there are even some new weather effects tossed in.

Sound effects encompass the complete range of New York City sounds including multi-layers of distant and nearby traffic, pedestrians, and the general bustle of the city. Other specific environmental effects like breaking glass, melee punches and kicks, footsteps, etc. are all accounted for and presented in a rich Dolby Digital mix.

The shining portion of the audio package is easily the outstanding voice acting. This was one of Marlon Brando’s final projects before his death, and he lends a style and class that is perfectly suited to this recreation of one of his more famous roles. James Caan turns in a great performance as Sonny Corleone and Robert Duvall plays consigliore Tom Hagen.

Add to that 100 hidden canisters that will unlock clips from the Godfather movie and a fairly compelling territorial acquisition sub-plot and you might just hit the 100 hour mark before you put this game to bed.

Now comes the big question - do you buy this if you have already played it on another system? Personally, I'd say no. The game is just too big to replay, especially if you came anywhere close to finishing it the first time. While there are some new enhancements they aren't worth the weeks and months required to finish this game, even if you are starving for another 1000 achievement points. But if this is your first shot at The Godfather, then by all means, check it out.

There is a whole lot going on in this game and New York is a massive playground full of possibilities for an enterprising young “family” man. Whether you have seen the movie or not, it’s easy to immerse yourself in the world of The Godfather, a world where intimidation and negotiation are your tickets to the top.