When EA released The Godfather in 2006, it was received with mixed feelings from gamers and critics alike. Many branded it as a hollow GTA clone and others praised it as the next Mafia. Being a big Godfather fan, you can imagine my excitement when we received our copy of The Godfather 2, the latest addition to the franchise.
The Godfather II is heavily inspired by the films, however the game has its own story-arch which starts off in Cuba during the 1950s. Players assume the role of Dominic, an up and coming mobster in the Corleone family. You can customize the appearance of Dominic using the in-game editor. You won’t be able to get down the same level of customization as Oblivion or Fallout 3, but the editor is solid and should satisfy most gamers’ needs. Funnily enough you can even alter his appearance to be Black or Asian, which can be humorous during cut scenes as he will still retain his Italian-American accent.
During a birthday bash in Cuba hosted for Hyman Roth, you get a brief insight to the Godfather 2 game universe. You can talk to members of rival families and get an idea of what they’re involved in. Those of you who paid attention in History class might know that the Castro brothers launched an attack against the government in 1953, the game borrows on these events and forces you to escort the Corleone family to the local airport to escape Cuba. Without spoiling the plot, certain events lead Michael Corleone to give you the green-light to establish your own family and so the journey begins.
In order to establish your family, you’ll need to generate some cash flow through various means. Primarily you’ll attempt to take over rival rackets such as prostitution and weapons smuggling. Each racket is part of a crime ring, if you own all the rackets then you will gain access to extra benefits, such as additional weapons or armour. When you take control of a racket, you will earn a certain amount of money each day that can be used to buy upgrades for you and your crew. Money acts as XP in The Godfather 2, so it’s quite important to build a steady stream of revenue to keep your family trained and well equipped. Money is also used for purchasing upgrades, recruiting new crew members and even buying favors.
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Taking over rackets from rival families becomes more and more difficult depending on its profitability. Some rackets will be poorly guarded, which can make good targets early in the game. More valuable business will be heavily guarded and will require certain tactics to control. If you don’t have the power to take over a rival business, you can try to bomb or set it alight first, this will put the racket out of business for a while which and also soften it up as a target. All your rivals will control at least 2 or more rackets, when you take over all their enterprises they will retreat to their compound. Compounds are heavily fortified bases and will take a bit of grunt to take out, however if you successfully assault an enemy compound, you will also wipe out the family that controls it. On the flip-side if you don’t wipe out your rivals, they will continue to assault and sabotage your rackets and businesses. You can hire guards protect our enterprises, so you don’t need to keep defending them yourself.
In order to actually take over a business or racket, you will need to work your way to the boss and intimidate him into submission. The goal is to find the boss’s weak spot and exploit it until he agrees to your takeover. If you push him too far he may try to fight back, or you may end up killing him by mistake, it’s all about finding the right balance. Some bosses respond better when you beat them up, others when you destroy their merchandise or harass their customers. The system works pretty well, the stylized violence sequences can be entertaining to watch.
If you find yourself accidentally killing the boss, don’t worry - you can just try again until you get it right. Dominic can also perform a series of executions, these are more than an entertaining way to finish off your opponents, they can also be used to send your rivals a message. In some cases, you will need to kill members of rival families in a certain way to progress the story.
Another way to make money is through the use of extortion. This is where you find legitimate business and rough up the owner in a similar manner as taking over a racket. Once you successfully extort the owner not only do you take a cut of his earnings, but you can also use him to launder money from your illegal activities.
Of course, it’s not just the rival mobsters you need to worry about when conducting your business - there is also the police. When you commit crime in public, people can point you out and become witnesses. You should try and get to the witness before they get to the police. You can either bribe a witness for their silence, or beat them up. However,you can go one step further and bribe the police. There are a few crooked cops that will accept bribes which will take the heat off while you conduct your affairs. Handy for when you know you’re going to attract a lot of attention.
The Godfather 2 uses the same engine as Dead Space, so those familiar with the space horror shooter will feel right at home. Dominic has access to a few different melee attacks but will benefit most from the various weapons that are available throughout the game. Dominic can take full advantage of his surrounding environment; he can take cover behind buildings, cars or whatever is available and duck when moving. There is native support for a 360 control pad, and to be honest I preferred it over the keyboard and mouse set-up. However, aiming can be a little clunky at times. There isn’t a lock-on system such as the one featured in GTAIV, so tracking moving targets with the right thumbstick can be a little cumbersome. Using the mouse makes aiming a lot easier though, but both systems are perfectly capable and neither will leave you feeling frustrated.
Controlling your crew works in a similar fashion to Brothers in Arms and Freedom Fighters. You can order your gang to stay put or order them to advance position. They tend to do a good job of finding cover and attacking the enemy, but the AI isn’t perfect and sometimes they’ll end up taking unnecessary damage, or shooting the wrong target. The people you recruit into your family have different abilities and specialties, for example some are good at explosives and others can act as medics or even safe crackers. It’s important to have a good mix of these skills in your family as it offers different ways to complete missions.
Conversations with NPCs operate in a similar vein to Mass Effect, you can select different responses during dialogue. This doesn’t seem to have much impact on the overall story, but it can keep the conversation a little more interesting and interactive.
Don View is the new management system introduced to The Godfather II. It basically allows you to manage everything from your current missions to your finances and your crew’s status. It’s quite in depth and works quite well.
The visuals in Godfather II are decent, but not groundbreaking. Character models look a little stiff and the textures could do with some more polish. Some of the special effects such as the explosions are quite well done though. Additionally, the music and audio effects are also pretty solid, some of the music from the films are remixed and played throughout the game. The voice acting is top notch and the weapons all sound like they have a bit of kick to them.
Vehicles in Godfather II have a very arcadish feel, which some people will either love or hate. In my opinion it suits the game well as driving is not the main focus like it is in GTAIV.
The Godfather II also has a multiplayer mode - you need to have recruited at least one member in your family before you can go online. At time of writing we were unable to connect to the online service and cannot comment on how well it works. We will update this review when it becomes available.
Overall I really enjoyed playing through The Godfather II, I’m a big fan of the films and mobster flicks in general. It does borrow some concepts from GTAIV and Saints Row, but the added RPG elements offer some refreshing changes. The single-player campaign is pretty short (can be completed in well under 10 hours) but the multiplayer should offer some additional play time. The controls are solid, but the aiming can be clunky with a control pad. The visual style works well at immersing the player in the 50s and 60s. I recommend anyone who is a fan of The Godfather films or GTA to give this a go. It might not be GOTY material, but it is definitely enjoyable.
The Good
- Does a good job of capturing the Godfather ‘vibe’.
- Don View works well at organizing your affairs.
- Voice acting is solid.
- Executions are over-the-top and entertaining.
- Well optimized - doesn’t require a supercomputer to run.
The Bad
- Aiming can be a little sluggish.
- Car controls don’t feel quite right.
- Short single-player campaign.
- Textures need more polish.
- AI isn’t the sharpest.
Overall Rating: 7/10*
*6.5 if you’re not a Godfather fan
The game is ok, just finished it 15 minutes ago. At the end you kill *spoiler edited* and you’re invited to go online. What can I say, this game coulda and woulda been great IF it was launched in 2006, maybe 2007. It’s a bit lo-tech for 2009 judging by vehicles, handling (i think the guy who did the handling for Wheelman and Godfather II are the same person lol), game world size and single player campaign length. The gameplay gets you hooked but I was a bit dissapointed to finish it in 3 days. Oh well… does anybody know when is Godfather III is announced?