Historically film licenses have rarely resulted in good video games, more often than not because developers shoehorn memorable scenes into interactive sequences, rather than considering what works best from a gameplay perspective. Given this, many were nervous when EA boldly announced it was adapting one of the best-loved films of all-time, The Godfather. Could a game possibly do Francis Ford Coppola’s mobster classic justice? Surprisingly, the answer is yes – this is a well crafted package that, despite its faults, deals with the subject matter intelligently and respectfully. For all our sakes we’ll get this out of the way early on in the piece – it’s an offer you can’t refuse.
Unlike many movie games, The Godfather doesn’t cast you as one of the film’s leads. Instead you control an unnamed character that watches from the sidelines but plays a critical role in the events that take place. When you first begin playing the game, you’re able to customize your character in much the same way as you can customize players in many sports games – you can alter everything from facial structure to body type, hair and clothing. Allowing players to identify with the character they control by leaving these options open is a brave move – in another instance it might restrict the developer’s storytelling ability, but because the source material is so strong, it works very well.
You begin the game as a young boy and watch as your father is brutally gunned down by rival mobsters. Time then skips forward, and you resume controlling your character as a young man. All that brewing desire for revenge has gotten you into trouble with a few local gangs, so your mother (during the wedding sequence seen at the beginning of the film) asks the Don to take care of you and offer you a job working for the Corleone family. Accepting the request, the Don sends the notorious Luca Brasi to teach you all you need to know. Classic mobster action ensues.
The Godfather is structured similarly to the Grand Theft Auto games – you’re able to either walk about on foot or steal a car, and you’ll navigate the large, open-ended world via a circular on-screen map. You’ll need to keep an eye on your heat level if you plan on breaking the law, else the cops will be on your tail.
When you begin playing, you’ll be working as a petty enforcer for the Corleones, so you’ll need to ‘shake down’ various businesses. This involves walking inside a business (be it a bakery, a butcher’s shop or a club) and requesting nicely that the owner pays you protection. If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to do some convincing, sometimes with your fists. Smashing up an establishment will often do the trick, but in the absence of cooperation, a few right hooks and a gun barrel against the forehead will see your protection racket flourish. In addition, you’ll stumble across plenty of businesses like gambling dens, brothels and counterfeit rackets that, should you have enough cash, you can purchase outright.
The game’s representation of New York is broken down into five areas, each of which is controlled by a different family. Ultimately, your goal is to take over each of the areas and fight the good (or not so good) fight for the Corleones. You’ll participate in a large variety of driving and shooting missions, some of which involve beating the clock, others of which are all about taking down rival mobsters. The diversity of the missions (many of which tie in nicely with key plot points) and the solid gunplay and melee combat make The Godfather a hugely entertaining ride from start to finish.
As mentioned, the game deals with the subject matter very well. If you’re a fan of the films you’ll find it hard not to smile as you drive the Don to the hospital following his shooting, plant the pistol for Michael Coreleone used to kill Sallazzo and deliver the infamous horse head in Hollywood. Seeing sequences like these play out from different angles is satisfying, and, although none of the new sequences are official write-ins from Mario Puzo or Ford Coppola, they fit perfectly in terms of tone and maturity.
In the same way that the realistically modeled Dame Judy Dench and Pierce Borsnan really contributed to the authenticity of 2004’s James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, realistically modeled members of the Corleone family add credibility and believability to The Godfather. With the exception of Michael, all members of the family are modeled to perfection, and they all sound great to boot. Where the original actors weren’t available, EA have used sound-a-likes to great effect – without knowledge of the game’s development history, you’d be hard pressed to spot the stand-ins.
For the most part, the game controls very well. When you’re on foot you can engage in melee combat at any time by pressing a button to lock onto a target, then using the right analogue stick (or mouse, if you’re playing on a PC) to throw punches. This mechanic bears similarities to EA Sports’ Fight Night series and its total punch control – pulling back on the right stick and whaling it forward for an epic hook is really, really fun. There is also a multitude of ways to execute people during these sequences – anything from strangulation to a tidy headshot is possible, but we particularly enjoyed throwing people off roof tops or through glass windows. You can also slam your enemies up against walls or into nearby objects if you’re after information or just feel creative. These mechanics are handled so well that, to anyone watching, they look like scripted sequences.
Gunplay isn’t quite as impressive, but it’s still plenty of fun. You can carry any number of guns at the one time, so you’ll amass something of an armory by the time you’re halfway through the game. The familiar auto lock targeting system is used well in conjunction with a cover mechanic. This allows you to lean out from walls and duck behind furniture or other objects in the environment – if that don’t work, you can also enter a first person perspective where the left stick controls your movement and the right stick controls your aim.
The driving mechanics are probably the weakest link in the chain, as the cars handle in a twitchy manner that feels too responsive. You won’t find the realistic vehicle physics that made driving around Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas so much fun, but as a means to an end, the mechanics suffice. When you inevitably crash the cars and/or slam into crowds of pedestrians, it certainly looks impressive – windows shatter and lighting shifts as you break lampposts along the street. Happily, you’ll be doing more shaking down and shooting than driving, so the cars handling isn’t a major issue.
Aside from irritating bugs that occasionally see you taking damage when an enemy is swinging a melee weapon nowhere near you – something we encountered more than once – The Godfather can be quite a hard game. One square shot from a snub-nosed shotgun can be enough to take you down, so you’ll find yourself retrying missions often until you realize you need to take a more tactical approach. When you die, you’re resurrected at a nearby hospital and charged a small fee.
The Godfather looks considerably better on Xbox than it does on PlayStation 2 – the game’s frame rate is more stable, and the environments look much richer. The PC version of the game is the best of the bunch thanks to the higher resolution textures, but you’ll need a high spec machine to get the most out of it. The character models are all solid (even the characters wandering about the streets) and the environments look good. It’s a shame, however, that the interiors of many buildings are reused so often. You’ll find yourself walking into nearly identical bakeries, for example, at least twenty times before you finish the game.
If the subject matter appeals to you, you’ll get a great deal out of The Godfather. It’s a long game, clocking in at around twenty hours, and if you’re feeling compulsive you can try and nab all 100 film reels scattered about the city to unlock miscellaneous goodies. As a final note, it’s worth pointing out that EA is still developing a version of the game for Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox 360, so if you own or plan on owning the new console, you may want to hold out for that version. The Godfather isn’t perfect technically speaking, but as far as movie licenses in the game world are concerned, it’s a shining achievement.
Graphics | Audio | Gameplay | Replay | Genre | Final |
