The Godfather
Posted April 4, 2006
"A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns." –Tom Hagan
"Kid, do me a favor: if you got a hundred guys with guns, don't trade 'em in for no fuckin' lawyer!" –Sonny Corleone
The Godfather has got to have the longest movie-to-game interval of all time. The movie was released, what, nearly 35 years ago, and we're just now seeing a video game version of it? Where was the NES version of it, where you would play as Michael Corleone, platform jumping through warehouses and using your upgradeable gun to foil fedora-capped hoods, ultimately facing the final boss, Don Barzini (first form: tommy-gun wielding gangster three times your size; second form: tank)? Well, it says something about the video game industry's evolution and its changing demographics that EA has even been able to give us a reasonable approximation of a film that really doesn't lend itself to the medium in the first place. At the same time, though, it shows that the industry has a little ways to go before it produces its own The Godfather—and I don't mean this game.
Gameplay:
But any game compared to one of the greatest films of all time is necessarily going to suffer, and anyway the game is actually quite a bit of fun despite that. You play as a completely new character of your own creation (there are an incredible number of customization options, by the way), and that character is inserted into practically every pivotal point in the movie. As you might expect, some liberty is taken with some of the scenes in order to have something for you to do. So when Michael is in the hospital visiting his father, you have to defend him from assassins; when Luca Brasi, the guy showing you the ropes in the tutorial, is strangled to death, you see it all and have to gun down the murderer; and it's you, not Rocco, who pulls the trigger on Paulie Gatto (after he escapes from the car and you chase him down, of course).
The game takes place in a huge pseudo-1940s-era New York City, and besides the main plot (which takes roughly 10-12 hours to complete on its own, without doing anything extra) you have plenty of other things to occupy your time. Extortion takes up a big chunk of your effort; after all, local businesses need some protection so there are no "accidents." Each shop owner has a point where they'll give in and a point where they'll fight back, and it takes different things to get each one to that level. Some will simply give in immediately, but more often you'll have to persuade them, by smashing up the shop, roughing up the customers, or tossing around the owner himself. Slamming someone's head into the cash register? Nice. Most of the stores are fronts for other families' illegal rackets, too, and you also can take over those with a little convincing, financial or otherwise.
The other four families in New York won't take kindly to you muscling in on their territory, however, and their men will usually come after you for it. Kill them and your vendetta level rises with that family. Kill enough, or maybe take out a warehouse, and you'll start an all-out mob war. The good news is that you can take over another family
by taking out their entire caporegime. The bad news is that you'll be doing this on your own—meaning you'll be taking on a couple dozen guys by yourself, when one well-placed shotgun blast can take you out instantly.
Luckily, you have lots of tools to deal with that situation: pistols, magnums, shotguns, tommy-guns, wrenches, baseball bats, and more, not to mention your bare fists, which you can use to punch people, or slam them against walls, or toss them off buildings, or throw them to the ground, or push them in front of cars, or choke them to death. L1 targets and R1 shoots, but most everything else is accomplished with the right analog stick, which is both innovative and potentially frustrating, especially when you try to pull off some advanced moves and fail completely. It tends to be easier to just press forward on the stick as fast as possible without attempting to block, in order to overwhelm your opponent entirely. Switching between fists and guns can be another hassle, especially when you're caught off-guard and have to cycle through your weapons in order to find a gun. It would have been better to be able to assign a button to your weapon of choice, so you always had something ready.
On the plus side, there are plenty of execution styles you can use at certain times, and all of them are enormously satisfying. If you're using a tommy-gun, for instance, you can knock someone on their back, stand over them, and put about 10 rounds in their face. It's a good thing you can't have sex with the prostitutes, though; otherwise this game might give the wrong message.
Besides the mob wars and extortion, you're also called on at various times to carry out hits on people, and for me these were the most entertaining parts of the game, because there are also certain conditions you have to meet in order to get any real respect (experience points) and cash. One may require no witnesses, for example, while another might require you make it look like an accident. Successfully carry out a hit and you'll get another.
If you're careless, and even sometimes when you're not, you'll eventually attract the attention of the local authorities. They'll overlook most small crimes for a bribe, but the bigger ones tend to provoke a car chase or shootout. The characters in this game are actually pretty smart, relatively speaking, in that they use cover pretty effectively and definitely won't hesitate to ram your car off the road if they get the opportunity. In any event, you'll have to cool it at one of your safehouses for awhile while the heat on you dies down. A safehouse will refill your health and most of the time your ammo, too,
and they're also the only places where you can save. It pays to have plenty of safehouses throughout the city, but don't worry; dying has almost no negative impact on you, other than the $500 you pay to the unlicensed back-alley physician for services rendered.
And that's more or less the game: story missions, extortion, car chases, hits, mob wars, and rising to become don of New York. It's obviously modeled after Grand Theft Auto 3, and while there's not quite as much depth as some of the better entries in that series, I appreciate that there is a clear storyline (even if it only sort of matches the movie) and that you always know what you need to do next. Sure, the deeper themes of the film are tossed in favor of glorifying violence, but it's a good game regardless.
Graphics:
There are no load times. I say that up front because very often the graphics in The Godfather fail to really impress. They're not bad, necessarily, but buildings and people are fairly bland, except for a handful of key characters whose faces really look fantastic. There's also a lot of repetition in terms of vehicles (a handful of cars and trucks, at most) and building textures. This is one case where graphics impact gameplay, as the similarity of all the buildings to all the other buildings tends to make it frustratingly difficult to navigate the city since everything looks like everything else. Perhaps recognizing this, a small paper game map is included, but it's not very helpful, unfortunately.
Audio:
The music seems to depend pretty heavily on the themes from the film, and while that's a good thing initially, hearing the theme song start up every time you enter a vehicle is a little tiresome. Several of the actors from the film also reprise their roles, with the notable exception of Al Pacino. His likeness isn't used for Michael, either, and it's disappointing that Pacino couldn't come to an agreement with EA when even Marlon Brando recorded lines for the game before his death two years ago. Still, the actors present do a great job, and exchanges like the one quoted above (adapted from the novel) are hilarious and memorable.
Conclusion:
The Godfather may not be able to match the movie in intensity or style, but it's still a fun game with a lot of opportunities to keep you occupied even after you've completed the main story. Definitely worth a look for fans of the film or the genre. Highly recommended.
"Kid, do me a favor: if you got a hundred guys with guns, don't trade 'em in for no fuckin' lawyer!" –Sonny Corleone
The Godfather has got to have the longest movie-to-game interval of all time. The movie was released, what, nearly 35 years ago, and we're just now seeing a video game version of it? Where was the NES version of it, where you would play as Michael Corleone, platform jumping through warehouses and using your upgradeable gun to foil fedora-capped hoods, ultimately facing the final boss, Don Barzini (first form: tommy-gun wielding gangster three times your size; second form: tank)? Well, it says something about the video game industry's evolution and its changing demographics that EA has even been able to give us a reasonable approximation of a film that really doesn't lend itself to the medium in the first place. At the same time, though, it shows that the industry has a little ways to go before it produces its own The Godfather—and I don't mean this game.Gameplay:
But any game compared to one of the greatest films of all time is necessarily going to suffer, and anyway the game is actually quite a bit of fun despite that. You play as a completely new character of your own creation (there are an incredible number of customization options, by the way), and that character is inserted into practically every pivotal point in the movie. As you might expect, some liberty is taken with some of the scenes in order to have something for you to do. So when Michael is in the hospital visiting his father, you have to defend him from assassins; when Luca Brasi, the guy showing you the ropes in the tutorial, is strangled to death, you see it all and have to gun down the murderer; and it's you, not Rocco, who pulls the trigger on Paulie Gatto (after he escapes from the car and you chase him down, of course).
The game takes place in a huge pseudo-1940s-era New York City, and besides the main plot (which takes roughly 10-12 hours to complete on its own, without doing anything extra) you have plenty of other things to occupy your time. Extortion takes up a big chunk of your effort; after all, local businesses need some protection so there are no "accidents." Each shop owner has a point where they'll give in and a point where they'll fight back, and it takes different things to get each one to that level. Some will simply give in immediately, but more often you'll have to persuade them, by smashing up the shop, roughing up the customers, or tossing around the owner himself. Slamming someone's head into the cash register? Nice. Most of the stores are fronts for other families' illegal rackets, too, and you also can take over those with a little convincing, financial or otherwise.
The other four families in New York won't take kindly to you muscling in on their territory, however, and their men will usually come after you for it. Kill them and your vendetta level rises with that family. Kill enough, or maybe take out a warehouse, and you'll start an all-out mob war. The good news is that you can take over another family
by taking out their entire caporegime. The bad news is that you'll be doing this on your own—meaning you'll be taking on a couple dozen guys by yourself, when one well-placed shotgun blast can take you out instantly.Luckily, you have lots of tools to deal with that situation: pistols, magnums, shotguns, tommy-guns, wrenches, baseball bats, and more, not to mention your bare fists, which you can use to punch people, or slam them against walls, or toss them off buildings, or throw them to the ground, or push them in front of cars, or choke them to death. L1 targets and R1 shoots, but most everything else is accomplished with the right analog stick, which is both innovative and potentially frustrating, especially when you try to pull off some advanced moves and fail completely. It tends to be easier to just press forward on the stick as fast as possible without attempting to block, in order to overwhelm your opponent entirely. Switching between fists and guns can be another hassle, especially when you're caught off-guard and have to cycle through your weapons in order to find a gun. It would have been better to be able to assign a button to your weapon of choice, so you always had something ready.
On the plus side, there are plenty of execution styles you can use at certain times, and all of them are enormously satisfying. If you're using a tommy-gun, for instance, you can knock someone on their back, stand over them, and put about 10 rounds in their face. It's a good thing you can't have sex with the prostitutes, though; otherwise this game might give the wrong message.
Besides the mob wars and extortion, you're also called on at various times to carry out hits on people, and for me these were the most entertaining parts of the game, because there are also certain conditions you have to meet in order to get any real respect (experience points) and cash. One may require no witnesses, for example, while another might require you make it look like an accident. Successfully carry out a hit and you'll get another.
If you're careless, and even sometimes when you're not, you'll eventually attract the attention of the local authorities. They'll overlook most small crimes for a bribe, but the bigger ones tend to provoke a car chase or shootout. The characters in this game are actually pretty smart, relatively speaking, in that they use cover pretty effectively and definitely won't hesitate to ram your car off the road if they get the opportunity. In any event, you'll have to cool it at one of your safehouses for awhile while the heat on you dies down. A safehouse will refill your health and most of the time your ammo, too,
and they're also the only places where you can save. It pays to have plenty of safehouses throughout the city, but don't worry; dying has almost no negative impact on you, other than the $500 you pay to the unlicensed back-alley physician for services rendered.And that's more or less the game: story missions, extortion, car chases, hits, mob wars, and rising to become don of New York. It's obviously modeled after Grand Theft Auto 3, and while there's not quite as much depth as some of the better entries in that series, I appreciate that there is a clear storyline (even if it only sort of matches the movie) and that you always know what you need to do next. Sure, the deeper themes of the film are tossed in favor of glorifying violence, but it's a good game regardless.
Graphics:
There are no load times. I say that up front because very often the graphics in The Godfather fail to really impress. They're not bad, necessarily, but buildings and people are fairly bland, except for a handful of key characters whose faces really look fantastic. There's also a lot of repetition in terms of vehicles (a handful of cars and trucks, at most) and building textures. This is one case where graphics impact gameplay, as the similarity of all the buildings to all the other buildings tends to make it frustratingly difficult to navigate the city since everything looks like everything else. Perhaps recognizing this, a small paper game map is included, but it's not very helpful, unfortunately.
Audio:
The music seems to depend pretty heavily on the themes from the film, and while that's a good thing initially, hearing the theme song start up every time you enter a vehicle is a little tiresome. Several of the actors from the film also reprise their roles, with the notable exception of Al Pacino. His likeness isn't used for Michael, either, and it's disappointing that Pacino couldn't come to an agreement with EA when even Marlon Brando recorded lines for the game before his death two years ago. Still, the actors present do a great job, and exchanges like the one quoted above (adapted from the novel) are hilarious and memorable.
Conclusion:
The Godfather may not be able to match the movie in intensity or style, but it's still a fun game with a lot of opportunities to keep you occupied even after you've completed the main story. Definitely worth a look for fans of the film or the genre. Highly recommended.