Godfather The Game
Posted September 27, 2006
Quite a daunting enterprise, Electronic Arts set out to recreate the world of the Godfather within a free range, GTA-esqe structure. The cinematic narrative allows for the player to be injected into the most memorable scenes of Coppola's epic story. The player takes the vantage point of a rising hood in the Corleone family. For instance, the player is put in the driver's seat when the Don needs to get rushed to the hospital or Sonny's right hand man when he declares war on the opposing families. Essentially, the character is witness to the brutal slaying of his parents in a bakery bombing by a rival gang lord. Don Corleone takes you under his wing to hone your rage for the good of the family. It's an interesting role that allows onlooker status for the entire main storyline and beyond. 
Gameplay:
At the outset of your budding criminal career, a character customization screen pops up to put a face on your Italian born player. The random selection is usually spits out some excellent combinations that reminded me of several Soprano characters. After you have squandered some time with the facial reconstruction, the game immediately tosses you into the single player storyline. After a quick run-through of the fighting system, you are off to start helping the Don.
There are two meters that determine your progress in the game, wealth and respect. Both meters are increased upon completion of most missions within the game, although a few missions only increase one or the other. Specifically, respect governs the speed at which you level. At each level increase, the player is awarded one skill point that can be spent on your stats. The stats are broken into five categories: fighting, shooting, health, speed, and misc. Each miniscule increase is a nice boost and there is a definite difference in gameplay by the end of the game.
The wealth meter can be increased by a variety of methods besides missions. Perhaps the quickest way is to take over fronts and rackets. Fronts are legitimate stores which act as cover for the illegal activities that occur behind closed doors. Players must convince the owner of the front to switch "protection" detail to the Corleones to get access to the racket. This is accomplished by threatening the owner with physical violence or helping them solve a problem. Assuming you can avoid the current protection detail (opposing outfits) from rubbing you out, a nice payout from the frightened store owner pops out quickly. Also, intimidation may be pushed too far, which sends the owner in a murderous rage and ruining the takeover. Rackets may also be taken over with this method or the player can just buy out the business. The latter is preferable as payouts are awarded on a weekly basis to the player.
Beyond fronts/rackets, players can also hijack shipment trucks, rob banks, purchase real estate, start a gang war, enter a prize fight, take on assassination missions with specific requirements, complete personal favors for the Don, or just run around causing mayhem. Assassination missions are perhaps the most entertaining missions in the game. While a player can just run through the missions killing the targets, committing to a certain method of death will increase the money/respect payout by ten fold. For instance, one mission sent me after a thug that roughed up the 18 year old daughter of a family member. To snatch up the bonus, I was required to shoot him in the knee, then the shoulder, and finally into his face. Anything from making the death look like an accident to choking the life out of the victim is laid out for those sweet bonuses.
The fighting system is very entertaining, if not a bit flawed. Locking onto your target is accomplished by the left trigger and beating the life out of the poor soul with the right thumbstick. Depending on the motion of the thumbstick, your punches will directionally follow suit. Also, you have the ability to latch onto your target. Tossing your opponent into a glass display case or shoving the head of the screaming fool in a bakery furnace is certainly visceral fun. This also plays into execution styles. For instance, sending an enemy flying off the roof of a building will put a nice little check mark by that execution. Respect bonuses are awarded for certain execution styles as well.
At first glance, the weaponry may seem limited. The character can carry one melee weapon, a 38 snub revolver, an automatic pistol, an .44 Magnum, a Tommy (machine) gun, a long barrel shotgun, and three types of explosives (Molotov, dynamite, & bomb). Fortunately, there are a variety of upgrades available for every gun. These upgrades expand the capacity of the weapons along with the forceful impact they make. For instance, the highest level Tommy gun upgrade (called Dillinger) doubles the capacity of the cartridge and the speed of fire. They aren't cheap, though. The Dillinger runs about $400,000 and isn't affordable until the very late stages of the game.
You have two choices when aiming weapons, the auto-aim function and free aim. Auto-aim works surprisingly well assuming you have the controls down pat. Switching between hugging walls and auto-aim takes quite a bit of practice. Also, auto-aim can be modified on the fly with the right thumbstick to target specific portion portions of the body. This is exceedingly helpful with headshots and capping joints such as the knee or the shoulder blade. Taking out a knee will cause your target to kneel in a daze for several seconds. In a huge fracas, this maneuver may buy enough time to escape.
Often times, I found myself dieing far too often within missions. After the game automatically revives your corpse at the local illegal Doc, you can go grab a crew member to help out the cause. Crew members range in price from $1000 to $5000. The more expensive family members carry more powerful weapons and last longer in a firefight. The A.I. is usually pretty solid when it comes to crew members. They target the closest enemies and cover your back when needed. Also, they have the ability to hang out car windows to assault rival gangs or the cops. The A.I. of the enemy has all of the same abilities along with occasionally flanking your player's position.
The achievements are broken into 38 pieces which comprise 835 gamerscore points. If wondering about the odd number of points, EA has plans to expand on the achievements at a later date with a content pack. All of the points are awarded for the massive amount of single player tasks within the game. Nothing on the list of achievements happens to be overly difficult, but a large investment of time is required to complete the set. For instance, polishing off "collect 100 film reels" or "Take over all Fronts / Rackets" will take hours upon hours to finish. All in all, 30 to 40 hours of game time is enough to add 835 to the ole gamerscore, assuming you occasionally depend on a game guide. EA did an excellent job creating an achievement structure that's difficult to finish, but not overly challenging. Also, I'd like to commend EA for tying in the achievements to a user's profile to discourage game save cheating.
Graphics:
If Electronic Arts took more than five minutes to upgrade the horrific graphics engine, I would be utterly shocked. Visually, The Godfather is depressing on a multitude of levels. For starters, the static environment is filled with ugly, pixilated textures that have no place on a next-gen console. Roads and buildings all blend together in a mish-mosh of brown pixels, each more harsh than the last. Cars are moderately smoother in comparison, but still appear dull and fuzzy. I haven't seen character models this bad since the first years of the original Xbox console. Characters clip their way through walls and occasionally get stuck during missions which forces the player to redo a level. While the facial features of the main characters are fairly detailed, the rest of the ensemble was but an afterthought. Also, the facial animations are incredibly stiff and without the typical motion found within a next-gen graphic's engine.
Fire & smoke effects are the most impressive feature within the disgusting landscape, but bring the city to a chugging pace in terms of frame rate. The frame rate fluxuates constantly, which makes chase scenes a chore when having to allow for dips and pauses in the engine. I understand constantly loading an entire city is a burdensome chore for a console, but one would think the Xbox 360 could preload these PS2-level graphics without blinking an eye. It's quite apparent Electronic Arts cared very little about the quality of the graphics engine for Xbox 360 consumers. The Godfather's abysmal appearance is even more pronounced on a standard definition set, although HD makes me shudder as well.
Audio:
Fortunately, the audio was impossible to screw up from the port. The voice work re-recorded from scenes in the two movies is well integrated into cutscenes and various missions. Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and James Caan give credence to the auditory quality of the characters. Even the voice work for the player's character is surprisingly decent. All the great lines are included: "Leave the gun, Take the cannoli", "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns", "She was beautiful! She was young. She was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I ever had, and I've had'em all over the world!", etc. Unfortunately, Al Pacino refused to reprise the audio for the feature character Michael Corleone. EA decided to go with an alternate voice & face which doesn't go over very well. Not surprisingly, his lines are kept to a minimum. The rest of the supporting cast is excellent and authentic to the time period / locale.
The musical score is identical to both movies and well-received. The music pipes in at the correct dramatic moments and stays specific to the type of situation. Edgy, suspenseful music plays before a battle and the main classic tune cranks back up after the action dies down. The sound effects are par for the course. The blast of a tommy gun, the lurching sound of a starting automobile, or the crunching break of a gang member's neck is very impressive. Even without convincing Pacino, EA did a solid job in the audio department.
Conclusion:
If I had to peg The Godfather against rivals, it's like an arcade version of Mafia mixed with elements of the Grand Theft Auto series. Regardless of the major graphical problems, The Godfather is a fun romp that lasts for a multitude of hours, assuming you are into achievements. Otherwise, the single player storyline takes about 15 hours to finish. If you have already finished any other console version, there isn't much that's new in the 360 version. If you haven't experienced the Godfather yet, pick it up at a price point of $40 to $50 and toss yourself into the Corleone family.
Gameplay:
At the outset of your budding criminal career, a character customization screen pops up to put a face on your Italian born player. The random selection is usually spits out some excellent combinations that reminded me of several Soprano characters. After you have squandered some time with the facial reconstruction, the game immediately tosses you into the single player storyline. After a quick run-through of the fighting system, you are off to start helping the Don.
There are two meters that determine your progress in the game, wealth and respect. Both meters are increased upon completion of most missions within the game, although a few missions only increase one or the other. Specifically, respect governs the speed at which you level. At each level increase, the player is awarded one skill point that can be spent on your stats. The stats are broken into five categories: fighting, shooting, health, speed, and misc. Each miniscule increase is a nice boost and there is a definite difference in gameplay by the end of the game.
The wealth meter can be increased by a variety of methods besides missions. Perhaps the quickest way is to take over fronts and rackets. Fronts are legitimate stores which act as cover for the illegal activities that occur behind closed doors. Players must convince the owner of the front to switch "protection" detail to the Corleones to get access to the racket. This is accomplished by threatening the owner with physical violence or helping them solve a problem. Assuming you can avoid the current protection detail (opposing outfits) from rubbing you out, a nice payout from the frightened store owner pops out quickly. Also, intimidation may be pushed too far, which sends the owner in a murderous rage and ruining the takeover. Rackets may also be taken over with this method or the player can just buy out the business. The latter is preferable as payouts are awarded on a weekly basis to the player.
Beyond fronts/rackets, players can also hijack shipment trucks, rob banks, purchase real estate, start a gang war, enter a prize fight, take on assassination missions with specific requirements, complete personal favors for the Don, or just run around causing mayhem. Assassination missions are perhaps the most entertaining missions in the game. While a player can just run through the missions killing the targets, committing to a certain method of death will increase the money/respect payout by ten fold. For instance, one mission sent me after a thug that roughed up the 18 year old daughter of a family member. To snatch up the bonus, I was required to shoot him in the knee, then the shoulder, and finally into his face. Anything from making the death look like an accident to choking the life out of the victim is laid out for those sweet bonuses.
The fighting system is very entertaining, if not a bit flawed. Locking onto your target is accomplished by the left trigger and beating the life out of the poor soul with the right thumbstick. Depending on the motion of the thumbstick, your punches will directionally follow suit. Also, you have the ability to latch onto your target. Tossing your opponent into a glass display case or shoving the head of the screaming fool in a bakery furnace is certainly visceral fun. This also plays into execution styles. For instance, sending an enemy flying off the roof of a building will put a nice little check mark by that execution. Respect bonuses are awarded for certain execution styles as well.
At first glance, the weaponry may seem limited. The character can carry one melee weapon, a 38 snub revolver, an automatic pistol, an .44 Magnum, a Tommy (machine) gun, a long barrel shotgun, and three types of explosives (Molotov, dynamite, & bomb). Fortunately, there are a variety of upgrades available for every gun. These upgrades expand the capacity of the weapons along with the forceful impact they make. For instance, the highest level Tommy gun upgrade (called Dillinger) doubles the capacity of the cartridge and the speed of fire. They aren't cheap, though. The Dillinger runs about $400,000 and isn't affordable until the very late stages of the game.
You have two choices when aiming weapons, the auto-aim function and free aim. Auto-aim works surprisingly well assuming you have the controls down pat. Switching between hugging walls and auto-aim takes quite a bit of practice. Also, auto-aim can be modified on the fly with the right thumbstick to target specific portion portions of the body. This is exceedingly helpful with headshots and capping joints such as the knee or the shoulder blade. Taking out a knee will cause your target to kneel in a daze for several seconds. In a huge fracas, this maneuver may buy enough time to escape.
Often times, I found myself dieing far too often within missions. After the game automatically revives your corpse at the local illegal Doc, you can go grab a crew member to help out the cause. Crew members range in price from $1000 to $5000. The more expensive family members carry more powerful weapons and last longer in a firefight. The A.I. is usually pretty solid when it comes to crew members. They target the closest enemies and cover your back when needed. Also, they have the ability to hang out car windows to assault rival gangs or the cops. The A.I. of the enemy has all of the same abilities along with occasionally flanking your player's position.
The achievements are broken into 38 pieces which comprise 835 gamerscore points. If wondering about the odd number of points, EA has plans to expand on the achievements at a later date with a content pack. All of the points are awarded for the massive amount of single player tasks within the game. Nothing on the list of achievements happens to be overly difficult, but a large investment of time is required to complete the set. For instance, polishing off "collect 100 film reels" or "Take over all Fronts / Rackets" will take hours upon hours to finish. All in all, 30 to 40 hours of game time is enough to add 835 to the ole gamerscore, assuming you occasionally depend on a game guide. EA did an excellent job creating an achievement structure that's difficult to finish, but not overly challenging. Also, I'd like to commend EA for tying in the achievements to a user's profile to discourage game save cheating.
Graphics:
If Electronic Arts took more than five minutes to upgrade the horrific graphics engine, I would be utterly shocked. Visually, The Godfather is depressing on a multitude of levels. For starters, the static environment is filled with ugly, pixilated textures that have no place on a next-gen console. Roads and buildings all blend together in a mish-mosh of brown pixels, each more harsh than the last. Cars are moderately smoother in comparison, but still appear dull and fuzzy. I haven't seen character models this bad since the first years of the original Xbox console. Characters clip their way through walls and occasionally get stuck during missions which forces the player to redo a level. While the facial features of the main characters are fairly detailed, the rest of the ensemble was but an afterthought. Also, the facial animations are incredibly stiff and without the typical motion found within a next-gen graphic's engine.
Fire & smoke effects are the most impressive feature within the disgusting landscape, but bring the city to a chugging pace in terms of frame rate. The frame rate fluxuates constantly, which makes chase scenes a chore when having to allow for dips and pauses in the engine. I understand constantly loading an entire city is a burdensome chore for a console, but one would think the Xbox 360 could preload these PS2-level graphics without blinking an eye. It's quite apparent Electronic Arts cared very little about the quality of the graphics engine for Xbox 360 consumers. The Godfather's abysmal appearance is even more pronounced on a standard definition set, although HD makes me shudder as well.
Audio:
Fortunately, the audio was impossible to screw up from the port. The voice work re-recorded from scenes in the two movies is well integrated into cutscenes and various missions. Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, and James Caan give credence to the auditory quality of the characters. Even the voice work for the player's character is surprisingly decent. All the great lines are included: "Leave the gun, Take the cannoli", "A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns", "She was beautiful! She was young. She was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I ever had, and I've had'em all over the world!", etc. Unfortunately, Al Pacino refused to reprise the audio for the feature character Michael Corleone. EA decided to go with an alternate voice & face which doesn't go over very well. Not surprisingly, his lines are kept to a minimum. The rest of the supporting cast is excellent and authentic to the time period / locale.
The musical score is identical to both movies and well-received. The music pipes in at the correct dramatic moments and stays specific to the type of situation. Edgy, suspenseful music plays before a battle and the main classic tune cranks back up after the action dies down. The sound effects are par for the course. The blast of a tommy gun, the lurching sound of a starting automobile, or the crunching break of a gang member's neck is very impressive. Even without convincing Pacino, EA did a solid job in the audio department.
Conclusion:
If I had to peg The Godfather against rivals, it's like an arcade version of Mafia mixed with elements of the Grand Theft Auto series. Regardless of the major graphical problems, The Godfather is a fun romp that lasts for a multitude of hours, assuming you are into achievements. Otherwise, the single player storyline takes about 15 hours to finish. If you have already finished any other console version, there isn't much that's new in the 360 version. If you haven't experienced the Godfather yet, pick it up at a price point of $40 to $50 and toss yourself into the Corleone family.