The Godfather

I remember playing this game when it was released and it was alright, something that stuck with me was the shake downs and how you could extort stores of their money as a mafioso. Now that I revisited the game 15 years later I must say this game is quite a let down and if it wasn't an adaptation of Mario Puzo's greatest work, you wouldn't give a chance to this game either.

The game follow most events of the films and have you, The Player (aka Aldo Trapani, but I don't recall being called that at all in-game), as a new character seeking revenge over Don Barzini, this vendetta is mentioned in the first mission and the last one, so this personal quest of revenge doesn't seem really revengeful. Also, the Player is put on spots that aren't necessarily shown in the film so, for instance: ever wonder who told the Corleone family about a specific event? The Player was there watching it first hand. How did a character escape after being in enemy territory? The Player lifted that character in their car.

To be honest, most of those moments where The Player was introduced don't seem far-fetched, it is just that The Player end up doing a bunch of things and still he is a low level member in the Mafia.

There are some new additions to the story too, but they are too rushed and you both don't get enough time to bond with new characters, nor the game tried to make them more present in The Player's life, even by doing mundane missions, so those new additions feel bland and unnecessary.

As for the game it self, extortion was something that stuck with me, but it gets old real quick and there are A LOT of stores there to be extorted, do you have to extort them all? Not if you don't want 100% or don't care about money that has the following purpose, to buy: clothes (there isn't a clothing store, you have to buy it in the load menu), weapons (both ammo and 3 levels of weaponry), safe houses and buying out rackets (you can extort them if you don't have money, but buying them out guarantees you will get the maximum money they have to offer).

Then there is the insufferable driving, the game has 5 horribly looking cars: a truck, a pickup, a sedan, a sports car and a compact, other cars are variations of skin of those types. The manoeuvrability of the car is bad, somehow cars chasing you will always be faster than you so it doesn't matter if you bother taking the fastest car in the game, the NPCs can easily get to you. Also, you can be going as fast as possible, you won't ever take damage if you bump your car, is a bit annoying. Cars don't have "radio", we mostly hear instrumental music when driving, but weirdly some rackets do have real life music in it, so why can't I hear those in the car?

There was this movement issue with the character that really annoyed me, you can only move in one of the four directions: forward, left, backwards, right. Want to go forward left? Nope, if you were walking forward you will keep walking forward, if you were walking left you will keep walking left, it is a bit annoying, specially when enemies appear ouf of nowhere.

In the end, I know this is a The Godfather game, but if you took all the famous characters, you will be left with a shallow game that is a bit repetitive, have you go back and forth to do simple missions and end up being boring.

Fantastic and entertaining this game is. With at least 30 hours of quality game play; it is defiantly not a waste of money. From when I first started playing the game it was addicting. The 1940/50's atmosphere is great and it feels like being in New York. The ability to create the look of your mobster was perfect and I hope they bring the character of Aldo Trapani back for the next Godfather. Characters were great and just like in the movie, so it was great fun to tag along with them during the missions. The tutorial level is entertaining as Luca Brassi takes your character under his arm to teach you how to be a mobster. The entire added story fits in perfectly with the movie and there are frequent memorable lines which have been created such as 'we got ya back, you f&$k it up we got your ass' and when Sonny says to your character 'glad your on my side kid' and he replies with 'I learn from the best' and gestures to Sonny. The game was smartly done and is pretty much flawless. The missions are of genuine quality; every mission is fun and entertaining. There are only around 20 story missions but they are of quality not quantity. I find most of the missions in Grand Theft Auto are pathetically pointless and if a mission is failed you are to drive to the mission point again which can take ages, with The Godfather you simply have to click retry mission, and your right into it again. I've played many versions and they do get better, the ability to make a 5 man hit team in the PS3 and Wii versions was fantastic, even though I think more could have been improved and added, it is still brilliant. The game is challenging yet not impossibly hard and there is little frustration when playing unlike other Gta style games. Personally I loved this game, probably my favorite. I think with some time and care Godfather Part 2 could be something else in the gaming industry. I've clocked this game to many times and still enjoy it, can't wait for a part 2.

When I saw this game advertised I had to have it. I am a huge fan of all three films, the music and the novels. The way the game is presented, the packaging, the marketing and the hype point to this being the game we Godfather fans have been waiting for, but for me at least this was not the case.

From the outset the game reminds the player of Grand Theft Auto III and later GTA titles. This would not be a bad thing, as they are some of the best selling games of all time, what is a bad thing is that the graphics and the movement (on the PS2 at least) feel more like GTA III than the year old San Andreas.

The story that runs through the game starts well with reenactments of the movie and big star voices matched to well rendered characters. The player missions do not fail to entertain, but if you fail them a few times the game fails to entice you to try again and again in the way that GTA does. The most boring part of the game is the neighbourhood consolidation missions. These are highly repetitive and time consuming.

The controls of the game are also a let down to any fan of the GTA franchise. It would seem that in a move to distance this game from GTA the new 'blackhand' control setup has been created. Trying to learn this new setup after years of GTA play left me frustrated playing the early stages of the game. Worse than this, however, is the driving model. The cars are mindlessly unrealistic in their reaction to the controls and driving in a straight line is as much a challenge as knocking over a tailors. (More likely to accidentally knock it over in a car) Fans of the Coppola and Rota expecting great use of 'that' music will also be disappointed. Yes the themes are used but only when driving, and mixed with what sounds like dodgy 80s synth.

All in all I'd recommend fans of the Godfather to play The Godfather soundtrack whilst playing Mafia to avoid disappointment.

The Godfather is one of the great classics in movies and so is the game. The game actually followed the same story as the first Godfather movie. With a good cherry on top, it even has the actual voice of Marlon Brando who voiced and played Vito Corleone. The combat in the game is absolutely brutal in melee and even when using executions with guns. I can even kill my enemies by throwing out the windows and, in the street, to make me feel unstoppable. The game is an exciting way to take over New York by offering protection in shops, taking over warehouses and exploding an enemy's compound, and then owning it like a safe house. Every high-level gun I find in secret black markets they were absolutely expensive. They are maybe the same but very unique. It even feels like it was a Snyder cut or the director's cut version in the game giving more extra scenes that are not part of the movie. The best thing I like about it has character creation. It gives the complete freedom to create my character also known as creating my version of Aldo Trapani. However, it didn't have enough character-creation items or accessories. If you wanted another GTA-like game, then this game is for you. However, it is honestly a little difficult when you don't upgrade your character properly but it is fun!

The thing that i like most about the game is that it follows the main plot of the movie while also creating a story of its own. In the game you will be able to play the missions from the movie and also do a few that were mentioned but you never saw them. For example you get to be the living crap out of the two guys that beat Bonasera's daughter and you get to sneak into Jack Woltz' mansion and do a little stealth stuff with a garrot wire until you finally reach his bedroom.

The game is kind of like gta with a free roaming mode but i wouldn't say they copied them, gta just created a new saught of thing for gangster games. You can do the usual stuff like on any other mafia game such as killing randoms, stealing cars, robbing banks and bombing places. You can get a good range of weapons and it is pretty cool being able to use 1930's tommy guns, pistols, shotguns and molotovs. The cars are a bit over the top but the handling of them is simple enough. A thing that will get to anyone though is how accurate New York is. You will find that you keep having to look at the huge map in the start menu to make sure that you don't get lost. It will take you about half an hour to get used to controls but once you learn them you are covered.

In the game you will encounter all the same guys you saw in the movie such as Clemenza, Rocco, Al Neri, Tom Hagen etc. The only issue i have with one of the characters is that he is not the same and i am talking about Michael. The guy does not have the same personality and is not the cool smooth Michael that we experienced in the film. James Cann and Robert Duvall reprise their roles and do an excellent job with the voices and so do a few other guys.

I would recommend this game to anyone who is a godfather freak unless you have something wrong with people making it into a game and even if you haven't seen the movie or don't like it, it is a great gangster game.