My first impressions were great. I for one love this game...
The game in general, once you look past the little bugs and random strange stuff and not to mention the unbalanced police, is a fantastic game. It is too bad that it wasn't given the opportunity to get things finished...it would have been great.
The game is very well designed both visually and playability. Visually the game looks great. The NPC's are very well modeled and textured but there isn't a wide variety of NPC characters roaming the city. Almost all the NPC's look exactly the same. They are also not very well animated but again the animations are too few to render real life. Their emotions are also static and stale. To give the NPC's some credit, when shoot at they do run in all directions. At times they can even see through walls and scream out loud "GUN". lol
The city is also very well modeled and textured. It represents the 40s very well but again the city lacks a sense of life. At times it feels like a giant maze. The city does have night and day but that is it. It's does not have any other environmental systems. Los Angeles in particular looks amazing. The sun filled state is wonderfully populated by amazing buildings but less than impressive NPCs.
They claim that The Godfather 2 is an open world. In a way that is true to a certain degree. It is true that one can go anywhere they wish but most doors are locked which I find pointless in an open world. My rule is that in an open world all should be accessible but of course with consequences. Places should be interesting enough so to attract player interest with prize at the end.
The game does have limited customization system in place. You can change facial aspects, clothing, buy weapon licenses and modify the soldiers look but you are limited to just clothing. It is not much but it's better than nothing.
Out of all the games in my collection, this is the only game that I got all the throphies and the ultimate Platinum Trophy. I enjoyed searching the game world for weapons and other hidden items and that is what games are all about. Make it fun and easy unlike Dead Space which has failed in this task. They may have a higher quality game but their trophies system is annoying.
If they would of given the developers enough time this would have been a great game. It has all the right systems and a good story which is rare in games these days.
This game is now my favorite next to Dead Space. There is something about Godfather 2 game that I find entertaining. The characters, the world and the story somehow appeals to me.