The Godfather game is an offer you just can't refuse.
With today's trend of movie-to-game tie-ins, it was only a matter of time before we saw this gritty tale be translated to pixelated form.
And I can actually say with certainty that it was worth the wait.
The game -- and story -- starts off with a cutscene of your father being gunned down by some mafia thugs from a rival "familia". You arrive at the crime scene shortly thereafter, only to witness your "papa" lying motionless in a pool of his own blood. As you turn around and start to run off in tears, you run into Don Corleone himself, who offers you some words of encouragement and wisdom before you take off.
Before you begin your journey into the underbelly of New York City, you get to customize your character with the same tool used in EA's NBA game. This feature actually works very well and gives the game a very nice personal side. When you've finished customizing your gangster, you're ready to join the Corleone family... well, that is, after your mother asks the Don to help you get out of your "misleading ways" on his daughter's wedding day, which he cannot refuse due to the circumstances.
You'll start off with a couple of easy training missions, all performed under the watchful eye of one Luca Brasi. You'll learn how to fight, use melee attacks, shoot, interrogate... you know, the stuff any well-rounded gangster needs to know.
After the training, you'll become a special enforcer within the Corleone family, by helping them carry out some "business". The deeper you get into the story, the bigger the missions and responsibilities will get. You'll make your way up the "corporate ladder" as you take on more and more missions until reaching your ultimate goal: being Don.
The story in The Godfather is taken directly from the first movie, all the while branching with your own personnal storyline. You'll be instrumental in helping with some memorable scenes from the movie, although you're not a main character featured in Coppola's movie or Mario Puzo's book. Having a part to play in all those scenes is a great feature in this game and makes it incredibly enjoyable. The game stays faithful to the original story and pays a great homage to Puzo's and Coppola's work, all the while adding onto it very seamlessly.
The characters and voice acting in the game are incredible for some and bad for others. Robert Duvall, James Caan and the incomparable Marlon Brando all reprise their roles from the original movie with brilliance. The performance given by those three is unparalleled. But one performance stands out as being out of place: Michael Corleone. Since Al Pacino did not sign on to do this project, EA could not use his likeness in the game. Hence, they created their own version of Michael, which does not resemble Pacino in any way, shape or form. This takes away from the game a little, since Michael is a pivotal character in the story and appears as a dark cloud amongst the brilliant sky of incredible voice acting performances.
The gameplay borrows heavily on the Grand Theft Auto franchise, but it also adds it's own personnal touch, thus making it stand out amongst the sea of GTA clones. You make your way around a very beautifully rendered (and very huge) map of New York City, which is located on the bottom right of your screen. You can "borrow" any car your see on the street, beat up on helpless citizens, etc., while watching your heat meter rise as you do so.
At the beginning of the game, you'll be tasked into making shop owners pay for protection. This will require, more often than not, some sort of negotiation, whether it be violent or not. If the owner is reluctant to pay up after the first try, you can smash up cash registers or items in the store -- or even the owner himself -- to make him pay up the protection money. All of this is fun in the beginning, but gets very tiresome as you go on, especially since every tailor, barber shop or hotel looks exactly the same from one to the other. The good thing is that this is not necessary to make the main story evolve.
The hand to hand / melee combat in the game is very gruesome and satisfying. The mechanics are very easy to grasp and understand as you throw punches with the right analog stick and you can grip and hold your opponent while pressing both shoulder buttons. The best part of this type of combat is the "Execute" feature, where you press the black button and your character performs a finisher of sorts on his opponent. This feature is also available while shooting. Although this triggers off a cool animation, there isn't very much variety here, as the same one will repeat itself often. But still, it's quite a sight to see.
The shooting is also very well rendered. The mechanic is very similar to the one used in EA's James Bond games, where you lock on with the left shoulder button, aim with the left analog stick and shoot with the right shoulder button. The accurate aiming is very useful if you want to aim a certain part of the body (head shots anyone?). The guns all feel the way they should, with the Tommy Gun being the most powerful one (and the coolest, of course).
The driving is very well done. The cars controls are smooth and easy to handle, although every car seems to handle the same for the exception of speed difference.
The graphics are what you'd expect from a current generation XBox game. The main characters are very well rendered and resemble their real-life counterparts (aside from Michael, of course). New York City is in all it's glory in this game and looks amazing. Though NYC looks great, the inside of it's buildings aren't so great. As touched on a bit earlier, every hotel looks and is shaped the same, etc., which is very disappointing.
There are only 3 or 4 different types of cars in the game and not a lot of variety for pedestrians either. I guess that's ok, since it doesn't take away much from the game, but it still is very striking. The car crashes do look nice though as there is a blur when you smash into another car.
There are a lot of framerate and clipping issues in the game though, especially when a lot of characters are on screen at once. The clipping can get out of control, especially when there are gunfights. At one instance in the game, I got shot by an enemy though a wall! These technical glitches hinder the gameplay and make it less enjoyable and takes away from the game's other strong points.
The sound is a powerful and integral part of this game. I've already touched on the stellar voice acting, which is beyond reproach. The gun sounds are very well represented in the game. The cars sound like 1940's models, which adds to the ambiance of the game. The music is also pretty good, although you'll hear the Godfather theme ad nauseam, in all sorts of shapes and forms, and it can get a little annoying.
So, in conclusion, if you want a good, lengthy action game, I recommend you try out The Godfather. While not being a masterpiece, and if you can look beyond it's glitches and Michael Corleone, it is a good little game which will not leave you on your appetite.