The Godfather II Review

It looks like we'll have to wait for the third Godfather game for a memorable entry in the series.

And it all started so well.

Not for the franchise, obviously. The last outing of The Godfather, which was largely written off by critics as being a poor man's GTA, was easy to beat. You realise quite early on that The Godfather II manages to surpass it too. The question is, by how much?

The Godfather II's opening is both engaging and impressive. Imagine the scene: Cuba, December 31st 1958. You and another four families have decided to cut losses in New York's busy and violent streets to come together and oversee an operation on Cuba that will see a five-way split of the profits. However, things aren't too great on the ground below.

After the gangs sit around the table to seal the deal, Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship, which has long been the home to moneymaking Americans, crumbles before their very eyes. This forces the gangs (including the playable Corleones) to peg it back to the airport amidst heavy gunfire, taking flight and immediately distrusting the other families on the reasoning that they'll be thinking the very same thing.



And so the power struggle begins.

Before it all kicks off, you get to customise your character with one of the very few sets of accurate and easy tools to get it done. It's a case of grid squares sharing four traits which you use to give your man the looks (such as fat, thin, scrawny and muscular). This applies to everything and the face can look a lot like your own when it's done. Nice.

The immediate hubbub you're thrown into at the start really shows what the game can do. On the plus side, the map system - a 3D maze in the bottom right - makes navigation absolute child's play.

However, there's probably a good reason to this as the camera angles can become very annoying. Many gamers prefer having a camera which isn't always in dire need of dual-adjustment with both analogue sticks, yet The Godfather II almost insists on it. Luckily the map compensates, but you'd think they'd have fixed this after years of game cameras letting us down.



As the running stops and the shooting starts, an intuitive fighting system is introduced. Gun selection is performed with ease and melee attacks are wonderfully brutal, especially the very satisfying lapel-grabbing headbutt.

Action itself is, for all its sins, quite fun. Shooting people with a tommy-gun is hilarious as your enemies shake like they're standing on a washing machine, whilst the orchestral undertones of the game's score are slipped underneath to add drama.

Upon returning to New York, you naturally have to take over the place. To do this, you establish a family. As the Don, you must gradually hire a consigliore, two capos and four soldiers. You're forced to choose wisely; for example, would you rather have an arsonist, medic, safecracker or demoman? The choices are there and a strange Team Fortress-esque team ethic is established.

Now it's time to take over the city.

Establishments such as brothels, banks and the like are all gathered under a certain group. These are presented through a beautifully detailed world map, which looks a lot like a model created by architects before knocking up a major development.



To claim these establishments, you need to clear out the existing gang. Afterwards, the game will quite happily force you to hit a hooker with a golf club or headbutt a baker in order to intimidate the owner into choosing you as a running mate.

I didn't really know how comfortable I was with this, but then they're mafia, so I suppose it's part of the stereotypical job description.

You'll be impressed by the huge brothel hidden behind a bakery, might I add.

If the player takes every one of these fronts in a certain set, a bonus is given, from double profits to brass knuckles or body armour. The twist is that if you lose one, you lose associated privileges. This also applies to rival gangs. A strange chess-like game develops, where gangs, including yourself, can bomb a facility to take it out of action and thus undermine any extras you gain.

When taking control, gang members and simple footmen collide and it's quite easy to lose your assets, unless you join in the fight yourself - something you'll find yourself doing on a regular occasion as it's much easier and cheaper.



Basically, in all situations and regardless of the amount of protection you have, it feels like you're the only effective person. I'm not sure I like this. I mean, there's plenty of chances to do that in other games but people in your gang should be effective at all times - here, they just end up getting wounded.

Then there's the gang murders. After doing a job for a random bloke on the street (each with a good story), they'll give you a lead. You then have to kill them in a specific way, from throwing them over a balcony to shooting them in the face. This is actually pretty fun.

However, what interested me the most in this game is the parallels drawn with a similar and arguably better game of the same genre - Scarface: The World is Yours.

The Scarface route, despite defying the film by carrying on after events, seemed to strike a much better balance than The Godfather II despite having lower capabilities. The concept of taking over fronts and then defending them against rival gangs was not as complex, yet it was still manageable. It's easy to find yourself completely baffled by The Godfather II, even if it dishes out help in spades.



What is absolutely indefensible is EA's annoying online system; you need to create a separate account to get yourself online. Given that many people are paying for an Xbox subscription service which is already good enough for everyone to slip in and out of online gameplay, this creation by the company seems unnecessary and confusing.

Much like a lot of the game, I suppose. I was immediately engaged in the action but the niggles kept building up. When it's not pointing you to where you need to go (almost like stabilisers), you simply don't know what to do. It's, well...too easy. You die, but it seems to be out of the encouraged bravado that you are, in fact, invincible.

Still, the dialogue is believable, the taking over of businesses for bonuses is great and it's still thoroughly playable. The graphics are quite impressive, yet it still lacks that finer detail. Then again, character models remain true to the actors in the film, giving it that added level of authenticity.

It looks like it won't be until the third incarnation that this series gets a memorable title. Perhaps that one will follow the events of the film a little better, too, instead of jumping in halfway through.

7/10

Matt Gardner