Review: The Godfather II
Perhaps the best way to begin this review would be to say that games based on a film license, in my mind, can be treated in two ways. The first is to compare the game to the movie — does the plot and overall quality translate into the game well? An example (perhaps the only one) of this would be GoldenEye on the N64- the game was as ridiculously over the top and silly as the film, and retained all of the charm, too. The result was a fantastic game.
GoldenEye was, however, not a great game because of the aspects of the film it borrowed, but because it was a great game first and a movie game second. This brings me to the second way of looking at a movie game (and my preferred angle): to ignore the film completely. A game can be judged on its own merits, and this is precisely what I’ll be doing in my review of the Godfather II.
Although it may be a movie game, The Godfather II’s plot deviates from that of the film. Your character, Dominic, is made Don of his own family and sets about trying to control all of the crime rackets in three cities: Havana, Miami, and New York. Dominic, who looks however you want him to, is then caught in the mobster business and goes about taking down all the other families by taking their rackets and killing their Dons. By controlling “crime rings”, the player can gain bonuses, like extra ammo and bulletproof vests, for their families.
The game can be described as part third-person shooter, part sandbox, part strategy game. In order to take over rackets, you can shoot your way in and terrorise the owner to take it from the other families, or you can just send your family members to do it for you. You recruit family members with specific skills to help you: wire cutters, demolitions exerts, and medics are a few of the types. You can buy upgrades for them and yourself with the huge amount of money that you’ll get from owning crime rackets. The “Made men” can be used to attempt a takeover of a racket without you even being there (hence the strategy aspect) or added to your personal squad to make the shootouts a little easier.
The shooting in the game is, unfortunately, burdened by an overbearing lock-on system. The manual aiming is awful, so one is forced to rely on the lock-on system that repeatedly locks on to targets that are miles away, ignoring the guard that’s about to take you out with a shotgun right in front of you. That’s not to say it’s difficult, though, as most of the weapons will kill with just one or two shots, and your medic will revive you an infinite amount of times if you get taken down. The AI isn’t too great, either- enemies will most of the time stand out in the open and let themselves be mowed down by my overpowered Magnum.
The weird thing about this aspect of the game is that it’s strangely fun. When you break it down, the combat is horrible, but in practice, it’s definitely enjoyable. The sheer power behind the weapons you wield is satisfying, which in a way makes one feel more like a powerful mob boss. The best thing about the combat, though, is that it’s relaxing. This is a shooter that lets you breeze through without feeling taxed. Though many might find the lack of a challenge to be boring, this reviewer took it as a nice break.
Another thing about the game is the size of the three cities. New York and Havana are so small that most places of interest are genuinely within sight of each other, and Miami, though bigger, is nowhere near as big as most open world cities. In total, the three cities would probably only be as big as the first island in GTA: Vice City. Again, I found this ‘fault’ to be, oddly, a positive. In bigger sandbox games, not being able to find a car (or a fast one) to get to a location was a chore; here, one can just sprint to the destination, and if it happens to be a long way away, there’s always a car parked somewhere on the way. Again, an asset that’s probably a fault, but in my eyes it simply makes the game less frustrating. Unfortunately, something that does frustrate is the actual driving itself, which is worse even than GTA. Cars handle like a shopping trolly through some mud.
The Godfather II, while not devoid of faults, is a solid game in its own right. The strategy aspects are handled well, and being a Don is certainly fun. The shooting and sandbox aspects, while obviously needing polish, aren’t bad. Obviously, comparing this to one of the best movies ever made is a bad idea- so I’m not. The Godfather II is a good game hampered by a few flaws — average graphics, poor auto-aim, bad driving, and sub-par voice acting — but when mashed together with some good ideas, the result is a decent game. I’d recommend renting this game before you sink into your wallet, though; unless the multiplayer modes keep you coming back for more, there’s not much to do once you’re done with the story.
