Mike Olsen, Creative Director, Gameplay/Player Mechanics/Scoring & Rewards
discusses weapons in The Godfather The Game.
1. Name a few of the major weapons in The Godfather The Game.
There are five classes of weapons in The Godfather The Game starting with your
bare knuckles (these are often the only intimidation tool you’ll need) to melee
weapons (bludgeon your opponents with crushing blows using baseball bats and
lead pipes) to stranglers (sneak up on your opponent and garrote him from behind
feeling his heartbeat in the controller) to an arsenal of firearms (ranging from
the .38 Snub Nose - wielded primarily by beat cops patrolling the streets of NYC
to the legendary Tommy Gun - wielded by the highest ranking mobsters throughout
the city) and of course the heavy explosives (molotovs, dynamite and time bombs
used to take out mobsters in quantity, blow safes/vaults and if necessary blow
up an entire building).
Each firearm also has three upgrade levels that are purchasable through Black
Market Merchants spread throughout the world. They aren’t cheap, but are well
worth the investment. The firearm categories include revolvers, pistols,
magnums, shotguns and Tommy Guns.
2. What research went into the creation of these weapons? Did you watch any
movies besides The Godfather?
We did a ton of research including watching The Godfather and other films as
well as online examination (particularly for our modified firearms) and even
went as far as going to the shooting range ourselves to wield of few of the
firearms used in game…during our motion capture shoots we even rented a Thompson
Submachine Gun and fired off blanks to get real teeth-chattering shooting motion
for our character as you see depicted in the film(s).
3. What’s your favorite weapon, and why?
My favorite weapon is the Level 3 Shotgun: The Street Sweeper. It is a modified
shotgun with a cylindrical clip that holds10 shells (allowing for fewer reloads)
and fires like an automatic firearm (mowing down anything in its path). With a
high Shooting skill, you’ll have very few problems with this gun in your
hand…just be sure to keep plenty of ammo on hand.
4. Any tips on handling a firearm?
Firearms are most useful when trying to take over larger venues (warehouses,
transport hubs and rival family compounds), but they are also a useful tool for
“negotiating.” Using the Pressure Point Targeting system you can take aim at
your opponents “pressure points” and shoot to wound rather than kill. You can’t
extort from a dead merchant or offer a dead cop a bribe so rather than take aim
at his head and eliminate your target with one pull of the trigger, you can
instead take aim at a knee or groin to immobilize your opponent…or when you
become more adept you can also shoot to disarm your opponents by firing at their
shooting shoulder and then finish them off up close and personal (the optimal
way to earn respect).
Increase your shooting skill to get more precision with your firearms, purchase
gun upgrades for more firepower, increase your Street Smarts skill to increase
your explosives carry limit and purchase safehouses to keep your ammo stocked.
5. What’s the best weapon for long range aiming? Short range?
The modified 1H firearms (Saturday Night Special and Assassins Pistol) are best
for long range accuracy and while the Shotgun(s) are the best firearms for close
range I always like to switch to my bare hands...hand-to-hand kills generate
more respect which is the key to The Godfather world.
