One of the game’s unique aspects is that you can put the muscle on local
businesses to extort protection money. Business owners will not usually give in
to your demands, so you’ll often have to do a little “persuading”. This involves
slapping the owner around a bit or trashing parts of the business until the
owner complies. When he or she does the shop will generate a nice little stream
of income for you. If you read the opening of this review, you’ll know that you
can also perform favors for shopkeepers in the form of side missions to win
their loyalty rather than beating it out of them. You need to be careful if the
store is already under the thumb of one of the other New York’s “Five Families”
as you can expect some goons to break in and try to put an end to your
“negotiations”. Some businesses serve as fronts for an illegal operation such as
a gambling den or brothel. If you take over the “business in the back” as well
you can expect even higher levels of income. Some of these are even part of a
network served from a central headquarters and if you can take that down you can
make some serious scratch.
 |
| The family. |
All of this ancillary action is enjoyable, but where the game really shines
is in the story missions. Story missions are marked on your in-game map as they
become available and you can initiate them by going to the designated location.
The missions are a treat for anyone who’s enjoyed the The Godfather movie as
they serve as extension of the events in the film rather than a retread of the
action.
Fighting in the game falls into one of two categories: hand to hand and
gunplay. The fist fighting in the game is well-implemented – you use the left
trigger to lock onto an opponent and the right stick to swing your fists and
throw various punches. The right trigger will cause you to grab your opponent
which allows you to shake him around, slam him into walls or other hard objects,
and even to toss him off of a building or into oncoming traffic. In addition
there are a number execution styles that you can use to off your opponent – such
as snapping his neck – and the game will keep track of the ones you’ve used.
This gives you a grim goal of trying to rub out enemies in every way conceived
of by the game.
Gunfights make use of the same target locking mechanism as had-to-hand
fights. There is also a free-aim mode if you prefer to go at it FPS style, but
this can be tough in some of the larger battles. It’s easy to control the
gunplay but you have to go about it cautiously as it doesn’t take many hits to
take you down. The game allows you to use walls for cover and to lean around
obstacles, which you’ll have to take advantage of if you don’t want to make a
number of trips to the clinic. There are plenty of weapons in the game, from
revolvers to that favorite of mobsters, the Tommy gun. There are also
alternative weapons such as Molotov cocktails and dynamite for when you really
want to make a statement.
The Godfather includes an RPG element in which your success in your missions,
fights, extortions, etc. earns you respect. When you earn enough respect you’ll
be able to level up and add bonus points to skills and attributes such as
marksmanship and health. It’s not as deep a system as you’d find in an RPG, but
the skill boosts will allow you to take on harder missions and take out harder
foes.
The downside to the game is that the play can get repetitive outside of the
missions. There are only a handful of types of businesses in the game and
they’ll tend to blend together as you make your way across town extorting one
after another. The building interiors are recycled by the game and this adds
even more to the feeling of repetition. In this game, if you’ve seen one bakery,
then you’ve literally seen them all. Another issue that may be a factor for some
gamers is that the game gets pretty difficult as you progress to the later
missions. The ability to bring some backup with you alleviates this problem
somewhat, but not completely. A lot of action gamers will appreciate this added
challenge, but if you are an action game newbie or get easily frustrated you may
find yourself walking away from the game.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
85%. It’s not an offer you can’t refuse, but it certainly is one that
you should consider.
« Page 1 of 2
