The most interesting aspect of the gameplay is the Don's Mode. While cleverly
devised and a great idea, this added level of strategy never really comes
together like it should have. So what is Don Mode? I might be oversimplifying
here, but it basically amounts to a game of Risk played against the game's
backdrops of Cuba, Florida and New York. You'll be given a simple 3D map of
whatever area you are currently in and since your goal is complete criminal
domination, you'll need to decide which resources work best and where, and how
to bring more and more real estate under your control. Icons above the areas in
question belie all kinds of info, and you'll actually need to do some careful
planning throughout the adventure to capture as much of the map as humanly
possible.
As an idea, Don's Mode is pretty close to brilliant. One of the worst things
about GTA: San Andreas on PS2 was a stab at this kind of thing that never worked
out. You could capture blocks of space for your control, but lofty ideals aside,
it made the game play more like a tower defense title than it did and
action/crime game; you were constantly under attack by... everyone… and holding
on to your map space shook out as only a measure of how quickly you could drive
all the way back to your territory and stay under police radar while shooting
rivals. Not so with the Godfather. This mode plays almost exactly like GTA: SA
should have - instead of being forced to drop everything and either attack or
defend bits of the map personally, you can send others to do your dirty work.
This is yet another example of how the game tries to shake off the one guy vs.
everyone feeling found in every GTA game.
If you re-read the first sentence of the last paragraph, you'll see that I
said the IDEA of Don's Mode works. Unfortunately, that is where it begins and
ends… as an idea. Don's Mode wears thin pretty quickly and it doesn't take very
long for the player's opinion on it to sour. While the micromanaging isn't as
evident as it is in the GTA games, the appeal of having a hand in expanding your
empire goes from cool to tedious way too quickly, and by the time you get to the
end of the game, you'll wish you never even saw the maps of your turf. This kind
of makes me think that GTA's singular protagonist is the better of the two
ideas.
The last point worth bringing up is the game's presentation, or lack thereof.
Godfather II doesn't look like it belongs on the 360 or PS3; it doesn't even
look as good as some Wii or PSP games. The character models are blocky, the
cities never go much beyond GTA:III in the looks department and nearly every
texture found in game looks muddy, garbled and just plain ugly. Overlay the
game's appearance on top of unintentionally hilarious and campy dialogue and
some truly poor voice acting and you've got a next-gen game that isn't even
impressive by last gen's standards. It's obvious this game was a rushed product,
and no where is that more evident than in the game's sights and sounds. We all
know EA is capable of so much more than the effort put forth on this one.
When viewed as a whole package, Godfather II doesn't equal the sum of its
parts, or at least the sum of the parts, as they SHOULD have been. Don's Mode
seems like a great idea but it never really works. Upgradeable characters and
hired goons, for better or worse, erase the isolation found in the GTA series.
And if you aren't a fan of the films, the game makes no effort to explain itself
and draw in new players. The fact of the matter is this - Godfather II is a game
dragged down by a rushed schedule and ideas that could have been great if given
a little more time and attention. And the fact that all this stuff should have
added up to a great game drags its overall score down past the point of
recommending it to anyone. I guess there isn't much to do now but wait for some
company to announce plans for an action game based on Tom Hanks and his attempts
to repair a crumbling house.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
47%.
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