Following the plot of the first film, this has you as a foot soldier of the Corleones(and you have to avenge your father), and you work your way through the ranks, take over NYC(that is half-heartedly recreated, with locations looking essentially the same) and become the new Don. This Grand Theft Auto rip-off is a one-trick pony. You drive(with mostly adequate controls... and forget about drive-bys, only in a few of the handful of cool, memorable of the missions do you get a partner in the car who will do so when he wants... they don't even import the thing from Enter the Matrix where you can tell him when, and he can only do it for a while before having to rest for a little bit) in a mere half a dozen different cars(I wish I was kidding; and only one kind is fast, and four others are moderate, the rest are useless; and none of them break in an noteworthy manner), you extort(businesses, warehouses and transport hubs... you find the owner, tell him you want to take over, and he'll either agree right away or you have to smash his store and/or threaten to beat him up(or go ahead and do so) until the bar reaches the green portion(not the red, or he'll say no... meaning you can push someone beyond the point where they will agree to do something for you; I guess the developers realize something the US military won't), and be careful not to kill him(this gets old really quickly); those are the only ones who have faces that look different, too, these that you only see once per person... goons have two appearances, and you can only tell who they work for by the color of their suit), and you shoot. That last one is a big part of this, and it's the most painful. You are usually forced to use a target-lock(you can't fire around corners or from cover(only by pressing the trigger can you ready yourself to, and they pop up and down quickly) without it(also, they come from several angles, so you'll often be caught with your back or side to someone who slaughters you), and when it works, it's your best bet for getting critical hits on those pesky foes that run around), and it is partially broken. Examples? It'll go onto a civilian when there are perfectly fitting *armed* opponents around(and you can't tell it to "move on to the next possible one"), it'll stick to ones that are far away and/or hidden instead of ones out in the open, and worst of all, when you move it around(yes, apparently they figured that you'd want to go for knees and the like, instead of eliminating them quickly... it doesn't make them easier to get when they're temporarily slowed down, as depressing as that is to realize and type out), it can aim over their heads(*WHY* would you ever need that?!?) and you can empty clips at their face... with every bullet missing! There are few situations you can get past without at least a certain amount of luck(meaning you can complete in ten minutes what has just eluded you for hours purely from chance). This goes back and forth between excessively challenging bordering on impossible to piece of cake. There is nearly no consequence to anything. Dead? Don't worry, you lose nothing other than your most recent progress(you don't even start over on your objectives, any you completed are still done if you reached a checkpoint). In jail? They don't even take your ammo(one nice thing is that you can't carry a lot of it, forcing you to strategize). You can restock that at any safehouse, that has all four(! No, that's seriously it) guns(a .45 pistol, a .38 snubnose revolver, a magnum, and the essentially useless Tommygun(it eats bullets, and few hit anything)), molotovs and dynamite(you can also get bombs... no clue what they're for). To complete this, you have to take over all rackets and the like(only once, no one reclaims them), and blow up the other compounds(two buildings per, and you have to get them both). You can keep playing. There's no reason to, since unlike the game it steals from there is absolutely nothing to do in this once you have. The graphics are fine(except for the many glitches, including doors that open weirdly), but like everything else in this, they're phoned in(and all cut-scenes are in-engine). Voice acting varies; the stars do well, and slang and accents are more or less there. There is a fighting system, and it's really awkward and tough to use. Those you're up against either run to you and try to take you on(and they are either no trouble or freaking unstoppable), or, well, blast you away(...OK, I'll admit, I might also pull an Indiana Jones in that situation). You start by using MobFace to choose your appearance... well, that one aspect of it... and it's so limited, it barely matters. The length is appropriate, though you'll have tried all there is in this really early on. You relive scenes from the movie, playing an important part in them. Stealth sucks, and is only useful when it's required(same goes for the garrotte wire). The police barely care about you, and getting chased by them just isn't that exciting. I haven't played the GTA franchise(the only thing this has on that is time period) since Vice City, and that one is superior to this in every way. There are four or five years between the two, and yet that one comes out victorious, and it isn't even close. This is why I avoid EA Games. Though I don't know if they always do this, it's happened a lot at their hand, and I hear it has even in titles I haven't tried by them. There is a lot of bloody violence and a little strong language in this. I recommend this to those who have to see it for themselves. 6/10
Review of The Godfather
