The Godfather (PS2)

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== HISTORY==
The Godfather was a film released in 1978 that stared some great actors like James Caan and Robert Duvall which all did voice overs for their characters in this game. Electronic Arts being one of the biggest video game developers and publishers got the license to make the game and started the project in 2004. Unfortunately Marlon Brando died later that year ...
...use another actor to do the rest of the voice over although you do not notice a difference. Many films to games have turned out to be very bad and have only sold really to do with the license and its fans of the film, so please read on and see if this is another one of those or a rare moment where the game shines as brightly along side its films counterpart.

==STORY==
The story follows closely to the film's plot, letting you ... more

Game Info

Genre = Third Person Shooter
Developer = Electronic Arts
Publisher = Electronic Arts
Players = 1 Player
Online = No
Age = 18+
Memory Usage = 165KB Minimum
Released = March 2006

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== HISTORY==
The Godfather was a film released in 1978 that stared some great actors like James Caan and Robert Duvall which all did voice overs for their characters in this game. Electronic Arts being one of the biggest video game developers and publishers got the license to make the game and started the project in 2004. Unfortunately Marlon Brando died later that year only complete a small percentage for his part in the game so that had to use another actor to do the rest of the voice over although you do not notice a difference. Many films to games have turned out to be very bad and have only sold really to do with the license and its fans of the film, so please read on and see if this is another one of those or a rare moment where the game shines as brightly along side its films counterpart.

STORY

The story follows closely to the film's plot, letting you play out main events or by watching threw cut-scenes but instead of casting your role as one of the film's characters, you are put into the shoes of a new member of the family.

The game begins with a member of the Corleone Family being killed; this person is your characters fathers. This happens to you when only a little boy, the story then jumps many years ahead to wedding of your mothers, where she asked if you could be looked after and brought into the gang to be protected. At this point you get to create your characters facial features as well as the body and the clothes you wear, so the Don sends one of his many men to find you which is in a ally way in a bit of trouble. He helps you out by fight the 2 men off you and then the game introduces you to the controls and the basics of fighting.

As the story unfolds you meet more of the films characters and do varied missions as you progress up the ranks from "Outsider" to even "Don of New York" while you battle it out with 4 other families that run different locations of the game.

GRAPHICS

When I first seen a trailer of this game I was surprised at how good the graphics were not only because of how life like the characters looked to the actors that played in the film but also because that I find most developers do not put enough money and skill into the it as they know they will make money from the films title and by spending less they will earn more. Now playing the game I can see how much time they put into the game to make it look as real as possible with some of the best graphics I've seen.

Not being a fan of the film and only watching it once I still could tell which characters I noticed from the film as well as others even though I did not know there names but they being so detailed from the lines and curves that create their faces were spot on. You could even tell their emotions from them if they were cheerful, sad or angry and at times I did think I was watching the film and not a computer generated game, even my create a character did not look out of place as with most games they are not detailed to the usual standards.

The streets are littered with people and cars doing the daily business which adds to the realism of the busy cities, as well as the real rubbish of newspapers blowing about. All the people will look different that you see about although you will come across some shopkeepers and pedestrians that have been re-used. The vehicles in the game are not well details as the games set in the 1940-1950s there were not much design to the cars then and most of them do look very similar but the damage modeling is gone very well from the smoke and flames that burst out off ones it taken to much damage which results in an explosion that engulfs the car and others around it.

As you play the game you get to visit many shops and venues like butchers, barbers, bakers to bars, hotels and warehouses. Even though these places are well designed with even objects you can brake like the windows, vases, cash registers and so on but once you seen one place say for example a hotel the next hotel will most be the same layout.

SOUND/MUSIC

With other games in this genre you get a wide Varity of music through the game to listen to not so much here, which the only most obviously reason is that as its set in and around the 1950s, any music would be out of place. Although it is fairly quiet you do get the godfathers main theme song playing at times or some other soft melody that fits in just perfect.

The sound is reasonable from the many guns that have a unique noise that sounds realistic to the loud boom from cars that explosion that sends you flying back. Then there's the car sounds and even the footsteps sound that alter as run along different surfaces. The main thing that shines here though in this section is the voice acting as I said before, most of the actors from the film did the voice overs for the characters which really adds to the game and makes it more genuine and fun to play the game. Not only that all the main people in the game are voiced but even every single person on the street you can talk too.

CONTROLS

The controls are pretty easy to use and to remember, there's no slowing down of the pressing of the button to the action on screen as you get with some games. The basics are shown to you at the beginning and you are given hints of other moves/actions through the game.

The fighting itself is done using the right analogue similar to the EA boxing game series "Fight Night….", at first I found it a bit difficult and thought the idea did not fit into the game, but not after long I was on top form and throwing numerous attacks and the combos seem to follow much better this way. So it was an excellent idea to go with using the analogue stick to fight instead of usually a boring tradition of button bashing of 1 or 2 face buttons.

The vehicles control/handling are rather good apart from they can be slightly over sensitive but you will also get use to that. The controls are remarkably high with the only other bad point I can recall is that when you in a shoot out with a big mob it can be difficult to find the correct weapons you want to change to and you can end up being shot a lot or using the wrong weapon. It would have been better if they assigned the different types of weapons to the d-pad as there are melees, projectiles and guns which can take some time scrolling thought them.

GAMEPLAY

The games allows you to rise up the ranks of the family, become more important member and gaining respect from not only the other gangs around you but also the people you pas by in the streets. To do this you are giving simple missions to do at first like collect some money that's shopkeepers owe to the family. By intimidating them as they call it, you smash up there shop, threaten customers and even get you hands a bit dirty by throwing a few punches his way. As long as you don't over do it as they fight back, that they be so scared they give you money to stop and then you will receive a weekly income from them.

As you taken over more shops, you come to those that earn more money so you be expected to be more skillful as there be rival gangs in the buildings, around the street protecting there businesses.

As well as these legitimate businesses, you do get some that are hiding, concealed illegal activities like gambling, fake money print, underground fights and weapon selling. Some you can just enter by walking in but others need to have the backdoor unlocked before by taken over the shop serving as a front. Ones taken over this illegal activities which they call Rackets you will earn more money then usual and there are even warehouse to take over but be warned as these will be crawling with enemies packed with heavy firepower. These missions are the hardest to do and are probably best to leave until later when you some heavy stopping power of your own.

As well as all this different types of places you can take over, it is fun but can get repetitive and have the main missions to do which are more developed and well done as they mostly scenes from the film, which can contain fight, shoot out, drive-bys to car chases and even the 1 occasion where you play a bit of a stealth part. Although this plays out well and is a great mission, if they added the of this to the game then it would totally chance it but as there is just the one then it's nice to have a bit of a verity to the game.

What I liked I lot about this game that it has a small amount of RPG element to it from the point of improving your stats. From every action you do in the game gains you respect from it either killing someone, exporting businesses and completed missions. All earning you a different amount, where as using a baseball bat instead of a gun will earn you a lot more for the kill. With you gaining respect you will level up, that gives you an skill point that can be spent on improving 1 of a few categories that including, fighting(more damage + health), shooting (quicker reload + faster aim) and more. Each one can be upgraded 10 levels taken you to the max overall level of 60 as there are 6 in all.

With all this money you get from your weekly income, you will need to spend it. There's the many safe houses doted around New York which ones purchased you can than save your game there along with the more expensive pads will have lots of ammo and guns to restock on. You can also buy weapons/ammo that you're low on from dealers that are located around the place and some of these people will sell you upgrades for your guns which does com in very helpful in harder missions but of course will cost you a lot to acquire.

What I also enjoyed was the execute moves which you can do to anyone that has low life as long as your standing close enough. There moves are like the quick kills from the punisher game (for those that have played it), although not as violent. Each one of theses is performed by using different weapons, either a bat that will take a few swipes at the head of your rivals, or pistil will result in a bullet to their back and another one to there head or so on. There are many of theses, some that don't even use a weapons and just your hands combined with the scene around you, I let you figure theses out yourself. Not only does it look cool and fits in with the aggressive mop scene but also by performing these actions you will gain more respect than a normal kill and also use less bullets up.

Although the game can get a bit repetitive, if you mix the main missions up with taking over business and taken down the other 4 rival families you will have get fun and at times I found it can get quite addictive. You find its good know that the cars although old fashion they are still good to drive and its feels stylish when hand braking around corners, when its gets busy on the roads as it does its, you can use police sirens or a horn on a car and the traffic will more out of the way, as many games in this genre does not have this and works very well here.

REPLAY-VALUE

The replay value is very high as not only you get to take over many types of business, warehouses, rackets and so on you also get other things like hitman missions where you most kill some member of another family that is causing you trouble, you are also giving a bonus in money/respect if you kill them in a particular way like using a melee weapon, throwing them off a bridge or a head shot.

There are also banks located around to which is a get way to earn to money as you can rob them, by shooting your way in and out. This can be very difficult but well worthy if you can stay alive as the police chase you to your safe house where you can stash the cash.

Each time you load you your game you can have the chance of buying new clothes and also changing the appearance of your characters face, I found this excellent as each time I changed him I make him look a bit older with winkles, scars and pimples; so it seemed as if was ageing as I progressed through the game. You can also unlock film clips by collecting hidden film reels

I would probably say the main storyline is quite short and could take about a week to complete although with out doing any of the side missions you may not get much money to spend on upgrades and it would be hard to complete the game.

But if you mix up the main missions and also doing all the other thing (some that I've not mentioned) along the way which is well worth it to get the upgraded guns. I did this and it toke me 30hours of gameplay which was about 3 weeks of playing or it could be a lot longer depending on if you play daily or not.

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== BUY OR NOT TO BUY==
Along as you like this type of genre and you're of an age over 18 or more then I don't think it matters if you're a fan of the film or now or even seen it. It will last a good amount of time, very fun to play and is worth the usually amount for a new game.
""One of the best films to games made""
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SC ORE & SUMMARY

Graphics - 8/10, very good graphics with fantastic detail the characters.
Sound/Music - 9/10, outstanding voice acting with good sound and music.
Controls - 9/10, wonderful controls with character and vehicles.
Gameplay - 9/10, first-class, fun gameplay that fits in with the film.
Replay Value - 9/10, quite a short store but has loads to do besides it.

FINAL RATING - 8.8/10

Amazon.co.uk = £13.99
Play.com = £11.99
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We bsite Links
www.godfathergame.com
www.ea.com/official/godfather/godfather/us/in dex.jsp
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T hanks for reading. Eddie  

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