the grunter

New York, 1945.

A young couple chat on the streets of Little Italy, a nearby store explodes and killing the couple. The man from the couple works for the Corleone family, and he promised his girl that he is going to take care of some troubled kid who is getting his ass beat in a back alley. That is pretty much the premise of The Godfather: The Game, sorry if I missed or remembered wrong on the details, I could not bring my full attention to the 2006 low res pre-rendered FMV sequence.

Anyway, not much of an opening I know. Especially got a game adapted from one of the most popular movies of all time. But this is a story about a guy who starts off as a no-name runner doing Fedex runs for the mob family, eventually climbs his way up to the Don of NYC. You cannot argue with this plot – If you’ve watched The Godfather II you’d know that’s how the Don became the Don.

For most people, the fact that this is a movie-based game already sets an alarm, and the fact that it is a GTA-style sandbox game quickly sets another alarm. But read on to find out why this game deserves your attention.

Keep in mind that this review is written based on a playthrough on the PC version of the game, The Godfather: The Game is also available on Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP.

The Good

• Faithful implementation of elements from the movie, from the props on the streets, characters, resemblance and their voice/accent. Some would say it’s a little bit much to have the “Godfather” theme song playing every time you do anything even if it’s not significant (e.g. getting into a vehicle), but to me if it hasn’t bothered me after 10 hours of play time, it probably did not bother me too much
• Character creation gives good flexibility yet keeps your character’s looks consistent with the rest of the major and minor characters in the Godfather universe
• Creative ways to win over territories for a sandbox-style game. For example by beating the crap out of a barber shop and having the owner scared shitless, you then “earn his respect” and will then receive weekly protection money from him

(I need your respect, NOW!)

• Each method of attack has its unique way of finishing opponents, you have your classic “choke until head turns purple”, as well as mod-style kills such as the “looking away with one hand held up to prevent brain matters from exploding onto my face” pistol execution
• Even more creativity when engaging in a combat. Being able to grab your opponent and drag him/her around really allows some improvised finishes. One time, I was battling some dudes in the back room of a bakery where the bake oven door was open. I got the last remaining guy in a choke hold and I was going to just slam his head against the brick wall to end him. Then I saw the glare of the flames from the oven..

I dragged his ass across the room to the front of the oven, leaned him against it… and pushed. Boom! A bright flare blinded the room for a quick second, then the game congratulated me for earning a bonus by using the oven

• The best part is I have not been “guided” or scripted to do such a thing. It was simply a case of “Hmm, I wonder if that could work. Holy crap it does!!” and it was a wonderful surprise. Most sandbox games do not let you try things out like that, or you either get bored of not being able to do things that you thought would make sense. If I’m fighting a guy on a roof top, why can’t I have the option to shove him off the building?
• For a storyline that focuses on a guy who never existed anywhere in the original plot, the writers of “The Godfather” did a nice job of fitting him in all the important scenes and plot lines (You get to be the one who stacks the gun in the toilet for Michael, and to help putting the horse head in the bed of the old guy who is dumb enough to refuse the Godfather) so that it does not feel forced. I have been constantly convinced that there could actually be such a guy in this great movie

(Not so green and peaceful by the time I’m 85% done in the game)

The Bad

• What’s the point of naming your character if his name is never referenced in the entire game? Everyone calls you either “Hey you” or “Hey kid”
• Threatening on store/underground business owners for weekly protection money is cool, but the game doesn’t allow you to earn money in any other way after you’ve completed all the main and side missions. Maybe my play style was weird – Instead of working my way through claiming all the town’s businesses and territories first, I decided to complete all the main/side missions first because I wanted to level my character up by earning “Respect” (completing missions earn you lots of it, and bonus if you meet some special criteria e.g. Make the hit with a single shot in the head). Long story short, at the end I still struggled to claim these turfs and in order to buy stronger guns, I was literally wandering on the streets for an entire week (in game) to get my weekly pay.. and there’s nothing fun to do in the city besides looking for 100 hidden “movie reels” which didn’t really award you with real movie footages. Oh and, don’t ask why I couldn’t have just start shooting pedestrians to take their cash – They drop $50 bucks if you’re lucky, it earns you a wanted level and the Tommy gun I wanted cost $550000
• Attack controls are horrible, I don’t get why it is so hard to get it right in all sandbox games like Mafia or this game, can’t they just copy off GTA or Saint’s Row? Every FPS (First Person Shooting) game nowadays copy the Halo control scheme, and I don’t see anybody complaining about that
• AI is straight broken at times, other times really good (it’s not easy at all running dudes down with your car, they dodge like Neo in The Matrix), members of the other families usually leave you alone if you don’t show up with a weapon. But sometimes they will pull their guns on you for no good reason, such as after a NIS of me shaking hands with the store owner for claiming a business, or when we run into each other in the stairs. Very strange

The ???

• Why do I have to go to one location just to buy one type of ammo? I am the Don’s right hand man and I don’t get these things delivered to me in a car?
• I kinda saw this coming, but my character blended in the Godfather canon extremely well throughout the plot until the very end, when my guy suddenly became Michael Corleone. I am very interested in seeing how they go form here in “The Godfather II” (I have it on Xbox 360)
• I wish that in real life, all traffic on the road will move to the slow lane whenever I honk once
• Cops in this game definitely need to learn a thing or two from the Liberty City cops, I have been arrested once in my playthrough, and have never been killed by cops, even under a max wanted level (granted, entering a safe house drops the level from 5 police emblems to 2, which is nothing unless you count a cop blowing a whistle when he sees you as a danger)
• The last promotion is pretty much useless.. there’s nothing left to buy and there’s no one left to fight you

Lastly

I like this game quite a fair bit, and yes I am probably saying that because I am both a fan of “The Godfather” movies and sandbox games. The game brings me back to many good moments in the movie, yet not abusing licensed material so much that any sense of freedom and flexibility in the story is neutered, which is what a good sandbox style game should offer. I was utterly surprised that I ended up logging 27+ hours in this game. To put things in perspective, The Godfather: The Game is no GTA or Saint’s Row, but it’s as much fun as Mafia, if not better.

(Review 10 of 52, 2011)