In The Godfather: The Game, you played as Aldo Trapani, who rose as lowly associate to the Don of New York City. Now, four years later in The Godfather II, you play as a soldier to the Corleone family, named Dominic. The game is introduced in Cuba, where a party is going in Havana. The game play starts when riots begin to break out in the streets, and you have to escort Michael Corleone, Aldo, and Fredo to the airport. On arrival, Aldo is shot by a sniper (killed instantly), and the rest escape to the plane. When Michael realizes he has no Don, he appoints Dominic to the famous title.
By the time you are appointed Don, and running around in New York, you’ll know most of the controls. R1 to shoot, L1 to aim, R3 for cover, and L3 to crouch. In New York though, you’ll get to do special moves such as executions, grabs, leans, and slams. You’ll mostly learn all the moves in New York.
The graphics in the game are okay at best, with the greatest looking items being the cars. Fire in the game is horrendous, sometimes floating in mid air, and other times just looking bad. Character models are good, but most civilians in the city look exactly the same, except with different hair, and sometimes different accents. I believe I ran into the same woman at least ten times throughout the game, and that could have been in one city. Overall, the graphics are better then Pandemic’s Mercenaries 2, but not as good as Grand Theft Auto 4.
Game play is the best aspect of The Godfather II, beside the story of the game. The best parts of the game are when you get to rumble with another family, if that’s going to a business and shooting the place up, or killing a made man. If you want to take out a business owned by another family, you have to get in there, kill all the guards, and influence the owner into giving you the racket. You can either beat the guy until he gives in, or find a weak point, such as pointing a firearm, leaning him off a building, or shooting him. For killing a made man, you have to do favours for civilians in the city. If you’re looking to kill a made man, always look for the civilian with a key above their head. The missions you do for people are sort of bland, going from murdering, robbing, or sabotaging a place. Though killing a made man is worth those flat missions, because it’s fun to do. When you’re assigned to kill the guy, you are told how to finish him off. One was that I had to beat the made man, but finish him with a smash from a bottle.
Cover works great in the game, just run up to a wall, press R3, and you latch on. The game also features an auto-aim system, which is very smooth, and easy to adjust to.
Another game play aspect is your crew, which you build up until the very last mission of the game. You can have three crew members follow you around, and it really helps. I’d suggest having a medic with you at all times, as some businesses you need to take have a lot of guards.
One of the Godfather II’s coolest features is the new, Don View, in which you can view the entire city in 3D, and see what’s going on. It’s a very easy tool in the game, where you can bomb a business, take one over, or defend one of yours.
The cities in The Godfather II range from okay, to bland. New York feels relatively small to a city such as Liberty City, but has enough space to look around for a couple of hours. Later in the game, you can unlock two new cities, Havana, Cuba, and Miami, Florida. Havana is in my opinion, the best city, because it’s the most different. Unfortunately, all cities are plagued by the same citizens. What I mean is, the same character models (look in the review for more information). One problem is that they have the same missions in every city, so after a while, it gets a bit boring.
Another good feature for The Godfather II is the story, which is interesting until end. Of course, there will be some backstabbing, but who doesn’t expect that in The Godfather? Characters in the story are interesting, though in cut-scenes they almost look dead.
Online could have had more work, but it’s fun nonetheless. The online modes are basic in what you can find in today’s games, with death matches, team death matches, etc. The online portion is a nice little addition to the game.
Overall, The Godfather II is a fun game. When the graphics get you down, the gameplay backs it up. Even though the online mode is just an “okay” addition, the single player campaign is definitely worth a look at. It’s a game where even though it has it’s faults, it’s got something to back them up. For The Godfather fans, this is an offer you can’t refuse (was that too cliche?).
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
Graphics range from decent to horrible. Innovative gameplay elements and an interesting story. |
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