Xbox 360
The Godfather II is one of the most perfect films ever made; It's an elegant, complex and thoughtful meditation on the corruption of power packed with career defining performances. Now imagine for a second that it was in fact directed by Michael Bay who decided to replace the subtle performances and clever dialogue with car chases, shoot outs and Nic Cage, and you'll be no where near close to just how much of a molestation of a classic film this game is.
The Godfather II, courtesy of those marketing execs pretending to be game developers at EA, is not just a pillaging of the film, but a shameless rip-off of GTA without any of the style or substance that made that game good. You play as Dominic, a character-less minion who has been challenged to completely ignore the plot of the film and go about taking over businesses in Liberty City, Vice City (oh, sorry I mean New York and Miami) and Cuba. These locations are open plan and you're free to walk and drive around at your leisure while deciding what businesses to control. If you control a collection of related businesses then you'll gain bonuses such as body armour or extra ammo which helps you to decide on your own objectives.
You'll spend most of the game driving from location to location, with sluggish, simple driving mechanics completly devoid of fun. Then going through the identical pattern of entering the establishment, shooting all the other families goons and threatening the owner until he promises to pay you money every day. The intimidation of these owners is initially fun as you attempt to find their weak spots, however after a while it becomes a chore. This process of taking over businesses, and later defending them from far too frequent attacks, is pretty much the entire game and it gets very dull and repetitive, very quickly.
There is little enemy artificial intelligence (AI) to speak of, instead they stand around shooting until you pump them full of lead with the boring, GTA rip-off style, combat system. Friendly AI is equally flaccid, your own mobsters running in circles, failing to follow orders and getting into frequent fights with the police for no reason. The game is also very ugly, with exceptionally dated graphics, awful lighting and jerky animation, it looks quite simply amateurish.
This game has also barely evolved since the first Godfather title released four years ago. It involved exactly the same process of intimidating shop owners and fighting other families and it's only the racket bonuses, new locations and team mates that stand out as anything new. As such this game deserves very little praise from whatever fun can be derived from its mediocre mechanics as they are pretty much a copy and paste of what we played back on the PS2.
This is lazy design at its worst, all inspiration has been lifted, nay stolen, from other games and is so artistically lacking in merit that to be honest it deserves a lower score than it gets for its sheer lack of creativity. Moreover it is an insult to anyone who was involved in making the film and pretty much spits on its legacy. Worst of all is how much this game will sell thanks mainly to EA's excessive marketing budget. It's clear more money has actually gone into advertising this sham of a title than actually developing it, and the fact it's going to sell very well anyway is a depressing indication of the direction the main stream gaming industry is going in. Not only does this license deserve much better, but so do we.
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