Most of the time the player directly controls the main character, called Dominic, from a third-person perspective while driving through urban locales and attacking rival syndicates with guns, dynamite and Molotov cocktails. In form, Godfather II is a hybrid, and not a bad one. The relatively scant dialogue in the game consists mostly of sophomoric locker-room humor laced heavily with profanity but without the wit and subversive charm of a Grand Theft Auto title. Meanwhile, the player builds his own crime family by promoting “made” men, suborning police chiefs, judges and other public officials and taking over crime rings in pursuits like pornography (which allows you to hire armed guards on the cheap) and chop shops (which provide armored cars). As Michael moves his operations to Nevada, he tasks the player with consolidating mafia control of New York, South Florida and Cuba (conveniently leaving Tom Hagen, voiced by Robert Duvall, to stay behind as the player’s consigliere).Ĭonsolidating control means wiping out enemy crime families by taking over their rackets and fronts, killing their soldiers and eventually assaulting and blowing up their compounds. That dream dies quickly, of course, with the player helping guide Michael Corleone out of the city as Fidel Castro’s rebels close in on New Year’s Eve. The game begins with the player’s character as one of the second-tier hoods on the hotel patio in 1958 Havana as Hyman Roth toasts what he believes to be a coming era of mob dominance in Cuba. Given the constraints of the “Godfather” legend, the game does a reasonable job of weaving its nominal story around the events and characters of the second “Godfather” film. You can only hope that the game’s publisher, Electronic Arts, makes up for not spending a few million dollars more on initial development by releasing an extensive downloadable add-on that allows the game to achieve a bit more of its considerable potential. What makes Godfather II so tantalizing is that any player can feel the bones of a great game poking through its hide of mediocrity. The good thing is that I came away wanting more. And a game without memorable challenge is a game without meaningful accomplishment. I enjoyed almost every minute of the roughly 17 hours I took to complete the PC version of the game, which is also available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, yet I never felt seriously challenged in terms of either intellect or dexterity. Here, the “Godfather” tale is merely a sheen, a patina of plot and setting meant only to lend credence to, though never interfere with, the important business of mayhem and building a criminal empire.Īs an action and strategy gangland simulation, Godfather II entices and frustrates, marrying an ambitious, innovative design with a final execution that seems unfinished in both quality and size. From the points of view of narrative, drama and emotional evolution, there is little, if anything, a game could hope to add to Mario Puzo’s universe.įortunately, the Godfather II game does not even try in those ways. Making any sort of interactive entertainment out of a story as inexorably character-driven as the Corleone family saga, and as revered as the second “Godfather” film, is bound to seem like little more than an invitation to ridicule. There may be no way truly to succeed with a game called The Godfather II.
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