Ahh a childhood favourite, I was pleased to see that this was NOT worse than what I had remembered. As you can tell, I might be, honestly I most likely am, biased towards this game. The Godfather is a movie that I watched after playing this game and still loved, my top 3 for sure, I just can't seem to find holes in that movie and that's important because this game basically follows that story. So a video game on one of my most favourite films, if not the most favourite, and one I've played when I was little? Of course I'm a little biased to say the least but I'll try to be a bit more objective.
Let's start with the visuals, it's serviceable. I don't know what it is but the faces look so terrifying for the main characters such as Vito Corleone, it's like so uncanny how it moves and stuff, it was revolutionary back then sure but looks sort of terrifying and odd to me, especially when talking. Faces feel less like faces and more like a flat face-shaped object with a flat texture on top, I mean that's what it is but it is very un-immersive. It's not bad but might be considered horrible by some, and I'd say rightfully so. Thankfully every other character is ok like the gangsters or your own characters. I had some buggy visuals like eyes popping out of the eye bags a little, weird mouth movements but that's it. I find it funny how the game handles interactions though, Don Vito has the same animation as Tom Hagen does when you talk to him and I find that funny. I think some Corleone gangsters talk with that animation as well, a bit hunched and then moving their arms. Anyways, this game has some pretty cool animations. I don't mean the quality but rather the variety. Truly well done job from those guys, they didn't give the best quality but they gave so much that it's immersive in that sense. For example, when interrogating someone your character can put his hands up in a fighting stance, grab the other guy, slap them or hold their throat and threaten them. All this variation just adds to the experience. The monotonous designs of the rival gangsters is contrasted wonderfully by the different shop owners and racket owners. I felt like most were different. They had different voices from time to time, different clothes and surprisingly different body and faces as well. I really appreciated that, felt like I was going to a new place instead of an old one. The dialogue is kind of funny sometimes and quite cool when talking with these shop keepers. It's not masterful, deep stuff. Just some cool gangsta shit kinda thing. I love it, fulfills my fantasy. Cars look okay but they don't have translucency, so you can't see who's inside. Original movie scenes are obviously not done justice with these graphics and subpar animations. The gangsters look so similar I think there's only two types, a thin one and a fat one. That's it, they wear different colored inner shirts and that's all the variety in visuals. Animations for execution and the variety are amazing I'd say. You'll have fun killing people in different ways and trying out different weapons for executions and stuff.
Now for the sound. The main issue I have is the music, surprisingly, it's just so much of the same thing. It takes the main Godfather theme and repeats it on and on and on and has some variations of it. If there's like 20 tracks, 12 are the Godfather theme and its variations and those are played most of the time. I'm not looking up how many tracks there are and finding out exactly, I'm just giving a rough idea. The dialogue delivery apart from Tom Hagen is above average. I had fun listening to stuff but it wasn't because the dialogue was great or the delivery was great, it was just a combination of everything. If I'm being objective, it's only above average but I liked it, I'd say the dialogue and delivery are 7/10. The sounds of the guns and bombs are bombastic (haha) to me, really liked the sound of shooting and throwing bombs. Cars sounded good too, don't expect Need For Speed level of sound design, it's good in terms of an open world game, especially one set in the 1940s.
Okay so story, some people might so and say "what story?" And I'd partially agree with them, it's an above average story interweaved with the original Godfather's story. Above average because it takes inspiration from the original films and Goodfellas, not because it's particularly impressive or good. 6/10. The ending scene is hilarious, it hits out of nowhere and makes no sense. I'm talking about beating the story and destroying all family compounds and stuff. The original story is not done justice at ALL, at first it was kinda fun, for the first 2 hours it feels like it KINDA fits but nah it's just messy after that. Feels kind of rushed and uses a lot of cliches but it's serviceable at least, not bad. If you think of it as a Godfather game then yeah it's bad. It's like the Godfather Part 3, where it's not a bad piece of media just that the Godfather movies are masterpieces so IN COMPARISON they seem bad. Part 3 was a 7/10, a good movie but this game is AT BEST a 6/10 in terms of story and only because the original Godfather's story is there, if it weren't there it'd be like a 4 or 5/10. There's just no impact when the original movie's plot points hit, at least for me.
Okay so serviceable visuals, good enough to good sound and mediocre story. Gameplay must be average too right? Well holy guacamole this is where the game truly shines. This is no Sekiro but this is what I always wanted in open world games. To be able to go into shops, stores, warehouses and stuff. It feels, open... alive. Okay so let's start from the bottom. Movement is, fine. Running and walking feels a little janky because the aiming is pretty weird unless locked on, otherwise it's fine. Running actually feels like running though idk what it is but the guy looks like he's running like his life depends on it when he runs and that's important cus you HAVE TO run sometimes. Driving is also fine, sliding is fuckin awesome and makes for some cool moments in game and driving fast is fun in coupe cars but those aren't too common and you'll have to look around a bit. Thankfully this game doesn't have the GTA problem of spawning more of the same car you're driving and continues feeling like the world goes on without you, with the same influx of different cars. Chases range from good to bad to fucking awful. Enemy cars don't follow you at a steady pace, they match your pace or become faster so if you drive the fastest coupe they'll drive at mach 1 and destroy themselves if they hit the wall or something. Chases feel so shit because instead of spawning cars in a good way like from around the corner or something, they just spawn 10 meters behind you randomly. They then drive faster than you at your fastest speed and ram you like bruh what am I to do, especially when the main missions ask of chases sometimes it's horrible. Driving normally is okay though and can be used to cheese locations by clearing out guards. This game having limited health with only health pickups saved it. It's an absolutely fantastic feature. I love it. It created so many tense moments and I've died like 15-20 times. You thank the Lord whenever an enemy randomly drops a health drink or you find one in a warehouse during dire situations. Now time for the juicy bits, the shooting and the rackets. So, shooting is fun, very fun for me. In this game you solo like 40-60 people and that makes you feel like a bad ass especially when everyone seems to have different health bars, some need more shots and some need less depending on rank, they have the same weapons as you just that they can't switch and the weak point thing, oh Lord it's AWESOME. Shooting someone in the knees and crippling them for a few seconds, shooting someone's hands and disarming them THAT's bloody AMAZING. Makes some intense fights easier because you were able to do some quick thinking. Cover system is fine, I barely used it cus you have to peek out to shoot and I'd usually get blasted. I stuck to crouch behind stuff and locking on to someone and then walking sideways from a wall I was hugging. Gunplay is fun with the lock on, you wait for the reticle to get smaller and if you're careless and get shot you are unable to get accurate shots, great balancing act. Shotguns are tough to use but deadly and Tommy guns are a BLAST to use. Just mowing down people randomly is so gangsta and cool. And the fact that after someone dies they stay in that animation as you continue shoot is masterful, it's so awesome like you feel like you're mowing someone down, not kinda shot him a little and he's dead. The snub nose is pretty wack and is decent for the first few hours but you'll use everything except for that. The pistol and magnum were my favs to use most of the time for their usability but the Tommy Gun was perfection in terms of fun. No need to wait for accuracy just go and mow some people down, AWESOME! Magnum hits hard in this game, really liked it. The upgrade system for guns is so cool, it gives you a really good reason to hold onto your money and buy stuff and creates really difficult opportunity cost situations. Should you get this gun or that gun or wait to get the level 3 of another gun? Money and money management is AWESOME. The way you can customise your character's face is quite awesome for me but I didn't change too much but I loved outfitting him up a little and you've got a few cool ones so you can save money for that as well. Then there's the most important one in a way, the safehouses. These places are so vital for running from cops and just to save your game and restock on stuff. Lovely. Feels like you're setting up operations in a different place and buying new hotel rooms and rooms that were rooms to let is so awesome and adds to the immersion.
Hits are pretty damn cool and it can be nice to fight through people and kill someone in a specific way and the stories attached are kinda nice i guess. At least the hit targets feel different. Good idea, not bad. The story missions are quite eh sometimes, kinda good sometimes and shit sometimes. overall a 5.5/10. Anyways, the coolest part, taking over rackets and shops. Yes, it's addictive, you just go to a shop, try to muscle the owners into running the shop under your protection and try to find out their weak spots. I love it. Got all the shops before I finished all the story missions and got all the warehouses and compounds before that as well. Warehouses are brutal and pretty shitty sometimes because this game has a pop in problem. Enemies don't have pre set positions they stay at, they just pop in there sometimes and sometimes pop in behind you. It's especially tough at warehouses where you had to fight through 40 people and someone with a shotgun could come up behind you and finish your hard work in seconds. Taking over compounds surprisingly felt a bit easier for me, you gotta destroy 2 buildings but I guess less pop ins made it less difficult. This game is kinda difficult by itself but the pop ins made it Dark Souls tier to me, janky and tough lol. Bribing cops and G-men was so cool, it was like having to balance your pay check with having enough to fend off opposition family and police so that you don't get fucked. I like a challenge so you bet I had fun trying to play the system and winning fights and bribing officials. a 9/10 in terms of gameplay, if jank and pop ins were fixed it'd have been a 10/10 in terms of gameplay. Oh yeah I forgot, you can box too, there's that. And upgrading your character is very satisfying! I loved having to choose between the different options.
So, a game that basically tarnishes The Godfather's name basically but still isn't bad? Well, that's what good gameplay does. EA should've not released this, they should've released this game under a different name. It would've gotten more favourable reviews and looked upon more favourably because everyone will inevitably compare this to the Godfather which is unfair, this game tries to be something by itself which is evident by the insertion of your character into the plot of the original movie with his own side plots and some arcs. The gameplay and variety of stuff you have is so fun though, buying hotel rooms, safehouses, bribing officials is a realistically corrupt thing that mafiosos would've done, fighting to take over rackets, shops and warehouses is bloody fun and makes you feel like superman. After you rise up ranks in the story people in the street and maybe even your own Corleone members react differently to you. Phone calls are a cool way to get some missions. Blowing up compounds really does feel like destroying a family from its roots. Just an overall bad ass gangster game.
So, this is a must play for fans of the gangster/mafia genre, makes you feel badass and lets you do gangster stuff. Don't think too much about it, play it and have fun kind of game. Just a blast to play. If it didn't tarnish the Godfather name it'd have been a 4.5/5 and if the jank were fixed with a new remake/remaster it'd have been 10/10 for sure but as it is, it's just a very good game with a number of flaws that can be forgiven for a truly unique and sort of immersive city with nice activities. I loved the shit out of GTA San Andreas and its gang wars were one of my most favourite features in a game along with its "RPG" stats, this game brings both and improves/changes stuff up with them so of course I'd love this. I think objectively this game can be classified as a 7/10, a good game, but the subjective experience was fun and considering it's nearly 2 decades old? Job well done devs.
Not a timeless classic but a fun game. I have a soft spot for games that are fun, I care about story but if the gameplay is too fun then it can negate a bad/mediocre story and if the story is too good it can negate the mediocre story. This game's gameplay lifts it up to very good status with its gameplay. Hope you have as much fun as I had with this game, a blast to play. If it weren't for my big backlog and my short attention span, I'd have finished the game further. Had some hits, safes and safehouses left and also didn't buy the level 3 shotgun. I just ignored the film reels in general cus idc about that but yeah, an absolute romp!
Let's start with the visuals, it's serviceable. I don't know what it is but the faces look so terrifying for the main characters such as Vito Corleone, it's like so uncanny how it moves and stuff, it was revolutionary back then sure but looks sort of terrifying and odd to me, especially when talking. Faces feel less like faces and more like a flat face-shaped object with a flat texture on top, I mean that's what it is but it is very un-immersive. It's not bad but might be considered horrible by some, and I'd say rightfully so. Thankfully every other character is ok like the gangsters or your own characters. I had some buggy visuals like eyes popping out of the eye bags a little, weird mouth movements but that's it. I find it funny how the game handles interactions though, Don Vito has the same animation as Tom Hagen does when you talk to him and I find that funny. I think some Corleone gangsters talk with that animation as well, a bit hunched and then moving their arms. Anyways, this game has some pretty cool animations. I don't mean the quality but rather the variety. Truly well done job from those guys, they didn't give the best quality but they gave so much that it's immersive in that sense. For example, when interrogating someone your character can put his hands up in a fighting stance, grab the other guy, slap them or hold their throat and threaten them. All this variation just adds to the experience. The monotonous designs of the rival gangsters is contrasted wonderfully by the different shop owners and racket owners. I felt like most were different. They had different voices from time to time, different clothes and surprisingly different body and faces as well. I really appreciated that, felt like I was going to a new place instead of an old one. The dialogue is kind of funny sometimes and quite cool when talking with these shop keepers. It's not masterful, deep stuff. Just some cool gangsta shit kinda thing. I love it, fulfills my fantasy. Cars look okay but they don't have translucency, so you can't see who's inside. Original movie scenes are obviously not done justice with these graphics and subpar animations. The gangsters look so similar I think there's only two types, a thin one and a fat one. That's it, they wear different colored inner shirts and that's all the variety in visuals. Animations for execution and the variety are amazing I'd say. You'll have fun killing people in different ways and trying out different weapons for executions and stuff.
Now for the sound. The main issue I have is the music, surprisingly, it's just so much of the same thing. It takes the main Godfather theme and repeats it on and on and on and has some variations of it. If there's like 20 tracks, 12 are the Godfather theme and its variations and those are played most of the time. I'm not looking up how many tracks there are and finding out exactly, I'm just giving a rough idea. The dialogue delivery apart from Tom Hagen is above average. I had fun listening to stuff but it wasn't because the dialogue was great or the delivery was great, it was just a combination of everything. If I'm being objective, it's only above average but I liked it, I'd say the dialogue and delivery are 7/10. The sounds of the guns and bombs are bombastic (haha) to me, really liked the sound of shooting and throwing bombs. Cars sounded good too, don't expect Need For Speed level of sound design, it's good in terms of an open world game, especially one set in the 1940s.
Okay so story, some people might so and say "what story?" And I'd partially agree with them, it's an above average story interweaved with the original Godfather's story. Above average because it takes inspiration from the original films and Goodfellas, not because it's particularly impressive or good. 6/10. The ending scene is hilarious, it hits out of nowhere and makes no sense. I'm talking about beating the story and destroying all family compounds and stuff. The original story is not done justice at ALL, at first it was kinda fun, for the first 2 hours it feels like it KINDA fits but nah it's just messy after that. Feels kind of rushed and uses a lot of cliches but it's serviceable at least, not bad. If you think of it as a Godfather game then yeah it's bad. It's like the Godfather Part 3, where it's not a bad piece of media just that the Godfather movies are masterpieces so IN COMPARISON they seem bad. Part 3 was a 7/10, a good movie but this game is AT BEST a 6/10 in terms of story and only because the original Godfather's story is there, if it weren't there it'd be like a 4 or 5/10. There's just no impact when the original movie's plot points hit, at least for me.
Okay so serviceable visuals, good enough to good sound and mediocre story. Gameplay must be average too right? Well holy guacamole this is where the game truly shines. This is no Sekiro but this is what I always wanted in open world games. To be able to go into shops, stores, warehouses and stuff. It feels, open... alive. Okay so let's start from the bottom. Movement is, fine. Running and walking feels a little janky because the aiming is pretty weird unless locked on, otherwise it's fine. Running actually feels like running though idk what it is but the guy looks like he's running like his life depends on it when he runs and that's important cus you HAVE TO run sometimes. Driving is also fine, sliding is fuckin awesome and makes for some cool moments in game and driving fast is fun in coupe cars but those aren't too common and you'll have to look around a bit. Thankfully this game doesn't have the GTA problem of spawning more of the same car you're driving and continues feeling like the world goes on without you, with the same influx of different cars. Chases range from good to bad to fucking awful. Enemy cars don't follow you at a steady pace, they match your pace or become faster so if you drive the fastest coupe they'll drive at mach 1 and destroy themselves if they hit the wall or something. Chases feel so shit because instead of spawning cars in a good way like from around the corner or something, they just spawn 10 meters behind you randomly. They then drive faster than you at your fastest speed and ram you like bruh what am I to do, especially when the main missions ask of chases sometimes it's horrible. Driving normally is okay though and can be used to cheese locations by clearing out guards. This game having limited health with only health pickups saved it. It's an absolutely fantastic feature. I love it. It created so many tense moments and I've died like 15-20 times. You thank the Lord whenever an enemy randomly drops a health drink or you find one in a warehouse during dire situations. Now time for the juicy bits, the shooting and the rackets. So, shooting is fun, very fun for me. In this game you solo like 40-60 people and that makes you feel like a bad ass especially when everyone seems to have different health bars, some need more shots and some need less depending on rank, they have the same weapons as you just that they can't switch and the weak point thing, oh Lord it's AWESOME. Shooting someone in the knees and crippling them for a few seconds, shooting someone's hands and disarming them THAT's bloody AMAZING. Makes some intense fights easier because you were able to do some quick thinking. Cover system is fine, I barely used it cus you have to peek out to shoot and I'd usually get blasted. I stuck to crouch behind stuff and locking on to someone and then walking sideways from a wall I was hugging. Gunplay is fun with the lock on, you wait for the reticle to get smaller and if you're careless and get shot you are unable to get accurate shots, great balancing act. Shotguns are tough to use but deadly and Tommy guns are a BLAST to use. Just mowing down people randomly is so gangsta and cool. And the fact that after someone dies they stay in that animation as you continue shoot is masterful, it's so awesome like you feel like you're mowing someone down, not kinda shot him a little and he's dead. The snub nose is pretty wack and is decent for the first few hours but you'll use everything except for that. The pistol and magnum were my favs to use most of the time for their usability but the Tommy Gun was perfection in terms of fun. No need to wait for accuracy just go and mow some people down, AWESOME! Magnum hits hard in this game, really liked it. The upgrade system for guns is so cool, it gives you a really good reason to hold onto your money and buy stuff and creates really difficult opportunity cost situations. Should you get this gun or that gun or wait to get the level 3 of another gun? Money and money management is AWESOME. The way you can customise your character's face is quite awesome for me but I didn't change too much but I loved outfitting him up a little and you've got a few cool ones so you can save money for that as well. Then there's the most important one in a way, the safehouses. These places are so vital for running from cops and just to save your game and restock on stuff. Lovely. Feels like you're setting up operations in a different place and buying new hotel rooms and rooms that were rooms to let is so awesome and adds to the immersion.
Hits are pretty damn cool and it can be nice to fight through people and kill someone in a specific way and the stories attached are kinda nice i guess. At least the hit targets feel different. Good idea, not bad. The story missions are quite eh sometimes, kinda good sometimes and shit sometimes. overall a 5.5/10. Anyways, the coolest part, taking over rackets and shops. Yes, it's addictive, you just go to a shop, try to muscle the owners into running the shop under your protection and try to find out their weak spots. I love it. Got all the shops before I finished all the story missions and got all the warehouses and compounds before that as well. Warehouses are brutal and pretty shitty sometimes because this game has a pop in problem. Enemies don't have pre set positions they stay at, they just pop in there sometimes and sometimes pop in behind you. It's especially tough at warehouses where you had to fight through 40 people and someone with a shotgun could come up behind you and finish your hard work in seconds. Taking over compounds surprisingly felt a bit easier for me, you gotta destroy 2 buildings but I guess less pop ins made it less difficult. This game is kinda difficult by itself but the pop ins made it Dark Souls tier to me, janky and tough lol. Bribing cops and G-men was so cool, it was like having to balance your pay check with having enough to fend off opposition family and police so that you don't get fucked. I like a challenge so you bet I had fun trying to play the system and winning fights and bribing officials. a 9/10 in terms of gameplay, if jank and pop ins were fixed it'd have been a 10/10 in terms of gameplay. Oh yeah I forgot, you can box too, there's that. And upgrading your character is very satisfying! I loved having to choose between the different options.
So, a game that basically tarnishes The Godfather's name basically but still isn't bad? Well, that's what good gameplay does. EA should've not released this, they should've released this game under a different name. It would've gotten more favourable reviews and looked upon more favourably because everyone will inevitably compare this to the Godfather which is unfair, this game tries to be something by itself which is evident by the insertion of your character into the plot of the original movie with his own side plots and some arcs. The gameplay and variety of stuff you have is so fun though, buying hotel rooms, safehouses, bribing officials is a realistically corrupt thing that mafiosos would've done, fighting to take over rackets, shops and warehouses is bloody fun and makes you feel like superman. After you rise up ranks in the story people in the street and maybe even your own Corleone members react differently to you. Phone calls are a cool way to get some missions. Blowing up compounds really does feel like destroying a family from its roots. Just an overall bad ass gangster game.
So, this is a must play for fans of the gangster/mafia genre, makes you feel badass and lets you do gangster stuff. Don't think too much about it, play it and have fun kind of game. Just a blast to play. If it didn't tarnish the Godfather name it'd have been a 4.5/5 and if the jank were fixed with a new remake/remaster it'd have been 10/10 for sure but as it is, it's just a very good game with a number of flaws that can be forgiven for a truly unique and sort of immersive city with nice activities. I loved the shit out of GTA San Andreas and its gang wars were one of my most favourite features in a game along with its "RPG" stats, this game brings both and improves/changes stuff up with them so of course I'd love this. I think objectively this game can be classified as a 7/10, a good game, but the subjective experience was fun and considering it's nearly 2 decades old? Job well done devs.
Not a timeless classic but a fun game. I have a soft spot for games that are fun, I care about story but if the gameplay is too fun then it can negate a bad/mediocre story and if the story is too good it can negate the mediocre story. This game's gameplay lifts it up to very good status with its gameplay. Hope you have as much fun as I had with this game, a blast to play. If it weren't for my big backlog and my short attention span, I'd have finished the game further. Had some hits, safes and safehouses left and also didn't buy the level 3 shotgun. I just ignored the film reels in general cus idc about that but yeah, an absolute romp!