It’s Only Business With Godfather II Review

The Godfather II was released last week, after getting postponed from the initial February 24 date. After having an entire week to play the game, we think that Godfather fans will enjoy the newest iteration of the game. However, despite the additions made, the game still does show a few small problems. Would it be enough to change our opinion of the game?

Before jumping into the game, what is The Godfather II?

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EA describes it as being a Don in the Corleone family, The Godfather II lets the player carve out their own story of deception, betrayal, and conquest in a 1960′s organized crime world. While at its heart The Godfather II is an action game, it allows players to go beyond street life to roll up their sleeves and get a feel for the challenges of running their own organized crime family. Players will have to invest in their family, manage their business, and even reach out to corrupt officials. All strategic decisions are made via the revolutionary new Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of the player’s criminal empire, putting the player in the Don’s mindset; it allows them to coordinate their family strategy, plan hits on rival made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more. The view shows a map of everything a good Don would need to know, such as which businesses are controlled by each family, including how many guards are present. By letting players call the shots, The Godfather II delivers the ultimate organized crime experience in both the single and multiplayer modes.

The New Don’s View

When I conducted the interview at EA Redwood Shores, we learned the main objective of the game was to take over the various crime rings.  Unique crime families compete against you and each other for control of these crime rings. When playing the game, we overhear, “The Rosado’s aren’t like most families, they are organized,” which will quickly tell the story. You’ll need to learn how to defend buildings and hire guards if you want to be successful.

At the most basic level, The Godfather II can be described as a mixture of Monopoly and Risk, with the addition of guns, drugs and prostitution. You’ll be sending Made Men to take over buildings, and protecting the newly acquired building with guards. Strategy is key, by controlling all businesses in a specific crime ring you gain bonuses. Be sure to consider which bonuses you want, or want to take from your enemy, while expanding your control. You can also decide to send your men to take over, or you can go and handle things personally. The Don’s View is your control center. This visually appealing screen is your way to keep control of your growing criminal empire. The Don’s View is easy to navigate and shows a virtual bank vault of information, such as which buildings are under attack, information regarding “Made Men,” and keeping track of expenses.

Gamble Online With Don Control

The biggest problem the game has is the overall graphics. It is easily a step up from The Godfather, but doesn’t really push the boundaries. Fires and explosions are some of the more visually exciting moments and help to truly ignite the graphics. Yet the developers of the game have spent more detail on the fighting and shooting in the game, which is easily the most entertaining part. You can easily lock onto enemies, and aim at different body parts with the tap of a button. Or if you choose, you can shoot random civilians and even some topless strippers, if that is your type of thing. Even executing them, not that we tried.

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As for controls, the game uses a pretty quick to learn system. The only annoyance is continually being forced to tap A to run.

Sadly, the game doesn’t really seem to have much replay value. The game was enjoyable, but once the storyline is finished, we don’t really see enough reason to go back and play the game. Same goes for the multiplayer, as it is something that is fun to play in small doses, but isn’t a game that you’ll be playing for hours on end.

To conclude, The Godfather II brings the gameplay and sounds, but lacks on the overall visuals. The game has some intense firefights, and will require you to use some form of strategy to actually get anywhere. Either way, if you can put aside a few minor bugs, and get into The Godfather storyline, you’ll enjoy becoming The Don in this version.

360Sync does not offer a score, but instead gives insight on the game. Only one person can make a decision if you should rent, buy or avoid a game, and the person is ultimately you. However, we can give you as much insight as possible, and answer as many questions that you have.