The first Godfather game was just okay. I played it for a while, but just couldn’t get into the game. At the time, I was too into GTA: San Andreas to hop into another sandbox style crime game. With The Godfather II, EA looks to have improved on some of the qualms I had with the original as well as add a few cool new features.
The biggest change to the game is the Don’s View, a 3D representation of the city that allows you to see what gangs or families have control are various areas. Tom Hagan, your consigliere, will walk you through expanding your family’s reach and aid in your power gains.
At the start of the game, you have to get Michael and Fredo Corlione out of Cuba as the Cuban Revolution starts to become out of hand. Aldo, the Don from the first Godfather game, doesn’t make it out alive and Michael asks you head up the family once you get back to New York. As the game progresses, you’ll be able to unlock Miami as well and travel between all three cities.
The controls felt pretty good from the hands on time we had with the game. You’ll be able to free aim for shooting as well as lock onto targets with the Left Trigger. The coolest part, for me, was the executions that EA added into the game. If you shoot a guy in the knee caps, he’ll drop down allowing you to run up and pop him in the mouth with various executions being available depending on the weapon you have equipped at the time. We saw the animations for the pistol and tommy gun, both of which were damn cool and will not get old.
In the multiplayer portion of the game, you get to take the family you built in the single player campaign online to wreak havoc. Any money, skills, or honors you earn online will transfer back to the single player portion of the game. We weren’t able to play any of the multiplayer portions of the game during the demo, but it sounds like a decent time. I’ll reserve judgement until I get my hands on, though.
The Godfather II is hitting store shelves April 7th in North America, so look for that if you want to put a tommy gun in someone’s mouth.
