The Best Godfather Quote is Already Taken

Ever since Grand Theft Auto III hit shelves some years ago, developers have rushed to make something that rivals Rockstar's juggernaut. Scarface, Crackdown, and Saint's Row are just a few titles that come to mind. Now The Godfather is taking its turn. While it seems that nothing will have the impact that GTA did, and continues to have, The Godfather is certainly a stellar step in the right direction.

I haven't played The Godfather on any of the other consoles, so if you want comparisons, you'll have to go elsewhere, but as I understand it, they all pretty much play the same. You start off the game playing as your father as he fends off a bunch of mobsters, only to see all your efforts go to waste when you die anyway, which is kind of a downer. Then you take on the role of, well, you. After the brief opening sequence, you're stuck right into a character creator, where you fine tune the looks of your mobster and get ready to take your revenge.

The character creator is not really a creator, per se, but rather an adjustment tool, in which you make slight changes so your character doesn't look exactly like the one the game gives you. Having a say in what the character you'll be playing as is a nice touch, though.

So, you've "made" your character, and you're off. Your ultimate goal is to eventually become the ruling mob boss of New York, but, you have to start at the beginning, as a mere errand boy for the Corleone family, and this is where the game falls into sandbox territory. It's a Godfather themed GTA. Or so it would seem.

Yes, you steal cars, complete missions, and there's plenty of side missions to keep you busy, just like GTA, but there are a number of things that differentiate this from the rest of the GTA clones.

First, and most obviously, is the source material. Blackhand intersects with most of the high points of the movie, with a few detours here and there. It doesn't follow everything, but it is interesting how the developers pieced everything together to where you don't interfere with the events of the movie, but rather you take part in them, and in some way, help them happen.

Secondly, despite the fact that you're a mobster, you're not lawless, and you'll find yourself playing it cool more often than taking the direct approach. Yeah, you can steal the odd car and get away with it, but the police have their eye on you, and deviating too much will punish you. While it might take away from some of the freedom you have in other sandbox games, it gives the game structure, and makes you incorporate more skill than you would in a similar game. But don't worry. There's plenty of chaos, from intense gun battles to setting car bombs, to hiring goons to clear out a rival gang's territory, there's still plenty of hell to raise, just in its proper time and place.

Next, there's what the box refers to as the RPG leveling system. As you gain respect from beating down rival gangs, taking over a business, or completing missions, you'll level up, and be given a number of points to tone up certain skills. You can choose from Enforcer and Blackhand skills; Enforcer being strength related skills and Blackhand being the business end of things. As you increase your skills, you'll be able to get away with more and complete missions with greater ease. Also, you'll go from being a street punk with no respect, shunned by people on the street, to a man that man tip their hat to, and women pay a little more attention to you.

Then there's taking over businesses. You can intimidate store owners into allowing you to offer protection, but that's not enough. When you take over a business, all of its doors open, and often you'll find a racket in one of its previously hidden rooms. For the Corleone family to fully run a business, you not only have to take of the owner, but also take over the racket.

Finally, and what's probably most prevalent on people's mind, is the Wii control. How does it fare? Well, like I said, I haven't played this on the other consoles, nor would I after playing Blackhand. The gunplay is ok, you pull your weapon of choice, point at the screen, and fire. You can target, or free fire. Pretty simple. Where the real beauty lies is in the hand to hand controls.

When you punch, you actually punch. When you intimidate a businessman, you can either destroy stuff in his shop, which consists of grabbing a couple of random items, and "throwing" with the Wii remote, or you can go the fun route-physical intimidation. You use the Nunchuk and the remote in conjuction, and "grab" your victim by the collar. Depending on what you want to do, you can throw them, slam them against the wall, or just give them a couple of solid punches. It's your choice. This adds depth to the game, because you're not just pushing buttons, you feel like you're actually doing it. You'll find yourself picking fights just to play around with the controls.

Additionally, and more disturbingly, you use the Nunchuk/Remote combination for some gruesome kills. One mission that comes to mind is a sneak mission to rescue Tom. You creep up behind patrolling members of the rival gang, and strangle them. This is done by pulling the remote and nunchuk together, and shaking them. The harder you shake, the faster they go down. It feels just like strangling someone, if you've ever done that sort of thing.

Another one that comes to mind is when you knock off a crooked cop. You have to make it look like an accident by "pushing" him off the side of a building. Of course, you thrust your controllers forward in a pushing motion, and down he goes.

For those who care, driving controls work perfectly well, but there's nothing gimmicky about them. Analog stick to steer, and so on and so forth.

The sound is impressive only in the fact that Marlon Brando came back to play The Godfather one last time, albeit in video game form. And, to the voice actor's credit, they all do an impressive job in bringing old characters back to life. The rest of the sound: gunshots, explosions, etc., are standard fare. They're not outstanding, but they're not bad. They just blend right in.

The graphics would have to be the biggest con here. It's not that they're bad per se, but they're not pretty. The character models are decent, and purposely gritty. It's New York that suffered. For a city so famous, it's represented pretty blandly here. The buildings all look essentially the same, and the dull color scheme just brings further attention to it.

Here's the Deal: On any other system, I would say that this game would be slightly above passable. With the Wii controls, you get a little more bang for your buck, and get to feel the game as much as play it. Coupled with a great storyline, it's definitely a good combo, but doesn't take away from the fact that at its heart, the Godfather is still another sandbox game. But, if you haven't grown weary of the genre, The Godfather is a definite buy.

Parent's Note: Parents, this is the Godfather. The movie's not appropriate for kids, and I'd say the game may be a shade worse, not to mention the fact that you probably don't want your kids strangling anyone, virtually or not.