Hello Enthusiasts,
I'm a big fan of the first two Godfather movies, they're some of the best movies of all time in regards to story and character development. I am, of course, not alone in this thought, as these movies are loved by the majority of filmgoers. So with all of this excitement behind a decades-old series of movies, Paramount Pictures and EA Games decided to cash in and create some games. Now I reviewed the first game already, which you can find here, so today I'm going to take a look at the second entry into the series, The Godfather II. Does it follow the footsteps of the movie and live up to, perhaps even surpass, its predecessor? Let's take a look.
So this game doesn't follow the story of the movie as closely as the first game did. In this game, you play Dominic, a made man for the Corleone family who has just been given his own sub-family to run. From here you take over the businesses of the rival families while managing your own. There are some beats from the movie, like Michael Corleone going to court because of his ties to organized crime and the revolution in Cuba. There are also familiar characters here in the form of Fredo, Hyman Roth, Frank Pentangeli, and others, but the game is mostly a focus on your character. Your goal is to take over all of the available businesses in New York and Florida, as well as do some additional work in Cuba. As you take over businesses and eliminate other families, your own family begins to grow, and you have more resources at your disposal.
This game has a decent amount going for it. The controls all work well, and the gunplay is mostly solid. I enjoyed managing my family, as each member will has one or a few skills that they can use to infiltrate business and compounds, as well as during combat. However, not every member of your family could go around with you, so you end up having to decide who you want to travel with and who can help you defend what you already own. The game also gives bonuses for holding all of a type of business, such as extended ammo clips, kevlar vests, faster rebuild time if one of your businesses gets bombed, etc. The upgrade system for you and your family is basic, but I appreciate that they did put one in there. One of the biggest improvements I felt from the previous game was the driving, which was pretty weak in the last entry. This game's driving isn't perfect, but I could drift around corners at high speed more efficiently than in the last game.
Despite all of the positive, this game is far from perfect. The character models are certainly flawed, even with the main characters. If I saw Michael Corleone on the street in this game without any indication that it was him, I would think it's just another random citizen. The world also seems a lot less populated than the last game. I walked around New York for a solid five minutes and saw only six cars drive by me, whereas the last game had a much more dense population. Also, not only is it less populated, but the game feels smaller. Yes, there are three separate maps in this game, but each one feels as large as one of the five burrows from the last game. Plus, by making them separate like this, you have to get on a plane and wait through a loading screen. There are far fewer business to take over, and it feels like they tried to make up for that by having each one be vulnerable to being taken over again by other families. Ultimately, it just feels like less effort was put into this game than the last title.
So while I certainly wouldn't call this a bad game, there is certainly something left to be desired. It could have been a natural progression from the first game, improving on shortcomings and keeping up with the ever-advancing technology, but it instead feels like a cash-grab. Play it if you have the appropriate system and find it cheap somewhere, but otherwise you can likely find a better game of this type.
I give The Godfather II a 5 out of 10.
Sincerely,
The Bored Enthusiast
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