14 DAY TRIAL // 
Open-world games are the latest fashion these days, courtesy of Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, which practically wrote the book on how characters could interact in an open-world environment and, eventually, set up their own criminal network that would completely favor them.
But even though GTA is the benchmark that other titles need to be compared with, there have been some notable examples of more interesting takes on the whole sandbox genre of games, including Saints Row 2, which has introduced us to a huge variety of amusing mini games in order to make the experience more fun.
But now, Electronic Arts' own take on the open-world genre, Godfather, has made its return in the second installment of the video game adapted from the famous movie series, which has been, in turn, based on Mario Puzo's book. The new title promises to depart from the GTA clone status and provide players with a unique take on running a crime syndicate like the Mob. With features such as the Don View, which gives you a top-down perspective on the actions of the Mob families in New York, and the fact that you will be able to delegate your own made men to dethrone rival families, the game looks pretty promising, but is it worth your hard-earned money? Read on to find out.
Story
The story of the title aims at staying close to the one found in the Godfather II motion picture, but strays off from it right in the first cutscene, during the famous divide of Cuba between Hyman Roth and other important members of the Mafia families, including the Corleones. You play as Dominic, one of the Made Men within Michael Corleone's family, who, after the assassination of the character from the first game, Aldo Trapani, is appointed Don of New York and needs to create his own empire.
You slowly begin to seize the rackets in the city and, after a while, you get a chance to take down the most important rival family in New York, led by Carmine Rosato. After that, you will have the opportunity of expanding your criminal empire in Florida and, afterwards, in Cuba, giving you a great chance to exercise both your strategic and hand-to-hand skills as you lead your family to glory.
Of course, during these events, the story from the second movie also plays a part, as Michael Corleone is faced with a Senate hearing and threatened with severe jail time, but it isn't something that takes a big toll on the gameplay, as you can easily start taking over rackets and taking down rivals anyway you please, and then go to meet up with key members with whom you carry out conversations.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Godfather II delivers mixed feelings. On the one hand, you have the very solid Don's View, which delivers a Real Time Strategy-like perspective on all of your criminal empire spread across the three cities, showing what businesses you control, what rackets are controlled by your rivals, and where important enemies are. On the other hand, when you get out of Don's View and into the third-person action one, things completely change, and you are faced with a somewhat clunky Grand Theft Auto-like gameplay.
It has a lot of things in common with the first title, but, sadly, all of the missions and the takeovers become rather tedious in the middle and last segments of the game. A lot of rackets or buildings look the same, with the only difference being the location of the boss that you need to “persuade” in order to give you a cut of his profits, and the enemies populating them can sometimes be extremely stupid.
But if we're talking about AI, don't believe that the men in your family are rocket scientists, as they have a lot of problems finding paths in buildings and will cause you a lot of problems when trying to get in and out of rooms in order to find the boss of the company. They will also get repeatedly into your sight, and effectively become human shields to the enemies that you are trying to take out.
You can recruit and promote your own made men into your family, as you will need quite a lot of people to help you defend the rackets from enemies. Each of them has one or more skills, ranging from Medics to Safe Crackers or Bruisers, all of which are key to your success in battles. Once you promote one of your soldiers to Capo or Underboos, they will learn a new trade, making them more efficient in battle. A pretty neat thing is the fact that you can switch your made men “on the fly,” meaning that if your Bruiser isn't on your crew and you are faced with a door that can't be busted by your other men, then just add him to the group through the Don View, and, through “Mafia Magic,” he will appear in a few seconds.
A very annoying thing is the fact that your allies or enemies aren't shown on the minimap, forcing you to hope that your crew is behind you while you search every nook and cranny to find the last remaining enemies that are trying to take over your businesses.
The cars handle like boats on dry land, with all of them being big and clunky to maneuver, but unless you want to double your play time by walking, they are a necessary evil. Luckily, the cities present in the game aren't very big and can be traversed quite easily by locating the best route with the Don View map.
The shooting mechanics are also a bit clunky, but, in the end, deliver a decent experience with enough weapons to seem realistic enough. Another fact that seems a bit out of place is that you can't buy ammunition for your weapons, only relying on the one dropped by your enemies or by finding ammo caches in certain locations or buildings instead.
In the end, though, in terms of gameplay, Godfather II delivers a pretty good experience, with the Don View being the “star of the show,” adding a much-needed dose of strategy to the mindless killing that is characteristic of almost all open-world sandbox titles.
Concept
Godfather II doesn't have the best concept, as it struggles to find a niche in the story of the movie, but fails at it quite badly, at least in the eyes of Francis Ford Coppola's fans. The fact that you work in the Corleone family and building a vast criminal empire is decent, but the story sequences that try to penetrate into the plot of the movie just don't seem realistic enough in order to provide a decent story for your own in-game actions.
But the EA Redwood Shores team must be congratulated on the great implementation of a key aspect in the Mafia way of life, which is the importance of strategy, and how it is offered to the players in the form of the Don View, which, at least for strategy fans, will seem like a breath of fresh, “organized” air in the chaos that is the normal gameplay.
Visuals and Audio
Godfather II is a decent game, it won't win any beauty contests or go head to head with the Grand Theft Auto IV in terms of draw distances or level of detail, but the visuals do their job, although the fire, while very realistic, seems a bit awkward.
The draw distance of buildings is reasonable, as you won't encounter some of the severe pop-in like in the PC versions of Saints Row 2, but when it comes to the cars on the road, things take a turn for the worse. Besides the pop-in of the vehicles, you will get to see the details on the cars only if you are standing a few feet away from them, as until they get close to you, they will seem like car-shaped blocks with no details whatsoever.
Audio-wise, the game fairs quite well. The cars do have radios, but, sadly, it isn't something that stands out as much as in other types of open-world games that focus on you spending a lot of time in cars. But what it looses in radios, it gains in taunts, which are pretty varied and quite funny, managing to make you smile a couple of times.
The guns sound pretty well, and when you order your demolition expert to place explosive charges, you can be sure that the boom will be a satisfying one, which will echo through the building in which you are. The talks with various pedestrians are also quite entertaining, but repetitive nonetheless.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer-wise, Godfather II tries a lot of things through its Don Control mode that enables you to order around the made men from your single-player campaign, thus making them level up their weapon license, in a way similar to Real Time Strategy games, but while it is interesting, it gets old pretty fast.
Normal multiplayer is also present, but as the Don Control, it gets old pretty fast. It is fun to shoot your friends or execute them Mafia-style, but, in the end, you can always do it during the single-player campaign and get a bigger satisfaction off it.
Conclusion
In the end, Godfather II is a decent game. For sandbox fans, it will be a welcome addition if they have lately gotten bored. The Don View is certainly one of its strong points and will definitely get the attention of a lot of strategy fans, as they will be able to manage all of the rackets and other Mafia-related actions straight from that system.
The game won't shatter any records and, if you are a fan of the movie series, might get you annoyed, but don't forget that it is just a title, which tries to improve on the wrongs of its predecessor, and even though it doesn't get a lot of things right, it is still commendable for the great experience it provides.
