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• The Godfather II

The Godfather II

• By Flynn De Marco
• September 04, 2008 11:07 AM PST
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Live the life of a Don as you take over the Family Business.

Godfather II is the follow up to EA's original Godfather game based on the hit mafia movie series. Things have changed since the first game, and this time instead of being a lowly gun toting thug, you step into the shoes of The Don himself. A strategy element has been added to the gameplay adding an extra bit of challenge as you try and expand your family's business.

Standard Fare

For the most part, the gameplay seems fairly average and doesn't deviate much from what we've seen many times over in the Grand Theft Auto series. Watching the gangsters climb in an out of vehicles to prepare for a long drive through the city seems oddly familiar and somewhat tiresome. The one thing that has potential to set The Godfather II apart from other Action-RPG games however is the addition of a somewhat intriguing strategy element.

Godfather II helps put you in the Don mood by adding what is called "The Don's View." Hitting the "Y" button at anytime will call up a 3D map of the surrounding area, in this case, Miami. It shows all the various rackets and crime rings and the families that are running them. Using this map you can strategize exactly how you will take over the city, conquering multiple crime rings at once if necessary. Another added advantage of The Don's View is the ability to send your hired gunmen out to various locations to do your bidding while you accompany your own handpicked crew on various misdeeds.

The Right Man for the Job

Being the Don, you can hire whoever you like on to your crew. There are a variety of different thugs with a myriad of skills at your disposal. The trick is making sure you have assembled the right crew to carry out the crime at hand. Breaking into that high security building is going to be much easier if you have someone who knows of how to disarm alarms on your team. Each crew member comes with an innate set of skills that can be leveled up and adjusted to suit your nefarious needs.

In our opinion, The Godfather II has a ways to go before it is completed and hopefully will play to its strengths. The strategy element is an interesting addition and is really where the game shines. If EA can get the rest of the title to line up with that element, or at least take a back seat to it, this could turn out to be an interesting title. As it stands now though, a lot of work will have to be done to make it stand apart from the pack. Otherwise, I doubt it will grab the attention of many people besides die-hard fans of the Godfather franchise.

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