"Don John, I need a favor....Can you tell me about this game?"

Sep 10, 2010

by TheJohn
posted in The Gaming Hub

Rating:

The Godfather game on PS2 was my first sandbox game and I fell in love with it. The sequel does up the ante in a few places, pulls back on others and as it stands is a worthy sequel.

Following the movie closely starts off in Cuba and helping Michael and Fredo get on a plane to go back home to New York to learn things there are going out of control. Some events play out of order like the Rosato Brothers double crossing Frank Pantangeli or having Michael trusting Fredo AFTER the escape from Cuba only to find out later when Hyman Roth manipulates you further. More gangs were created for the game unlike the previous game which had names at least pulled from the movie. Your job is to extort businesses and rackets for their money and hold onto them so that no other gangs muscle in on your turf while following story lines reasonably close to the movie (none of the cutbacks to Vito's growing up is mentioned.) Set a course on your map and use the new "Don's View" to see where all the hot spots are, how many men are guarding it and what rackets like prostitution or gambling is going on.

Buying your weapons and ammo is gone. You find them. Revolvers, tommy guns, shotguns and more. While you no longer need to save up your money for ever and a day to buy a Dillenger Tommy Gun, but you have to WAIT till you get certain missions or maps unlocked to get to the weapons. Upgrading your skills of you and your men still exists but you need your money to do that. Your clothes are all unlocked and you can dress up your men and yourself as you see fit.

Being the Don gets you your own family to control and bringing new guys on at certain intervals with they're own trades. Bruisers can break down doors or phones so that your enemies can't call for backup. Medics can heal you if you get too hurt. Demoltions men are handy for making holes in walls and bombing buildings or the rival families house. Thankfully all of the houses and buildings you go to in this game are different and aren't just redresses of the same 10 or 20 buildings you've been in before. Sometimes you can get lost in them.

The biggest improvement to the game over the first game is that there aren't NEARLY as many businesses and fronts to take over. There are maybe 10 or so each map and each one gets you a step closer to gaining benefits when you take them over. Getting the diamond monopoly taken over gets your guys bulletproof vests. Chopshops gets you armored cars. The drug business (a dirty business said Don Vito in the first movie) gets you double your money. Your rival families will try and take back these trades so you need to hire guards to back those places up. Sometimes they just DO take over and you don't get a chance to send back up. Intimidating the racketeer is at least easier. 10 to 1 if they're up on a roof that they're weakness is being thrown off of it and most are susceptible to being punched or choked.

The game still has a challenge. If you aren't upping your skills for more health or fast reloading of your weapon, you will get overtaken even when you have 3 guys backing you up. Rival mobsters can swarm you and thankfully you can "lock on" to them to shoot them down. Finding the nicer guns as soon as you can definitely helps. Take your time, advance on the targets and let them have it, inch by inch the game is easier then the first Godfather, and it's far less repetitive. If you don't cut power to a building or get the phone broken then your enemies can call for reinforcements. Open shootings, hit and runs or robbing cars outside of structures can get eyewitnesses on you and if you stick around, the cops will come after you, so be careful with what you do.

Going around town, you can find people who need help. "A favor from the Don." Some favors can include some extra money. Break into a safe for them, smash up a store or assassinate someone for them. Other favors are nicer including finding out where enemie Capo's and Underbosses hide out and how best to put them out of action (Execute with Magnum, use firebomb etc) simply emptying their health will just put them in the hospital only to be back. Ending them the correct way puts them in their grave. The best favors come from cops and other officials which get your businesses open sooner after being bombed, your guys out of the hospital quicker or cops off your back. It really gives you more of the feeling of being in the mob, rather then just a thug who gets paid for smashing things up. You can still rob banks and make getaways to a safehouse. There is only one safehouse per map sadly. Bribing cops can still be done, when you can find the cops since they are a little more elusive.

The one thing I that really feels odd about this game and more over the first game is that at numerous times, you go to ask Fredo or Hyman Roth for advice on how to proceed next. Hearing each character tell you things like, "upgrade your men Don, the stronger they are, the more they can help you take over businesses!" Also hearing your character hitting on girls with the "talk dirty" command and commenting on topless girls breasts and behind REALLY feels skeevy for The Godfather which I've always thought of as having some class.

Godfather II got a bad wrap for taking too much away and giving very little back. Anything they took away I didn't miss much and almost everything they added was welcome. I hope for a Godfather III and hopefully not a dead fish that everyone thought this game was.

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Quick Tip by TheJohn. September 26, 2010

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A Quick Tip by TheJohn

Improves much over the original game and leaves only a little behind in your mission to control Florida and Cuba's crime rings.

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review by Steveo. April 11, 2009

So Bad, It's Excruciating

Words really can't express just how disappointed I was in this game. The trailers for it, made it seem just as good as the first, if not better with its innovative "Don's View." The first game drew a lot of controversy and attention due to the fact that it contained voice acting from the legendary Marlon Brando and other actors from the movie. It also apparently had people who were involved in the movie as consultants towards the atmosphere and the mafia underworld of 1930s New York in the video … more

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About the reviewer

John Nelson (TheJohn)
Ranked #2

Born in Wausau Wisconsin. Move at an early age to Ventura California and lived for 8 years. Growing up in a big city landscape didn't prepare me for my next move: Archbold Ohio with a population of … more