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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great game, but short, November 4, 2006
= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Godfather: Mob Wars (Video Game)
Fans of the movie should enjoy this game. It puts you in the movie, participating in many of the famous scenes from a background perspective. If you ever wondered how they got the horse's head in the guys bed, this game offers a solution.
My only disappointment is that it was relatively short, only took about three days to finish and was somewhat easy once you learn a few tricks (like let the guys come to you instead of rushing a bunch of guys).
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Comes up a little short, September 30, 2006
= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Godfather: Mob Wars (Video Game)
It's an enjoyable game, and the premise is cool: you're the guy behind the scenes of the original movie, doing the Corleones' dirty work. You're the guy Clamenza tells to "leave the gun. Take the cannoli," you put the horse head in the director's bed, etc...
Unfortunately, one week after purchasing the game, I've finished both the story mode and mob wars section. I've never played the console version, but I'd read that there was a free roam mode and driving missions that were taken out of the PSP version.
That's too bad, cause I think it could have been as good as "Grand Theft Auto, Liberty City Stories." Instead, missions that you can tell were supposed to have a driving component suddenly skip ahead, and there's not that many missions in the story mode. Once you get to the baptism of Michael's nephew, you start hoping that maybe it will cover some of the story from the second movie, but no such luck.
The Mob Wars component is supposed to make up for that which was dropped from the console game, but it's a huge letdown. It's basically like playing Risk. Instead of rolling dice to compete for a territory, you get a 1st person shooter mission. But there's only a handful of these, so if you think that the building you're going into in New Jersey seems exactly like the one you went into in Brooklyn on a previous turn, you're right.
Once you've figured out that there will be three guys behind the door at a given point, it's not much of a challenge. And once you figure out that a "move three territories" card will get you into an enemy family's compound, you're pretty much done. Each compound is the exact same mission. Go into two buildings, place a bomb in the basement, and run outside. Repeat in the second building. Wipe out each rival family's compound and you've won the game.
And that's it. I was expecting some bonus mission or something that would unlock once I completed everything, but there wasn't.
The game play is fun, and the music is good. I've been whistling the movie theme for a week now. I also like that I have a few of my favorite clips from the movie at the touch of a button, but I'm kind of wishing I'd picked this up used. $40.00 seems like a lot to shell out for a game that doesn't last that long.
Overall, I think that EA dished out sloppy seconds to the PSP audience to make a quick buck. I would have rather waited on development, if it would have had more missions and free play.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Leave the game. Take the cannoli., January 2, 2007
= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Godfather: Mob Wars (Video Game)
"Godfather: Mob Wars" gets full marks for atmosphere, but after a fun start the game gets bogged down by a clumsy turn-based interface and repetitive level design.
The idea is a good one: you play a young street hood named Aldo, who is eager to rise through the ranks of the Corleone family after his father is murdered for his loyalty to Don Vito. The game takes Aldo through the Godfather movie's most famous set-pieces, from the murder of Salozzo to the baptism finale, all the while coming up with clever ways to place the gamer at the heart of the action. Whether you're planting a gun for Michael Corleone, or assassinating Don Barzini on the steps of the courthouse, you will feel truly immersed in the action.
The presentation is impressive, with crisp and detailed graphics (for the characters at least), an excellent soundtrack and unlockable film clips adding to the atmosphere. The relentless cut-scenes can be a bit exhausting, however, and after the initial wave of excitement it has to be said that the lack of gameplay depth becomes evident.
The main bulk of the game is made up of third-person shooting missions, in which you are given various Grand Theft Auto-style objectives to complete. These are often enjoyable, especially when you get the hang of shooting, which involves making use of walls and crates as cover before firing off a volley of bullets. There is also not too much of an emphasis on stealth, which means that if you make good use of cover you can get away with shooting on sight, which is always more fun.
But the gameplay quickly unravels after the first few missions, when you are introduced to the "Mob Wars" sub-game. The turn-based system of "Mob Wars" involves playing cards, recruiting gangsters and extorting rackets across the city while fending off the four other crime families. But despite the window-dressing, the main content still involves running around, hiding behind crates and shooting gangsters to gain more territory. Even worse, you can get rid of an entire family's territories in one swoop by blowing up their compound, which is actually far easier than ploughing through the city's rackets one by one. Once you work out where the enemies are hiding in each compound - not difficult as all four are identical - it doesn't take long to beat the "Mob Wars" half of the game.
The rest of "Story Mode" also develops some frustrating flaws as you progress. The camera is incredibly annoying, getting stuck behind walls and refusing to show you who is riddling you with bullets. Bad clipping and faulty targeting also crop up - on one occasion I had to kill a policeman whose head and arms were sticking out of a staircase. The missions can also feel a bit rushed sometimes, particularly as they sometimes involve getting from point A to point B just to get to the next cut-scene. I don't mind linear gaming, but when the mission area is a straight road that you cannot divert from, there's clearly a problem.
Ultimately "The Godfather: Mob Wars" is a disappointing attempt to tag on a turn-based conceit to a heavily diluted version of the console game. It would have been better to emphasise the "Mob Wars" side of things with a more complex system and better missions. There is some fun to be had, whether it's silently garotting guards on your way to a horse beheading or throwing Molotov cocktails into a warehouse full of mobsters, but it's too short-lived to be a lasting experience.
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