Godfather the Game

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Presents classic moments from the movies and original missions alongside memorable characters from the film
• Non-linear action-adventure gameplay -- countless choices for solving the family's problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both
• From mob hits and bank heists to drive-bys and extortion, you'll need a talent for intimidation and negotiation - these are your tickets to the top
• Use loyalty and fear to earn respect through interactions with characters in the world
• Decisions you make will have lasting consequences, just as it was in the mob underworld from the Godfather films

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000930DLO
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.5 inches ; 5.6 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: May 30, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,620 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #6 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Action > Shooter
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PlayStation2 | Edition: Standard

From the Manufacturer

Welcome to the Corleone family. After a life of small-time jobs and petty thefts, you’ve been accepted into America’s most famous criminal organization. Now it’s up to you to carry out orders, earn respect, rise through the ranks, and make New York City your own. Play your cards right and you could even be running everything as the next--and most powerful--Don.

A story about family, respect, and loyalty, The Godfather book by Mario Puzo and film by Paramount Pictures serve as inspiration for the game, as you join the Corleone family and earn respect through loyalty and fear while you rise through the ranks to become Don in a living, 1945-1955 New York. The Godfather video game will put you at the center of action in one of history’s most revered cinematic masterpieces, allowing you to create yourself in the game, and then choose your path as you rise from lowly outsider to envied and feared Don.

Featuring non-linear action-adventure gameplay, The Godfather will offer gamers countless choices for solving the family’s problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both. From mob hits and bank heists to drive-bys and extortion, step deep inside the world of The Godfather--where intimidation and negotiation are your tickets to the top. Players will use their powers of loyalty and fear to earn respect through interactions with characters in the world. Decisions made by the player in the game will have lasting consequences, just as it was in the mob underworld featured in The Godfather fiction.

The Godfather film from Paramount Pictures featured some of Hollywood’s finest actors, and several are contributing to the game’s development. All character likenesses from the movie will be included, and lending their voices to add a dramatic and cinematic touch to the game are the late Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, James Caan as Sonny Corleone, and Robert Duvall as consigliore Tom Hagen.

Features:

• The world of The Godfather: experience a decade of violence in New York City from 1945-55.
• Classic film moments: non-linear action-adventure gameplay with missions direct from the film and original missions with characters from the film provide an experience for all types of gamers.
• Put yourself in the Godfather: players will create their own mobster and put themselves in the action of the game and experience the fiction of The Godfather.
• Respect and consequences: Players will use their powers of loyalty and fear to earn respect throughout New York City. Decisions made by the player in the game will have lasting consequences.
• Persistent world: Your character will interact freely with other characters in the world. Depending on your needs in the game and how you choose to play the game, by violent or intimidating means or respectful or negotiating means, the characters in the world will remember your interactions with them and your interactions will affect the outcome of the game.
• Compete for New York: the control of New York will be challenged by the five families from the fiction including the Tattaglia, Cuneo, Sollozzo, Brazini, and Stracci families.
• Mark Winegardner, author of the novel Godfather Returns, provided story editing and fiction insight.

Product Description

Welcome to the Corleone family. After a life of small-time jobs and petty thefts, you’ve been accepted into America’s most famous criminal organization. Now it’s up to you to carry out orders, earn respect, rise through the ranks, and make New York City your own. Play your cards right and you could even be running everything as the next-and most powerful-Don.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "When you're old enough and the time is right, you will take your revenge...", May 19, 2006

By 

Michael Crane (Orland Park, IL USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Godfather (Video Game)

You know, it's been quite some time since I've found myself glued to a videogame where in my mind hours become seconds. I say to myself that I'm only going to play for a few minutes--fifteen, tops--next thing you know, three hours have gone by.

The last game to do that to me was "GTA: San Andreas." I thought there would never be another game that would hook me like that. I was wrong. Boy, was I ever wrong.

"The Godfather" for PS2 is an addicting and gripping game that throws you into the world of the Mafia and links you to the classic storyline found in the film. You play an older son with a score to settle. Your father was wiped out by Don Barzini right in front of you when you were little. Don Corleone tells you that when you're old enough, you will take your revenge. Now all grown up, you aim to serve your Godfather and move up the ranks from an outsider to becoming a made man and then some. If you're clever enough, you might even become Don. If you're ruthless enough to wipe out all of your enemies, you can become the Don of NY. The decision is up to you.

The game gives you the classic storyline that we all love and know from the movie, only it involves you. The missions will be very familiar to the famous scenes we have seen over and over again. Not only that, but in GTA fashion you are given a lot of freedom to do things on your own. You can shake down rival businesses using various "negotiation tactics." Need some extra cash? Rob a bank. Better yet, hijack a rival truck and steal the goodies inside. You're given a giant world to interact with. Whether you decide to play the missions straight through or do some freelancing, many opportunities to enjoy the game are to be had.

The graphics are pretty impressive. Players who are familiar with the GTA games will have an easier time getting used to the controls and the various camera angles. The look and feel are very identical. If you want my honest opinion, I actually enjoy this game a lot more than any of the GTA games, but that's because I'm such a fan of the movie. It's great that you get to relive your favorite scenes and be a part of the action.

Cons: The missions can be tricky and sometimes even downright frustrating. A good majority of them are timed so it may take you a few times to get a mission done just right. I understand the timer in some missions, but sometimes they get a little ridiculous and I feel that they're just trying to throw some unneeded obsticles in your path. The good news is that there are tons of checkpoints for each mission, so if you fail or die you will not have to start all over again. Also, the game can be glitchy at times. Now, I haven't seen anything major that disrupts my playing at all but I've heard some people with earlier copies that had some major problems, so be careful about that.

I could go on and on about this game, but I'm sure it's all been said before. You want my verdict? I love this game and think it's a blast to play. "The Godfather" is bound to be a classic. If you're a fan of the movie or the GTA games, then give it a shot. I have beat the game twice already, and I still find myself playing it all over again more and more.

If you have no free time whatsoever, then stay away. This game will consume you, whether you like it or not. You have been warned. The offer has been made. Don't you dare try to refuse it if you know what's good for you. - Michael Crane

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This game is GTA on steroids, March 23, 2006

By 

Malprave (Batavia, NY) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Godfather (Video Game)

I stopped over at a friend's house the day that this game came out after he had bought it, not expecting that I would be driving out to Wal-Mart that very night to get a copy for myself.

As soon as the game started, it was obvious that The Godfather was not going to be an average game. The "Mobface" feature in the beginning of the game that allows you to create and customize your own character is truly revolutionary. Any game that allows you to change any physical feature about your character down to the width of the bridge of their nose and if they have smile lines or not is just insane.

About 56 minutes later, we had finally gotten our character just the way we wanted. I was already sure I was going to have to go out and get it for myself, and we hadn't even played it yet.

So what's it like? The interface is indeed very much like the Grand Theft Auto series, set in an uber-cool Mafia setting. Yet it's what you can do with that interface that makes The Godfather entirely separate from any GTA game. First of all, the controls are very ingeniously thought out and easy to learn. Instead of hitting any one button to punch and hit enemies (which you'll be doing a lot of initially), you simply target them with L1 and then move the right analog stick to hit them again and again as many times as you need to. You can even duck and dodge around simply by moving the analog sticks.

A main component to this game that really got me hooked once we were in gameplay was the business extortion. They give you a map and say, basically, "The family needs to take back Little Italy and get some money." Take your pick of which businesses you want to target, in what order, from what family, what technique you'll use to intimidate the business owner, etc. It's frustrating when you get tough business owners who aren't easily flustered - you can beat them up to a point to scare them, but you might end up killing them before their compliance meter passes the critical level. Likewise, if you push them too far, the meter will enter a "red zone" that is different for each character and causes them to fight back. Good luck getting a deal. I remember feeling more than a little bit irritated that I accidentally pummeled to death the person I needed to hand me the keys, essentially. After you leave the business, it closes for a while due to a "death in the family", but I believe it opens again after a while.

Once you get into the gameplay, you'll know what I mean. And there are just some things that you are not gonna find on GTA that make this game sweet and had us erupting into incredulous laughter on more than one occasion. Feel free to check out the "Execution Styles" checklist on one of the pause menus. As you kill people in various ways, the game will check off the methods on your list. Some of them are so obscurely named (let your imagination run wild with whatever a "Stained Glass Execution" is) that it's going to be interesting to try and find out how to achieve that method of execution.

Taking all these great features and putting it into a setting as dynamic as The Godfather is just over the top and more than I could ever express in words in this review. There's so many more features I haven't even touched base on - taking over racketeering businesses, attacking supply trucks and warehouses, going out on contract hits. If there's anything this game is not, it's definitely not a GTA knockoff. The Godfather makes GTA ripoffs look like virtual cricket matches.

The Godfather made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and you won't be able to either.

32 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Game You Cannot Refuse, March 22, 2006

By 

J. G. Malta "jgeoff.com" (Toms River, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Godfather (Video Game)

I was one of 10 people from around the world (one flew in from Naples!) invited to Electronic Arts in San Francisco to preview the game, meet and talk with the game developers, and take a tour of EA's main campus.

I'm not much of gamer in general. The last console I owned was a Sega, ok? So, I nervously (yet also curiously) sat down with this game to give it a shot.

Wow. First off, the graphics were great! (Personally, I think the X-BOX version looked a little better than the PS2 version, but both were really nice. However, the PC version of course blew them both away). There was no "official confirmation" -- nor denial -- of a 360 version in the works, but I have a feeling they're working on that for a later release. Incidentally, they're also going to release a special edition which will include a DVD with special features (making-of) for the console versions.

Anyway, back to the game itself: I played mostly on the PS2 version, and have always had trouble with all those buttons. That's just me, of course. But I tell you, I had fewer problems with this game than most others I've tried -- the "Black Hand" controls were quite intuitive for once, and it never felt like I had to fumble around to find the right button.

What's unique -- and wonderful!! -- about this game is that you are NOT Vito or Michael or Sonny or anyone like that, but you are you -- your own character (that you can even create to look however you want to the most minor detail) interacting with the characters from the movie. You start out as a lowly hood and work your way up the ranks by first strong-arming shop keepers for protection money, bribing cops, and going on specific missions set forth by Clemenza or other characters. What is REALLY cool is that you can be doing your thing and at any moment, a major scene from the movie will happen, say, outside the window!

For instance, while in a shop muscling the shopkeeper, outside I saw Don Vito get shot, and my new mission was then to kill the would-be assassins before escorting the ambulance to the hospital! And what's great is, events such as these happen pretty much chronologically, and pretty true to the story -- the movie and surprisingly also the book itself.

One of my favorite features was walking down the street, and hearing passers-by having conversations! Very much like real life.

The idea of the game, of course, is to move up in rank in the Corleone family by earning money and respect. As you progress, you'll be taking control of neighborhoods and the compounds themselves of the Barzini's, Tattaglia's, Stracci's and Cuneo's (the other 4 of the 5 Families). Your ultimate goal is to be The Don of NY/NJ controlling everything.

Some of Marlon Brando's dialogue was used I was told, but they got a terrific voice actor to record bits they needed afterwards. Of course, Caan, Duvall, and Vigoda lent their voices as well, and I was told that they had a terrific time doing it! (We saw some footage of them, which will be on the bonus DVD of the special edition).

All in all, I was VERY impressed with this effort from EA! And even tho I'm not much of a gamer, this is definitely one that I will spend some time with!

I think all Godfather fans (not just gamers) will love to check this out!

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