The Godfather (Xbox 360)

You will love the game if you like free-roaming, do anything games. The Godfather is set in a sprawling urban metropolis rife with things to do, cars to steal and money to be made. You can get money from businesses either by extortion (using a mini-game system) or other means, you build Respect and the more you have, the more things are unlocked and of course, the further you go as a gangster.

The gun combat system allows for specific targets, a little like the Everything or Nothing game and is a lot better than a lot of the lock-on systems in games of this type. I love knee-capping bad guys and then letting rip with a brutal execution killing move (Jack Thompson would not love this game) – there’s also a fight system for hand to hand that allows you to interact with the environment, beating thugs off the scenery never gets old.

The rest plays out through the story of the Godfather, it’s a lot like GTA and you can go anywhere, do anything, dodge cops and blast anyone you like. Actions have consequences and that’s all I am going to say regarding that.

Now onto the look of the game, the Godfather is a nice looking game and it’s got passable graphics – much better than the other version of the game and it definitely shines over that. There are some nice shadow and lighting effects, textures and character definitions. The weather effects are nice and explosions are jaw-dropping in their intensity.

The animation in the game is slick, the characters are well defined and their movements are pulled off without a hitch. There are no dodgy looking animations and there are some pivotal moments from the movies that are very well put together using the in-game engine.

The sound is also good, there’s a lot of various spot effects and the like that bring the city to life – gunshots are varied depending on the weapons, same with the vehicles and there’s a lot of various screams and groans from combat.

The music is likewise of great quality, with the score from the movie itself played at the opening of the game.

All in all there are a lot of GTA style games out there and if you already own Godfather for Xbox, you probably won’t want to buy the 360 version. But it does add a fair bit and offers a lot of varied gameplay, it isn’t quite in the league of the GTA series but it’s up there as a solid and enjoyable game.

It has Leaderboards for Xbox Live and there is a lot to see and do beyond the main storyline, with some of the best missions that come from a mission offer on the side. This is nice to see as I have always felt a lot of games have barely average side missions.

The Don should be smiling thanks to EA.