Reviews of godfather game

Add your rating See all 14 parent reviews. Add your rating See all 32 kid reviews. Players control a young hood whose mother asks Don Vito Corleone to find a place for him in his more established -- and somehow more respectable -- crime family. Players work their way up in the syndicate's structure by extorting businesses controlled by rival families, performing contract killing, and generally hustling on the street. When Vito Corleone faces a life-or-death crisis, players make a name for themselves in the organization and begin their fight to become crime king of New York.

Fans of the movies may have fun with the Godfather -based material: Familiar faces and scenes pop up, and dialogue is often straight from the movie.

Players chat with hotheaded Sonny Corleone or drive the hapless Fredo around town. They hide the gun for Michael to retrieve and visit Hollywood to deposit a bloody -- uh, present -- in the bed of an uncooperative producer. But there aren't enough of these moments. Mostly players operate around the Godfather story, not getting involved in its unfolding.

Missing that connection, The Godfather: The Game seems to exploit the most brutal aspects of the films without expanding its narrative. What we're left with is a well-executed and fun-enough Grand Theft Auto knock-off with all the associated liabilities dressed up in a snappy pinstriped suit.

Families can talk about how the Academy Award-winning film and cast Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall both lend their voices to the game influence the perception of the game.

Is the violence and vulgarity legitimized by The Godfather name? Can movie-based video games ever be something more than an extended marketing vehicle for their source material? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

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The Godfather: The Game. Parents recommend Popular with kids. Gory game may satisfy movie's fans -- adults only. Rate game. You do this by simply walking into a store and talking to the owner. Usually the owners won't simply give in, but you can intimidate them by smashing up their stores or their faces until they start to see things your way.

Once you take over a business, you get a payout each week, and there are dozens of shops you can shake down all throughout the five areas of New York. Some stores are fronts for illegal rackets, such as brothels, gambling dens, and illegitimate importing operations, and you can buy out these rackets to further increase your weekly income.

Extorting businesses and taking over rackets isn't all there is to do, though. There are plenty of story missions that you'll pick up as you play. Some missions are taken directly from the movie. You'll have to drive the Don to the hospital after he's gunned down in the street, travel to Hollywood to reenact the famous horse head scene, plant the pistol for Michael Corleone to use to off Sallazzo in the diner, and more.

Most of the scenes are very faithfully re-created for the game, and it's great to be able to take part in some of the most memorable moments from the film, such as Sonny's ambush at the toll plaza and the assassinations of the Dons intercut with scenes from the baptism of Michael Corleone's niece. In fact, the best part of The Godfather is that it handles the source material respectfully and manages to offer enough new content to feel like more than just a by-the-numbers adaptation of the movie.

Helping to keep the game faithfully tied to the movie is the accurate depictions of the Corleone family members. With the exception of Michael, all of the characters look and sound just like they did in the movie. The voice acting is mostly excellent, with the exception being some of the stock characters that populate the city beyond the Corleone compound. The music is taken directly from the movie, and while you'll hear the main theme a few too many times throughout the game, the music adds a nice touch of authenticity.

This game borrows heavily from GTA, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. In addition to the characters, the city of New York has been carefully rendered in detail, and you can spot specific scenes from the film as you travel the streets of Little Italy, Brooklyn, Midtown, Hell's Kitchen, and New Jersey. The city might be a bit too accurate, though, because some of the streets are confusing, making it a hassle to get around town.

There are a lot of interiors in the game as well, which you can freely enter without any load times. Unfortunately, most of the interiors are heavily recycled, so you'll see the exact same bakery, hotel, flower shop, and mob-family compound several times throughout the game. The Godfather borrows heavily from the Grand Theft Auto series of games, so you can expect the same senseless violence and absurd mayhem those games are known for.

You can steal cars, run down pedestrians, shoot people at random, and evade the police. As you commit crimes, your heat gauge increases, and anywhere from one to five badge icons will appear on the screen to indicate how badly the cops want to take you down. It's easy to avoid the police for the most part, and you can bribe them if you don't feel like a chase.

If you don't bribe them, they'll try to run you off the road, but the cars handle so well in the game that you can deftly weave through traffic to avoid being caught.

If you are caught, you're simply killed, which isn't such a big deal, since you get revived at the nearest hospital for a small fee. You might as well get used to it though, because you'll die often in The Godfather. Some of the missions are quite difficult, usually because you have to face dozens of mobsters all by yourself.

It also doesn't help that a single round from a shotgun can take you down in an instant. You can find health tonics from time to time, but you'll need to take cover and plan your attack wisely if you want to live. You never know when a mob war will break out, so it's best to carry plenty of weapons with you at all times.

The gunplay in The Godfather is simple but effective. You can lock on to enemies with the press of a button, and you can duck or back up against a wall for cover.

If you want, you can switch to free aim mode, which controls a lot like your standard first-person shooter, where one stick controls your movement and the other controls your aim. GameSpot Reviews. The Godfather Review Reviewed on: X Player Reviews.

Average Player Score Based on ratings. Please Sign In to rate The Godfather. Score Breakdown Based on ratings. Rating: 8. The offer you couldn't refuse just got better. Rating: 3.

Very akward controls and bad graphics make this a big dissapointment. Should have stayed a console game. What Gamespot Users have to say about The Godfather. Rating: 5. Rating: The Godfather in the film and novel built a network and gave orders. All you get to do is take down NYC by yourself.