Vast Improvement Over the Original
The original Godfather game was a good idea that had some serious issues with execution. The game dragged on far too long, the difficulty became a bit comical, and there was nothing much to do outside of the somewhat repetitive gameplay. Visually, it DID look better than the same game on previous generation consoles, but it wasn't terribly impressive.
The sequel sought to correct the errors. Did it follow the real movie series and have a sequel that was better than the original?
Actually, yes.
Honestly, I've seen the reviews and I'm not getting the criticism. The game, for me, fixed the problems I had with the original title.
The three areas (NY, Florida, and Cuba) are all small enough to not make traversing the map an epic headache, but really laden with things to do. While the basic mission structures are unchanging (you do one of the following at all times: Kill a person, beat up a person, trash a location, bomb a building, or take over the compound of your rival family boss).
Truth be known, the game isn't nearly as repetitive as the prior game. You can choose to either kill the made men of your rival families, making taking over their buildings and destroying the final compound; or you can go after the businesses and remove the perks your opponents get. You also get the new Don's view, where you can send members of your crew to help defend properties under attack by other families. You can also assign guards to the properties, but you must keep in mind how much money you make and whether you can afford it. You can also do favors for corrupt officials and get benefits, such as having the police leave you alone or have the authorities do a sting on the highest ranking member of your rival family.
I actually like the game. I like it a lot. It's a terrific title. Not as good as GTA or Saints Row, but better than Just Cause. A really solid open world game.
