Presents Playthrough #1: The Godfather Part 2
By fraser 1 Comments
Today marked the beginning of the post-Christmas playthrough festival. Opening line up;
This blog will look at, perhaps the most disputed of those titles, The Godfather Part 2, and I'll turn to the others tomorrow and the day after, and so on and so forth.
I bloody love The Godfather Part 2.
(I don't bloody love having to write "Part 2" after it each time but we'll let that pass.)When I was 15, a niave teenager in the prime of my youth, I asked my tall, slightly unbalanced friend if he could try and buy a PS2 copy of The Godfather for me. We chose WHSmith's on the off chance that the clerks would be unfamiliar with certificate rules and would overlook my friend's 3 year disadvantage when it came to the whole being 18 thing. Luckily they did, and I spent about 6 months taking over businesses for the Corleone family and ignoring homework. I actually hold a special place in my heart for this game, I remember setting up an exercise bike in the loft (total bitch to carry up the stairs), and in an attempt to lose weight I would play whilst cycling and listening to Panic At The Disco's first album in its entirety.
Pretty cool teenager, no?
Some would say the first Godfather game was lacking, some would go further and say it was a bastardisation of a much loved franchise. I would disagree.
The Godfather is a great game.
- The gameplay is hella fun.
- The atmosphere is nailed to a surprisingly engaging degree.
- This is an open world game that actually has things to do it. Many things in fact, if we ignore that each one was a minor variant (at best) on the one before it.
- They worked a character and missions round the story in a respectful manner which seemed believable whilst never betraying the source material.
Ok, we should probably get something else straightened out as well;
It's been a while since I played The Godfather and it could be absolute bollocks.
So with that admission out the way, lets get onto Part 2.
First Impressions
OH MY LORD IS THIS GAME VIOLENT. Seriously, check this out.
Honestly the first thing that struck me, and the one thing I'm thinking of now is how fucking brutal this game is. Rather annoyingly Redwood Shores/Visceral Games felt it necessary to change what used to be the "grab" button into the terrifying "execute" one. Many a pensioner has come to their end through my inability to comprehend this control change.
All in all this game, so far at least, is just an extension of the first game. Head to rival business, intimidate store owner, take over racket. Repeat until you own EVERYTHING EVER. The gameplay is still satisfying and fun, and taking over business rarely gets tiresome because of this. I can, however, see reasoning behind the problems levelled against the game;
- Little to no respect, or even interest, is granted to the source material.
- Character models and voice acting are pretty poor.
- Graphically this game is a bit of a shambles considering GTA4 came out 2 years before it.
- The complexity of the Don's View mode is clunky and overwhelming in such a way that it all just unravels leaving a confused mess.
At my current point in the game I'm finding it hard to discover any story at all. It seems the story was sacrificed in favour of a more fleshed out racketeering simulator. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Missions that were previously optional extras now seem to be the guiding impulse to the game's narrative, making the rest of the world feel a little empty.
To anyone who has played this game, does the story become more prominent as the game progresses? Or does property ownership and circuit preservation remain as the main part of the game?
Here's something I'm struggling to reconcile in my mind;
Why does Saints Row 2 get so much more love than this game?
I'm not saying this to provoke attack, or to be edgy, but I honestly can't fathom why there is so much love and appreciation for Saints Row, whilst The Godfather gets slated at every opportunity.
Graphically, neither of them deserve too much praise to be honest. But simply in terms of gamplay I much prefer The Godfather. Saints Row 2 has always felt like a pc port to me; the fluidity of the cross-hair movement seems rather built-for-mouse-control, and the hand-to-hand combat feels too weightless and flimsy. At least The Godfather has an aiming system that feels more intuitive (its no Uncharted, or Gears or anything) and great combat complete with disturbingly tactile executions.
I'm not saying that Saints Row is terrible and The Godfather is a masterpiece, but there's been such a gap in the response to these games that I can't get my head around.
I suppose I'm gonna have to throw this one out to the floor.
What's with the Saints Row love guys? Give the mob-boss underdog a chance. Please?