One of the most lucrative video game licenses: Grand Theft Auto is the envy of others and its success does not leave other publishers indifferent, looking for a new goose that lays the golden egg. After attempts at more or less successful adaptations with the True Crime series and others driver, it is the turn of the American giant to embark on the genre. King of the license, Electronic Arts jumps on the very prestigious image of the Godfather and offers us a Mafia-like sauce.
welcome to the family
"A work that was just waiting for a video game adaptation" to use David DeMartini's own words, The Godfather is also and above all a myth that fans would not bear to see distorted. Aware of this imperative, the developers of Electronic Arts therefore insisted on taking up the cult passages (the shooting of the Don dropping his oranges, the horse's head resting on the bed, etc.) and it is no surprise that the game opens with the assassination of the one who will ultimately turn out to be your father. After a few years of biting your brakes, you are now a man and it is under the protective wing of the Corleones that you will be able to take your revenge. After defining your look with the now traditional character editor, you are now taking your first steps in the street, learning to use the "black hand" system to molest your enemies. Largely inspired by the control of the fists of Fight Night, melee combat will indeed use the right analog stick to retransmit your movements and there is no hiding a certain sadistic pleasure in putting a man down to better pound his nose with his knees. Rather immersive, the control system takes on yet another dimension with the use of Sixaxis and its six-axis control. It's simple, when you strangle someone, you have to press both triggers and both analog sticks simultaneously. Some keystrokes are performed by flicking the controller forward or sideways. In the absence of vibrations, these movements and our tension on them really give the impression of holding the neck of the unfortunate between the fingers and it is with some difficulty that we will dare to let go of the pressure in time if we do not have to finish off our prey right away. Excellent surprise therefore, the handling of the Godfather is particularly effective and suggests the best for the next few hours.
An offer you can't refuse
Revealing your rise in the Corleone family and within New York itself, the main plot of the game will gradually familiarize you with all the possibilities offered and, between two missions often transcribing the most memorable passages of the first film of the trilogy, you will learn to gain respect and increase your income by "imposing" your protection services on the various businesses. If five families share the Big Apple, each obviously wants the monopoly and it will be up to you to make sure the Corleones are the first to get it. Once the guards of the rival clans have been eliminated in front of a shop, you can therefore ask the manager to change faction and, if he still seems to hesitate, a good tussle or a flight through his window will eventually convince him. Sometimes hiding clandestine activities behind these very civic facades, some stores will allow you to play a double blow by taking control of clandestine casinos or hotels offering the services of prostitutes and thus comfortably increasing your income. More difficult, the embezzlement of goods and transport of funds will launch you into chases where you will have to slalom both between traffic cars and between the balls of the sulphate machines of the owners but will ensure an already greater immediate income. Once your bank account is well stocked, you can then buy different apartments and hotel rooms across the city to ensure hiding places in each district, but also and above all to redo a wardrobe to show your progress in the family and thus gaining more respect.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
While it's easy to achieve right-hand man status by completing the main quests in about 7 hours of gameplay, becoming the Don of Everything New York will be another task and you'll need to earn the respect of other families to do so. After having increased the capacities of your character in an RPG style by having gained a few levels and experience points through your numerous mafia acts, you can then visit the Tattaglia (pronounced Tattalia) and other Barzini to show them who really controls the city. . Alongside the many weapons warehouses to recover, you will then above all have to succeed in infiltrating the properties of each family in order to blow up the buildings with a large number of bombs. More difficult than most of the missions that have so far allowed your ascent, these phases will require you to be well armed with black market dealers and you will need a certain skill to come out unscathed from your attempts. Fortunately, the shelters will be numerous to protect you and the location of the damage can save you some ammunition, even if these are generously recoverable from what is left of your victims. Note also in passing that the few secondary missions revealed under the name of "contracts" will regularly ask you to use this precision, revenge being even more pleasant when you can see the whites of the eyes of the person whose prolongs the suffering. Shooting a bullet in the shoulder will then disarm the mafioso targeted and a bullet in the knee will put him on the ground to better approach him and take him by the collar. Free but effective violence, the atmosphere of the film is indeed there, and beating on one and the same family will even lead to a war of clans. Once this is triggered, you then have 48 hours to blow up one of the businesses still under the control of the warring faction or use your wallet to bribe an FBI agent so that he leaves you alone and persists. rather on a now common enemy. Interesting in principle, the management of the police forces makes us on the other hand enter the list of black points of the game which come to taint a topo hitherto however satisfactory.
Beyond a jagged realization where well-modeled faces and impressive pyrotechnic effects rub shoulders with a very greyish graphic universe and rarely detailed textures, it's really the design errors that throw the fly in the soup of the Don . The New York police are indeed clearly understaffed and, apart from when it is provided for in the scenario, it is rather rare to meet them, unless you deliberately try to see them to give them some bribes and still be quieter than we already are. Seeing your wanted index go up when you commit a petty crime or a murder in an alley out of sight is then even more incomprehensible and the General Artificial Intelligence is often painful to see, especially when a rival family quietly lets pass when you have just taken control of one of your brands under your own nose. However, with good gameplay ideas and a strong license, The Godfather therefore lacks the finishing touches to become a reference, even if a lot of players will nevertheless find satisfaction in it.
