The Godfather series has gone down in cinematic legend, so it’s a shame that the first game-of-the-film didn’t live up to expectations. Now there’s a chance for EA to right that wrong, by following the second film’s better-than-the-first-one showing and therefore creating a game worthy of carrying the series’ name. It’s set for release in February 2009 – and we all know the punishment for missing a mob deadline.
The new game goes beyond the films by placing the player in the organised crime world of the 1960’s in Florida, Cuba, and New York. Being the ‘Don of New York’ the player will get to control and expand a criminal empire, so you’ll be hiring crew, promoting the top boys, and turning some of them into Made Men.
Executive Producer, Hunter Smith, had this to say – presumably under threat of violence-by-baseball-bat:
“In the 1960’s, a mafia Don was only as strong as his family,” said Hunter Smith, Executive Producer of The Godfather II. “We found the hierarchical culture of organized crime intriguing. Running an organized crime family in a world defined by family loyalty is something that we felt could introduce a new strategic element to the genre. That is what the Don’s View is all about – laying out a strategy to pick off the competition one by one. The Don’s View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new.”
The Godfather II will premiere exclusively on GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley on Friday, August 15th on Spike TV. The entire episode will be dedicated to The Godfather II including behind-the-scenes with the development team, the debut of the game trailer and a first look at the game itself. The trailer will also be available on August 18th at: http://godfather2.ea.com.
The strategy elements sound excellent, but stuff like this is never as well realised as it is hyped. We’ll reserve judgement on this one. And then give it 10/10 when writing the review under the watchful eyes of a gang of Made Men.
