Godfather II Preview
Thug life! EA promises mob hits, double crosses, strippers and millions of dollars. It look like an offer we can’t refuse.
In 2006, Electronic Arts did something few companies achieve; it created a movie-based game that doesn’t suck. The Godfather is a Grand Theft Auto-style adventure that features content from the Oscar winning film and Mario Puzo’s novel while allowing gamers to kill bad guys and extort businesses. Its nonstop blasting wasn’t revolutionary, but the superb presentation gave EA a great foundation to build from. Of course, there’s only one place to go after releasing The Godfather, and that’s The Godfather II. Due for a February 2009 release, this open world game still has you driving around sprawling 3-D cities and scaring the crap out of people, but there’s an intriguing layer of strategy that’ll appeal to any would be Don.
The Godfather II takes place in 1960s Florida, Cuba and New York. As one of the Corleone family’s thugs, it’s your job to extort businesses and battle rival families for control of these cities. Now at first glance, the game looks very similar to its predecessor. It’s a 3-D open world adventure in which you car jack vehicles, beat people up and break things; EA willingly admits that 80 percent of the game is action based, but you’ll need more than a gun to become Don. In order to take over your territory, you’ll also play The Godfather II like a real time strategy game.
Each city has a series of businesses and your ultimate goal is to control everything. This includes oil companies, sports bars, casinos, strip clubs, diners, drive-ins and other hot spots. To do this, you’ll need to think like a Don. That entails assigning hits, forming alliances, double crossing rivals, commanding your crew, recruiting new guys (and not just any guys but the right ones) and monopolizing crime rings. You’ll still accept missions, except in this game everything has a consequence. It’s a persistent world, so you might attack a storage company, only to discover that another family just bombed your sports bar. Now it’s up to you to react. Do you continue breaking into the storage company or drop everything and protect your investments? You should probably do the latter, since everything you own has the potential to turn a profit, and the last thing you want is a lighter bank account.
It’s also in your best interest to assign guards to these places for protection, and it’s here where you’ll need to do some serious micro-managing. Each goon has a back-story and skill set. Someone that’s never been arrested, for example, can easily spring out of jail. Others are arsonists, thieves or demolition experts, and you have the option of upgrading their skills over time. For example, you can beef up a chain cutter’s stats so he cuts through chain link faster, thus speeding up your mission time. All of this is critical to success, since you’ll need to pick the right men for every job.
Once you have the best crew, you can tackle a mission any number of ways. Going through the enemy’s front door is the most dangerous approach, since the guards immediately open fire. Going through the back, however, significantly lessens the odds of detection, and if you’re good, you’ll cut the phone lines so your victims can’t call for help. You can also instruct your buddies to create a decoy while you flank, mowing down your enemies with gunfire or annihilating them with an explosive device.
When it comes to killing, you should make sure you go after certain people. Killing an underboss (a family’s second in command), for instance, will potentially cripple that family’s monopoly and how they do business, especially if they cannot replace him. It’s not always about murdering just anyone; you’ll want to hit them where it hurts.
Extortion plays a huge role in The Godfather II, as it is an essential way to control businesses. You and your guys will walk into a place and break things; your thugs will even guard the door and alert you when the cops arrive. As for intimidating folks, each business owner has a weak spot that, if you find it, makes them crack. One guy, for instance, freaks out any time you take his face and press it onto a sizzling grill (no surprise), so when you do that, he’ll cave and fork over the cash. Always remember that maximum pressure equals maximum dollars.
In addition, creating monopolies is a key to success because of the upsides. Not only do you earn more cash, but you’ll also receive upgrades for you and your men. Having a gun monopoly, for example, gives you extra clips.
Because this is a persistent world, EA offers a unique way to monitor the goings on with the Don’s View. Any time during play, you can zoom out the camera and view a world map that displays all businesses, who controls them as well as any criminal activity. It’s a great way to exploit your enemies’ weaknesses. If you see two families killing each other, wait until someone wins and then roll in, full force, and take them out.
If everything comes together, The Godfather II should be a hit. We’re not sure whether the real time shooting and driving will mesh well with the real time strategy elements, but it’s also too early to tell if EA can pull this off. At the same time, it’s not often we see an open world game with this kind of depth, and we’re looking forward to becoming the most feared mobster in history.
