Post by The Chupster on Apr 14, 2009 13:08:02 GMT -5
Right off the bat, let me tell you: this game is a lot more than the sum of its parts.
In the Godfather II, you start off by creating a character, Dominic, who becomes the head of his own family of the mafia. From there, you'll be recruiting specialized family members from all over, taking over protection rackets and generally killing the shit out of people.
The bad news: the graphics are NOT that great. They're mediocre all the way; except for some of the facial modeling, this looks like a higher-resolution original XBox game. It's smoother, but a lot of the textures are a little muddy. Sound effects aren't anything special either, and the controls take a little getting used to- they just aren't as tight as you'd expect in a GTA clone like this, but you can learn to deal with it pretty quick. Animation is a mixed bag, with strippers doing their thing pretty well, but your character runs like he has a load in his jockey shorts.
The good news: everything else about the game is stellar. The voice acting is actually GOOD. The weapons are pretty cool and have some nice physics attached to them- you can blow a guy backwards through a door with a well-aimed shotgun blast, and that's always tops in my book. Building your family is fun and lets you do things your way, as every member of your family has a specialty of some sort- safecracking, arson, medic, etc. etc. etc.- which allows them to bring something really special to the gang.
You can have up to 3 gentlemen follow you around as you do whatever you end up doing, so this can help out on missions. However, you usually won't have a lot of problems unless you're just really outgunned, thanks to an awesome melee combat system.
With your melee combat, you can punch, throw knees, grapple, break peoples' arms, and execute them with various moves. This also plays into the intimidation factor as well, because you'll have to threaten a lot of folks to get them to toss their money your way.
Basically, it's a game of mafia takeover on top of a slick GTA-style game, and it's just flat-out fucking FUN. It doesn't hurt that this is the third game I've seen on a console with some actual female NUDITY in it. It's not full-frontal, but the strippers in the Godfather II have some of the best digital hooters in the business, second only to the high-res slave girls in Conan. Considering that both Saint's Row and GTA went BACKWARDS in terms of nudity in their recent offerings- at least, until GTA decided to go the complete opposite direction with digital PENIS in a game where we can't even see any boobs- this is a very welcome addition.
Overall, if you like your GTA tinged with some gang-style violence, and the over-the-top ultraviolence of Saint's Row just isn't your bag, the Godfather II is your game. The amount of customization you have with your gang is unprecedented on a console, and graphics aside- which are serviceable, it isn't like they all look like Legos or anything- this is one exceptionally well-put together title, and one that's definitely knocked my socks off this last week, because I wasn't expecting anything special out of it.
In the Godfather II, you start off by creating a character, Dominic, who becomes the head of his own family of the mafia. From there, you'll be recruiting specialized family members from all over, taking over protection rackets and generally killing the shit out of people.
The bad news: the graphics are NOT that great. They're mediocre all the way; except for some of the facial modeling, this looks like a higher-resolution original XBox game. It's smoother, but a lot of the textures are a little muddy. Sound effects aren't anything special either, and the controls take a little getting used to- they just aren't as tight as you'd expect in a GTA clone like this, but you can learn to deal with it pretty quick. Animation is a mixed bag, with strippers doing their thing pretty well, but your character runs like he has a load in his jockey shorts.
The good news: everything else about the game is stellar. The voice acting is actually GOOD. The weapons are pretty cool and have some nice physics attached to them- you can blow a guy backwards through a door with a well-aimed shotgun blast, and that's always tops in my book. Building your family is fun and lets you do things your way, as every member of your family has a specialty of some sort- safecracking, arson, medic, etc. etc. etc.- which allows them to bring something really special to the gang.
You can have up to 3 gentlemen follow you around as you do whatever you end up doing, so this can help out on missions. However, you usually won't have a lot of problems unless you're just really outgunned, thanks to an awesome melee combat system.
With your melee combat, you can punch, throw knees, grapple, break peoples' arms, and execute them with various moves. This also plays into the intimidation factor as well, because you'll have to threaten a lot of folks to get them to toss their money your way.
Basically, it's a game of mafia takeover on top of a slick GTA-style game, and it's just flat-out fucking FUN. It doesn't hurt that this is the third game I've seen on a console with some actual female NUDITY in it. It's not full-frontal, but the strippers in the Godfather II have some of the best digital hooters in the business, second only to the high-res slave girls in Conan. Considering that both Saint's Row and GTA went BACKWARDS in terms of nudity in their recent offerings- at least, until GTA decided to go the complete opposite direction with digital PENIS in a game where we can't even see any boobs- this is a very welcome addition.
Overall, if you like your GTA tinged with some gang-style violence, and the over-the-top ultraviolence of Saint's Row just isn't your bag, the Godfather II is your game. The amount of customization you have with your gang is unprecedented on a console, and graphics aside- which are serviceable, it isn't like they all look like Legos or anything- this is one exceptionally well-put together title, and one that's definitely knocked my socks off this last week, because I wasn't expecting anything special out of it.
