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Title The Godfather
Game Type Shoot-em-up
Company U.S. Gold
Players 1
HD Installable Yes (With Patch)
Compatibility All (With Patch)
Submission Adrian Simpson Profiled Reviewer

Review
The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2 are simply amazing movies (Part 3 is good,
but not up to the standard of the first two). They have deep and
multi-layered plots. The characters are complex and the films drip with
atmosphere. They cover decades and generations of the Corleone family.
They also have an excellent score. So, given this opportunity to bring the
films to computer screens, what did U.S. Gold decide to do? They had the
main character plod along levels and shoot gangsters! Create an adventure
game, based on the film? No, that would be too obvious.

The game starts promisingly enough, with a picture of Al Pacino, a very
talented actor. It launches into an atmospheric intro, which explains the
setting of New York and slowly moves down to the street. The intro leads
directly into the game, which is a nice touch - the animation ends on the
first screen of the game.

In the actual game, you proceed to plod along the street, firing your
pistol every now and again at gangsters. They appear from doorways, in
windows and walking along the street. You can pick health kits up from the
dead, in time-honoured tradition. Some skill is involved in avoiding the
(strangely slow-moving) bullets, and also not shooting policemen and
innocents, such as the mothers with prams. If you shoot too many
innocents, then your family will disown you. They may be back-stabbing,
murdering thieves, but they do have a mafia honour! Interestingly, the
word mafia is never used in the Godfather films - 'family' is used instead.

If you happen to die or be disowned, you can see more animation, but
otherwise it is a one-way trip to Repetition City. The
walking-along-and-shooting gameplay is also very similiar to another
uninspiring film licence called Robocop.

The Blues Brothers was an example of a great game that is nothing like the
film (platform game for a comedy/musical/road-movie?), so The Godfather
has no excuse. It could have been so good, but instead it is shallow and
repetitive. Therefore, it is nothing at all like the film that it takes
its name from.