Though good (or better yet, great) Gameplay is a staple good of any title, it’s a damnable shame when a franchise, based around a superb series of novels and films, must fall onto its Gameplay experience as a crutch. For all those of you who’ve played the Grand Theft Auto series in past, think of the exact same thing, with a minor twist. Strewn out across a maximum (we’re not kidding, after this you’re done) 20 hours of Gameplay, is an atrociously short adaptation of the story arc, met with a modification of some side quests.

For the most part of the game, you’ll spend your time being a lackey – go to a person, receive a task, do it, return. Rise, wash, repeat boredom. Apart from this drivel, laced between missions, there’s the proposition of making yourself money. Through the fine science of extortion, you must make a business owner respect you enough to jump the fence, and accept the Corleone’s protection. Though difficult at first, you can quickly and easily find a rhythm here, as tossing rival mobsters through store windows and bashing them through displays usually helps immensely. Once the businessman sees your point of view, it’s a set and forget matter – just walk away and he won’t trouble you any more. Just be careful though – some merchants will go over the line if pushed to far when you say, blow open their safe (there’s 100 safes to open, so you know). In the case of a business that operates as a front, the back door will stay locked until you take out the front – then it’s just a matter of going upstairs, killing off the guards, and bribing (or beating) the potential pimp/smugger/master of the dice into seeing your point of view. Unfortunately, such brute force doesn’t oft go unpunished, so after enough killing of your enemies, you’ll be locked into a mob war. Unless you pay an FBI agent off, or blow a business of theirs up in the next 45 minutes (real time), the war is lost, some businesses are smoldering, and you’re not as respected anymore.

Respect is a manner of “experience point” in the Godfather; for each task you do (killing, blowing open safes, robbing banks), you’ll receive a certain amount of respect. Doing things the hard way (for example, throwing somebody off an overpass in a contract hit, if it is so requested) will often earn you bonus points. Each time you take another step in the 50 levels of respect, you’ll be able to boost 1 of 5 stats. These stats will govern how well you can keep afloat in the world, so choose carefully. As time progresses, the ability to Fight, Shoot, Be Healthy, Be Fast or Be Street Smart will become crucial – so base this around your style – after all, being gung ho is useless when the cops are always after you. Speaking of the cops, they retaliate in a set of “heat levels”, again, much like the GTA series. When 5 badges are achieved, they pull out all the stops to try and bust you down. Of course, a little bribe to the constable fixes these things right up, so you might not need to worry. As you move on in the world, purchasing Safe houses around the city (to keep yourself dressed for success and well armed), you’ll find that you’re finally allowed in to the family, rising through a system of ranks, from Outsider to Soldier, eventually all the way up to the don of the Corleones, then the Don of NYC. This position, of course, is one of major confusion – after all, this was Michael’s job. Now, while EA might have done this as poetic justice to Pacino for refusing the role, they had no right to essentially screw up the storyline, much less leave it cut off so suddenly.

Alas, all things can’t be won though, but on the plus side, taking control of this game is so beautifully simple. Through the use of your standard movement keys (WASD) and the mouse to help aim, the world is at your fingertips. Though it will take some time to master moving about with others in your grasp, we’re sure that you’ll be tossing them through windows and into baker’s ovens in no time, in order to earn your execution stripes. One of the few gripes we have to control though, is how the AI seems to have none of it on occasion – even as an outsider, traffic parts like the Red Sea when you honk the horn, and just like GTA, people have a lovely habit of changing lanes, and plowing into you at the worst times. On the plus side though, aiming was made for a console, and adapted well on the PC – by just holding your right mouse button you can target your foes, then by moving the mouse around you can blow choice parts off of the body (get your minds out of the gutter), leaving the goons to squirm and scream on the ground behind you. To those who don’t sound impressed by the Gameplay experience, we don’t blame you. It’s a short, samey experience, and in reality, beyond the storyline and time period, this game and it’s six vehicle styles (we kid you not), has quite little to offer.