The Godfather is one of those games that snuck in under my radar. I mean, I knew it was being released, but to be honest I thought it would be just another GTA clone in a long list of GTA clones. In many respects, The Godfather does mirror the overall structure and experience of a GTA game, but in fact manages to wear that mantle and exist as its own gaming beast. Fear not, movie-goers, The Godfather is extremely faithful to the films - and a damn good game to boot!

The main storyline of the game is one of revenge; your father is murdered before your eyes and you're taken under the wing of Don Vito Corleone (actually voiced by Marlon Brando). Before you can go cracking some skulls, EA lets you tweak your character's appearance to the nth degree with the face/character creation tool Mobface. This is really cool because your custom character appears in all of the games cut scenes, a really nice touch.

The opening scene of the game shows you just how well EA have replicated the actors and story for this game - James Caan and Robert Duvall also return to voice their characters, and the in-game models do a good job of emoting during some violent and harrowing story expositions. The script is excellent, and all of the dialogue is at just the right volume - something few games ever get right these days. Overall, The Godfather comes across as a highly polished and very cinematic game. There are heaps of cut scenes, including recreated scenes from the films, and as you progress through the story missions you'll unlock a ton of film clips to watch. If you're a fan of the films then you'll appreciate the amount of dedication and effort gone into this game.

From the outset, you're shown that the world of a gangster (not to be confused with gangsta) is one of violence, intimidation and extortion. Dotted throughout New York City are plenty of businesses (barbers, bakers, clothing outlets etc.) which you can interact with in a unique way. Basically, most of this game is about instilling fear into your rivals and subordinates, as well as taking over as much territory as possible - much like the final few hours of GTA: San Andreas. Approach a store owner and press the Y button and you'll make them an offer for 'protection'. Quite often they will refuse this offer, especially if there are already some low-browed goons from rival families hanging around. So... they take a little persuasion to come around to your way of thinking - cue the gratuitous destruction of store property, slaughtering of said goons and/or physical assault of the non-conforming owner!

What's even more fun about this aspect of the game is that certain store owners often have a 'sweet spot' where you can gain bonus cash. These aren't always obvious; one example I discovered occurred when I dragged a troublesome baker over to a large, open-fire oven and she quickly acquiesced to my demands. Sometimes there may be illegal rackets going on behind the closed doors of certain businesses, which you can offer to buy into for an even bigger slice of the pie. It's pretty cool to wander through the back rooms of a shop and see gaming tables galore and goons hanging around heavily-laden flatbeds. There is a distinct method of building up influence on the city; shop fronts hold rackets (gambling, fight clubs, prostitutes, money laundering etc.); rackets lead to bigger places on the map called warehouses, which you have to fight your way through; and finally, warehouses are supplied by Hubs. Take all of these over and the family runs the show, giving you influence and moola galore!

It's also important to keep on the right side of the law, and by that I'm referring to the liberal use of bribes. These allow you a discrete window of time where the law will look the other way at your illegal activities. But you can push your luck, so if you're planning on some major nefariousness it's probably best to bribe someone high up in the policing echelon - it costs more but you get longer free time and a bit more slack with what you can get away with. If you become unsure about which areas of the city you're wanted in, or where you'll be shot at on sight, Tom's report, available at the pause menu, gives you information on your stats, heat levels and which families hate you the most.

Building up your personal stats is a large part of the game. Every time you complete hitman contracts, extort businesses or even kill rival family members, you receive respect points which, when you level up, give you stat points to spend on elements like fighting, shooting, health, speed and street smarts. It's a lot like stat building in Tony Hawk; I found myself building up my health to the max so that I could more easily survive the many gun fights I invariably started.

Cause too much of a stir with rival families and you may start up a mob war. Vendetta points are gained for each family by attacking members and interests of that family - i.e. taking business and attacking warehouses. When vendetta levels peak, a mob war with that particular family is started. Mob wars last around 45 minutes (two game days). To win a mob war, you either bomb the family HQ or bribe an FBI agent and the family then goes into hiding. If you die within the two day period, you lose the mob war and some businesses to the rival family.

I would go so far as to say that the whole lean of The Godfather is towards this experience of building up an illegal empire on your way to ultimately becoming Don of the Corleone family and the underground king of NYC. The main story encourages this empire building, for both the respect you earn and the fact that a steady pay rate means you can spend more on guns and ammo to help you complete missions. The missions themselves are actually very well scripted and often quite a blast to play. It's great fun to be involved in car chases, with your pal leaning out the window taking pot shots at those chasing you.

Car crashes and explosions look impressive, with flames (which look awesome) and car parts exploding everywhere. Missions are often quite long and involved, but in a good way. There may be three or four parts to each mission and these can range from assassinations, car chases, timed objectives or just all-out gun blazin'. The on-screen HUD and map are almost identical to GTA, but I honestly never felt that this game was just another GTA clone. It really has its own distinct feel and style thanks to the high attention to detail and source material.

One defining feature of The Godfather is its seamless integration of indoor and outdoor environments. Going from the street to the inside of a shop or safe house is as easy as opening the door and waltzing in - no load times or pauses. This makes for some great fighting and shooting sequences. Talking of fighting, The Godfather borrows a mechanic from EA's boxing series, Fight Night, whereby you use the right thumb stick to throw punches. This is coupled with the L and R triggers for locking on and grabbing enemies when fighting hand-to-hand. Some people may dislike this mechanic, but seeing as I went straight from reviewing Fight Night 3 to this game, it felt quite natural to me.

The coolest aspect of combat is the fact that your character can perform some seriously nasty execution moves - which are context sensitive and become available as you progress through the game. With titles like Gut Shot Execution, Wallpapered and Faceoff Execution, you can probably get a good idea of how violent these moves are.

Before you start thinking that The Godfather is heading into 90% territory, there are quite a few aspects that limit the game. Whilst taking over businesses is great fun and feels like a 'Sim Mafia', for every shop you can enter there are twenty that are just generic wall maps, which reduces the feeling of a living, breathing city somewhat. NPCs do look good, but I often found myself craving the classically funny lines that sprout from the mouths of citizens from any GTA game. "Hey, watch it man” just doesn't quite cut it in my opinion. The only other complaint is aimed at the graphics. The game itself looks really good (despite the hilariously low-res screen shot posted on the XBW forums some months back) and the streets are full of wind-blown newspapers, incidental bystanders and busy traffic.The problem is that the cars are woefully under-detailed, to the point where they look more like toy cars than the real thing.

Expect to see a lot of straight grey, brown and black vehicles, with little or no detail or light reflection. I suspect this was a conscious design decision and not anything to do with hardware limitations, but it detracts from the game somewhat because everything else is quite highly detailed.