Godfather Details Trickle In
Offer you can't refuse? Who are we to say?
Published: February 7, 2005
Announce that you have picked up a 800 pound gorilla license like The Godfather and you're likely to garner a bit of attention. Show off a purely pre-rendered cutscene that shows nothing more than how good your modeling team and that copy of Softimage works for you, and you're likely to do just the opposite. When EA pulled just such a stunt, most gamers shrugged and moved on, not giving the whole affair a second thought.
Then EA decided they'd come clean with some real details. Ahhh, now we're piquing a few interests, aren't we? The Godfather is "insipired" by the Mario Puzo books and the Francis Ford Coppola films (well, at least the first two, we'll just pretend the third didn't happen), which is to say plenty of liberties will be taken with the storyline.
What won't be changed, however, are the characters as they were portrayed in the movie, and EA has lined up a treasure trove of wise guy talent. Marlon Brando lent his pipes to the digital reprisal of his role as Don Corleone, and fellow stars James Caan and Robert Duvall also signed on to donate their looks and input for the recreation of Sonny Corleone and Tom Hagen, respectively.
The game itself will be a non-linear, open-ended adventure akin to (in the shocker of the year), the GTA series, with your character starting out as a common thug and slowly working your way into the Corleone family and up the ranks, completing jobs for the family like hits and heists. EA claims the game "will offer gamers countless choices for solving the family’s problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both," though we'll see how many choices are available as we get closer to the game's release, though that hasn't stopped those involved from offering exuberant comments.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to bring the fiction of The Godfather to life in a videogame,” exclaimed David DeMartini, Executive Producer for the game. “The Godfather movies raised the standard for cinematic achievement with their high level of drama and intense story telling and in fall 2005 gamers will be able to experience that dangerous and living world of The Godfather for themselves.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Electronic Arts to bring this exceptional content into the interactive world,” agrees Sandi Isaacs, VP of Interactive from Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products. “The Godfather is a crown jewel of Paramount Pictures. We are confident this game will deliver the depth of the experience expected by The Godfather movie fans around the world.”
Part of our apprehension comes from the fact that the game is being helmed by EA Redwood Shores, the same dev house responsible for last year's painfully bland Lord of the Rings RPG and James Bond FPS, though they're also the talent behind the Tiger Woods games. Still, we have high hopes for their big-budget follow-up. We'll give you the scoop as we get it.
Then EA decided they'd come clean with some real details. Ahhh, now we're piquing a few interests, aren't we? The Godfather is "insipired" by the Mario Puzo books and the Francis Ford Coppola films (well, at least the first two, we'll just pretend the third didn't happen), which is to say plenty of liberties will be taken with the storyline.
What won't be changed, however, are the characters as they were portrayed in the movie, and EA has lined up a treasure trove of wise guy talent. Marlon Brando lent his pipes to the digital reprisal of his role as Don Corleone, and fellow stars James Caan and Robert Duvall also signed on to donate their looks and input for the recreation of Sonny Corleone and Tom Hagen, respectively.
The game itself will be a non-linear, open-ended adventure akin to (in the shocker of the year), the GTA series, with your character starting out as a common thug and slowly working your way into the Corleone family and up the ranks, completing jobs for the family like hits and heists. EA claims the game "will offer gamers countless choices for solving the family’s problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both," though we'll see how many choices are available as we get closer to the game's release, though that hasn't stopped those involved from offering exuberant comments.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to bring the fiction of The Godfather to life in a videogame,” exclaimed David DeMartini, Executive Producer for the game. “The Godfather movies raised the standard for cinematic achievement with their high level of drama and intense story telling and in fall 2005 gamers will be able to experience that dangerous and living world of The Godfather for themselves.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Electronic Arts to bring this exceptional content into the interactive world,” agrees Sandi Isaacs, VP of Interactive from Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products. “The Godfather is a crown jewel of Paramount Pictures. We are confident this game will deliver the depth of the experience expected by The Godfather movie fans around the world.”
Part of our apprehension comes from the fact that the game is being helmed by EA Redwood Shores, the same dev house responsible for last year's painfully bland Lord of the Rings RPG and James Bond FPS, though they're also the talent behind the Tiger Woods games. Still, we have high hopes for their big-budget follow-up. We'll give you the scoop as we get it.