The Godfather: The Don's Edition
Just how tempting is EA’s offer on the PS3? We go hands-on to find out.
Published: January 26, 2007
In its essence, it was a license purchase doomed to scrutiny: picking up the rights to one of cinema’s most cherished franchises in wake of GTA, when anything remotely (or, er, blatantly) bearing resemblance to the series’ mission-guided, mob-meddling would quite swiftly be labeled a rip-off, green in its interests. But even upstream, EA did manage to not only turn out a pretty sound testament to The Godfather and Coppola’s film realization of the original novel (even if he wasn’t a fan of the idea to begin with), but apparently profitable enough to expand it onto every major console.
Yes, with the PlayStation 3 and Wii off to their respective early starts (critique them as you will), Electronic Arts is already reserving next-gen gamers a meeting with the Don. For Sony buffs, it comes in the form of The Godfather: The Don’s Edition, arguably the more feature-worthy of the two. And if our recent hands-on time with the title is any indication of what awaits you budding wiseguys, it’s pretty much just that: an expanded version of the core game (or, more recently, the Xbox360 version) with a fitting makeover.
The title’s more daring exploit of the new hardware comes with is incorporation of the newfangled motion-sensing technology. Its simple yet effective use of the SixAxis is reserved for your “intimate” encounters with hesitant store clerks, shady talkers or just about anyone who you feel needs a friendly shake-up. By grabbling with a character, your specific gestures using the controller would more or less impact your treatment of them on-screen. A violent jerk forward yields a remorseless headbutt to the poor sap, jerky SixAxis side-swipes turns out a tasty “face meets wall” combination, while the more undistinguishable tilts typically has you roughing up the guy/gal with pushes and shoves. Take them near a window or a equally favorable hazard and, well, you can guess the result.
But as much as tossing around some defenseless pedestrians may be a kick for tough guy persona, taking that same hands-on approach a throng of not-so-inferior mobsters will have you tasting defeat pret-ty quickly. Sounds like a job for a stocked arsenal of firearms and explosives. As in the original, your weapon selection entails a smorgasbord of choices: Tommy guys to shotguns to molotovs and just about everything in-between. Actually whipping them out on-cue relies on a new weapon wheel assigned to the R3 button (akin to a Ratchet & Clank-type inventory system) that pulls up your entire collection of destructive toys. It takes some time to adjust for sure, and unlike the R&C or even Metal Gear Solid in-game menus, sorting through your arsenal in the midst of gameplay won’t actually pause of the game. That said, it would seem a lot wiser to enter a shootout packing a heat instead of fumbling around in the midst of gunfire. Cumbersome? We’ll wait for the final version to find out.
Yes, with the PlayStation 3 and Wii off to their respective early starts (critique them as you will), Electronic Arts is already reserving next-gen gamers a meeting with the Don. For Sony buffs, it comes in the form of The Godfather: The Don’s Edition, arguably the more feature-worthy of the two. And if our recent hands-on time with the title is any indication of what awaits you budding wiseguys, it’s pretty much just that: an expanded version of the core game (or, more recently, the Xbox360 version) with a fitting makeover.
The title’s more daring exploit of the new hardware comes with is incorporation of the newfangled motion-sensing technology. Its simple yet effective use of the SixAxis is reserved for your “intimate” encounters with hesitant store clerks, shady talkers or just about anyone who you feel needs a friendly shake-up. By grabbling with a character, your specific gestures using the controller would more or less impact your treatment of them on-screen. A violent jerk forward yields a remorseless headbutt to the poor sap, jerky SixAxis side-swipes turns out a tasty “face meets wall” combination, while the more undistinguishable tilts typically has you roughing up the guy/gal with pushes and shoves. Take them near a window or a equally favorable hazard and, well, you can guess the result.
But as much as tossing around some defenseless pedestrians may be a kick for tough guy persona, taking that same hands-on approach a throng of not-so-inferior mobsters will have you tasting defeat pret-ty quickly. Sounds like a job for a stocked arsenal of firearms and explosives. As in the original, your weapon selection entails a smorgasbord of choices: Tommy guys to shotguns to molotovs and just about everything in-between. Actually whipping them out on-cue relies on a new weapon wheel assigned to the R3 button (akin to a Ratchet & Clank-type inventory system) that pulls up your entire collection of destructive toys. It takes some time to adjust for sure, and unlike the R&C or even Metal Gear Solid in-game menus, sorting through your arsenal in the midst of gameplay won’t actually pause of the game. That said, it would seem a lot wiser to enter a shootout packing a heat instead of fumbling around in the midst of gunfire. Cumbersome? We’ll wait for the final version to find out.