The Godfather II
Set In A Stunning Open-world Environment The Godfather Ii
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Disappointed
I loved Godfather 1 and have replayed it several times. I received Godfather 2 on 4/13 and have already finished it. Didn’t enjoy it much. Missed the detail of NYC found in the first Godfather. Was not invested in my character like I was in the first one. Sorry I bought it. Should have rented it.
5 Stars amazing
This game is so much more fun than the 1st godfather game. The new Dons View thing is absolutely amazing it is so helpful and just adds to the overall fun of the game.
Sure the story isnt exactly like the movie like the assassination attempt of Fidel Castro (which was a pretty good level by the way) but that just adds to the fun. I think that is why the first game failed because you could always see what was coming.
Me and my friend have had countless hours playing this game and it is defenitily worth a buy. Two Thumbs up!!!
3 Stars Just Average.
The following is for the single player aspect of the game. While this game does have an on-line component, the SP is the primary reason for me purchasing most any game that is not an FPS (and some that are).
First the good.
The game starts off well and the overall story is not bad. You begin in Cuba, just before the revolution, moving from there to NY, to Miami, and eventually a bit back to Cuba, so there is a lot of opportunity to create a detailed and different game than GTA or the like. In addition, the Don’s View is interesting and is quite nice visually, separating it from the pack a bit. The team system developed here is very good as well. Your NPC associates are actually somewhat useful (more than just a bullet shield at least) and it is nice that you don’t have to worry about losing them, if you drive off they will just appear with you later, eliminating an annoyance from games such as Saint’s Row. The hand-to-hand and gunplay is fun and the aiming system works well for a third-person game. The graphics for the characters are actually surprisingly good for a game of this type, but there are a lot of “clones” around.
There are also some very innovative game play elements that bring this game up a notch as well. The ability to eliminate the members of a rival family one-by-one, thus weakening the family’s attacks, is a nice touch. Also, the rackets and associated bonuses are nice to have, reminding me of an real-time strategy (RTS) game. Each racket you control gives bonuses, both to the player and to the computer. When you first start, the computer has BP vests, extra ammo, etc. and you have almost noting. To even the score you can bomb one of the enemy’s locations, disrupting a racket, and making them lose the bonus, making it easier for you to take over another location you may want. The computer can do the same to you as your rackets grow, so defense becomes important.
Now at this point you might be wondering why I would give a game like this an average rating. The reason is that while the above innovations are quite impressive, they are not followed through on and instead of a deep, interesting game, you are left with a quick, repetitive, standard third-person shooter (yes this is where the cons begin).
The story. While overall it is engaging and a nice, if clich?d, mob tale, the character development for the main character is almost nonexistent. You just don’t care about the man you are supposed to be playing, this takes away too much from the game.
The locations. I think the designers got a little too ambitious here and spread things too thin. All the levels are tiny by today’s standards, as noted by a previous poster, and the level of detail is sub-par. I would have liked to have seen a larger emphasis on one area, letting the designers focus on this would have made a world of difference and create a better overall look.
The team. While the team members are mostly a help, you just do not need them for this game. Sure you will need their skills for some quests, as you have none of your own, but in taking over rackets, just you and a gun can do this with no problems. In fact, as with most games, the team can get in the way, causing you to have to repeat a level if they accidentally kill someone you needed. Go on your own for the hitman targets, as they will just end up blowing up a nearby car, killing your target and not letting you get the required condition for a permanent kill. I would have liked to see more controls for them than just commanding them to follow, use a skill, or sit in one place.
The above are annoyances, but ones I could live with, what keeps this game from being great is two things, both related to game play. First, the game is just too dang repetitive. Secondly, the AI is a bad joke. The combination of these two factors is what makes the game clock in at about 10 hrs of real gaming and makes this one of the easiest games I have ever played.
I think the designers got a bit too ambitious once again with the RTS elements they added. They did not create a playing field where it really matters if you lose any of the bonuses the rackets create, so they are useless. While the computer usually bombs a good location, taking a bonus for a bit, it doesn’t matter as it is still easy to defend against the resulting attack, provided you stationed enough guards there. The only reason to obtain the rackets is really so the enemy compound opens and lets you attack. You end up doing the exact same things over and over until suddenly the game is done. First, attack a racket location (again you can do this by yourself, with no bonuses, with no problem). Second, torture the shopkeeper and grab the business. Third, set up guards (you will always be able to afford what you need). After that, all you do is defend, sending a made man or two if the other side really gets ambitious, until you get all the businesses. Any differences only arise in the main quest and it is just a variation of the above theme, again, very easy to complete. The side missions are nothing more than completing favors for people, sometimes gaining semi-useful ones in return (mostly just the ability to call off the cops). You only have a few things to do though, beat someone up, kill someone, crack a safe, or vandalize a location, all things you do over and over again in taking over the rackets.
One note on the Don’s View. While this is a good concept, they need to work on the controls for the next one. It would have been easier to have all your options available on the screen as pop-up (or drop-down) menu system, instead of having to go into each, one-by-one. It gets too tedious when you want to do something quickly and click the wrong button. Also what is with having to use the + pad and not the analog sticks for menu selection??? Not an intuitive control scheme at all.
To sum up, if you are a fan of the GTA or SR-type games, you will like this to an extent. There are some interesting RTS elements that warrant fuller exploration, but the combination of a poorly programmed AI and the repetitive game play overshadows any gains from the innovations. This is a game one should rent or borrow from a friend, but definitely not a must-have purchase.
My 2?
3 Stars A let down, but tolerable
Godfather 2 follows off of the first installment, following closely with the plot of the movie. You are Dominic, pupil of Aldo Tripani, the main character of the first movie. After Aldo is killed in the Cuban Revolution, Dominic takes over the Florida business interests, while Michael, who is strangely voiced by a George Clooney impersonator, watches from the shadows as you wipe out the rival southern families.
Rather than be a one man army, you’re required to take on a crew of specialists that perform the acts that you were capable of in the first game. Aside from changes in driving, with every car handling like an 18 wheeler, and weapon upgrades being random finds rather than purchases, the play is virtually the same. There are some new bells and whistles, with interactable items and a variety of venues, but the premise is still to fire more bullets than the enemy.
The movie inspired missions and scenes feel more stapled on. Rather than being integral to the ascension of the Corleone family, you are more a passer in the night, and the scenes try to bleed out slowly to expand the gameplay, but only makes it rather frustrating. The voice acting is tolerable, and the face creation is rather impressively varied. Graphics are nice, but the range is so short than driving at higher than 40 gives the impression that cars and buildings are warping in from another dimension, and text requires that you have macronocular vision or an impressive 5 figure TV.
Had this game been longer or more varied, it would’ve held up better. AS it stands, it doesn’t have enough improvements to make up for the solid material that was removed from the first game. No more hit missions apart from bizarre grinding favors, no intelligent leveling, text thats impossible to read and watered down, subordinates that’re useful, but cookie cutter to the point that I have a set of identical triplets in my family. The shortness of the game knocks it down further, making this a solid rent
3 Stars I like it…
…don’t know if it’s worth damn near $60.00, though.
Maybe $30.00
Haven’t read the other reviews. This are just my thoughts.
There are things that I like about the game:
1. The look and feel of the game, i.e., graphics and music. The game has improved in appearance.
2. The storyline (of course). I like the way they integrated the story with the character ‘Dominic’.
3. The concept of creating a ‘family’.
4. You get into the action really fairly quickly.
5. I like that crew members have specialties.
6. It’s somewhat unpredicatable–> there are various routes into a building that you can take. You have to figure out the best ways to utilize your men.
7. I like that each business has special perks.
8. I like that you can get favors and perks from officials
9. I like the Don’s view screen where you manage finances and businesses and such.
But (and here we go with the negatives):
1. It’s not like you’re buying property or cars and clothes with it. You don’t really use the money for anything besides purchasing guards to protect your businesses and upgrading your crew members, so… this function lost it’s appeal rather quickly, for me.
2. I wish I could recruit crew members more frequently. Seems to be a slow-moving process.
3. Crew members…? They have their uses. They’re a great addition…just have to be careful when it comes to your mob ‘hits’. Their trigger happy ***es are guaranteed to just screw it up. I usually take one (the demo expert–the most reliable one) and have him post in close area as a precaution.
3. I think this game is easier than the original, imo.
WAYYYY easier. I just defeated the first family and was like, “That’s it?” In the first Godfather, a horde of mobsters were coming out of nowhere to fight me tooth and nail. In this one…I think I could have singlehandely taken out that house. Maybe it gets harder with each family, I dunno… If you can esacoe the scene of the crime then you’ll have no issue with cops. They pretty much leave you alone…
4. I’m under the impression that I either have to kill my crew memebers or setup a wireless connection to upgrade the weapons qual. of my crew members in Xbox live. Not interested in going through a ‘process’ to play a stupid game…I suppose I’ll just keep whacking them. (laugh)
I like the game alright.
There’s been some great improvements. The new concepts just need to be better developed, imo.
3rd times the charm…(wink, ‘Godfather 3′)
Buy/More Info
PS3 Games Action Annoyance, Assassination Attempt, Countless Hours, Cuba Revolution, Different Game, Fidel Castro, First Game, Fps, Fun Game, Godfather 2, Godfather Game, Godfather Ii, Gr, Gta, Gunplay, Person Game, Several Times, Single Player, Third Person, World Environment
The game takes FOREVER to play through, and has a lot of re-playability via the Free Play where you can choose whatever characters you want to play with. Seriously, this is the single best PS3 game I’ve bought for my kids and has probably saved me $100 as I haven’t had to buy them another game in the past 3 months. Haha. 
