The Godfather - PC by James Ellaby

"As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a gangster." Ok, yes, that's a quote from Goodfellas, not The Godfather, but it seems a good way to start this review of the PC video game version of Francis Ford Coppola's classic gangster movie. Deep down, we've all always wanted to be gangsters and this is the closest any of us will ever come to being in the Corleone family in 1950s New York.

The Godfather is one of my favourite films of all time, so I was particularly excited about this game, but also very wary, remembering all of the disappointing adaptations of great films there have been in gaming history. However, most of them have been rush-jobs created to fit a deadline as part of the marketing for the release of the movie, and that is certainly not the case here. Despite that, there is still the added challenge of trying to live up to a true classic of the genre.

To be more than just a gangster game, and to justify the license, The Godfather game has to be special and it has to make you feel like you are involved in the world of the film. A key part of that is to get the key characters involved, so the participation of both James Caan (Sonny) and Robert Duvall (Tom Hagen) is crucial, while other characters like Luca Brasi (played by Lenny Montana, who died in 1992) are portrayed by voice actors to utilise them.

Most important of all is that Marlon Brando not only agreed to have his likeness used in the game, but also recorded his dialogue before his death in 2004 (was it that long ago?), meaning that Don Vito Corleone is here too. The game's first real 'wow' moment comes only a couple of minutes in. Having briefly controlled a character who fights a couple of people before being gunned down, we meet our real character as a small boy, who is given some words of advice by Don Corleone. The Godfather just spoke to us!

Before really getting into it, like in most games nowadays, you have the chance to create the character that you play, right down to the colour of his eyes and the width of his chin. Having made a suitably gangsterish-looking chap and given him a good name (Giacomo is pretty cool, eh?) we get to see the Don meeting our 'mother' on the day of his daughter's wedding (when he can't refuse to do a favour for someone of course) and our path into the Corleone family is set into motion.

After this introduction, it's time to get involved, and the makers have obviously realised that Grand Theft Auto is the daddy of games like this, so the gameplay will be very familiar to anyone who has played San Andreas or Vice City. Of course, none of the GTA games had the Godfather music or advice on fighting and extorting from Luca Brasi (pre-sleeping with the fishes), so that's a definite advantage here, while New York all looks very impressive.

The gameplay itself is non-linear, meaning that you have some freedom to do whatever you want, although not quite so much as in San Andreas, and the action itself isn't quite as slick. Despite that, it's still pretty much exactly what we would have hoped for in a game of The Godfather, and certainly opens up the intruiging possibility of sequels. Get De Niro and Pacino involved in Part II and we've got a real classic on the books. Part III could have us playing a lawyer working for Vatican Bank and... no wait, better leave it at Part II eh?