|
The Godfather’s PSP debut isn’t quite as smooth as it was on the consoles. The Godfather: Mob Wars basically adds a card-based strategy game to The Godfather formula instead of the free-roaming gameplay found in the console versions. While the game isn’t quite as satisfying as it was on consoles, diehard fans will probably enjoy how respectfully the developers treated the source material.
As it turns out, Mob Wars follows a storyline similar to the console games. You play as a brand-new character whose father was murdered. A few years later, your mother asks the one and only Don to look over you. It turns out that your character’s mother is quite lucky and happened to ask the Don on his daughter’s wedding day—no Sicilian would turn down a favor asked of him on his daughter’s wedding day. Luca Brasi, part of the Don’s entourage, obeys the Don’s orders and agrees to look over you.
The Godfather: Mob Wars strips the free-roaming aspect of the console games. Although there is still a story mode where you’ll be able to complete missions from and inspired by the movies, you’ll follow a linear structure through all of the missions. It’s fairly easy to see why EA didn’t attempt to recreate the console experience on the PSP. Instead of driving around New York City and exploring parts of it, you’ll be placed exactly where the mission will take place. If you get too far from that area, you’ll lose the mission. The action portions don’t have very intuitive controls and the camera doesn’t always play nice. The targeting system is clumsy, forcing you to waste valuable seconds before you can shoot an enemy.
Aside from this, the game includes a mob wars mode, which is basically a card-based strategy game. This mode actually works much better on the PSP than the story mode does. In this mode, each of the New York City families starts with a section of New York City as you try to overtake their neighborhoods and build your empire. Since this is turn-based you can carefully choose with neighborhood to go after next and so forth. Each turn lets you do things like lower your heat level, steal money, or make your gangster stronger. When you want to take over a new area, though, the game enters action missions similar to those found in the story mode.
Despite the limitations, the game’s visuals are great. The main characters look very realistic as great care taken to make sure that they look the part and since the PSP limits the number of pedestrians, you won’t see many repeat models in the street. The portions of New York City that you can visit are also faithfully recreated in the game.
The audio managed the transition unscathed. The background music comes directly from the film, creating a feeling that you’re really in 1940s New York. You’ll also hear The Godfather theme, although you may not like it quite as much by the end. The voice acting is stellar since the original actors provided their voices for the game. The only exception is Al Pacino who chose to not voice Michael. The voice acting for the general citizens of the city isn’t quite as great, but good enough nonetheless.
The Godfather: Mob Wars is a rather tough sell. The Mob Wars portion of the game is well implemented, if a bit shallow, but it isn’t enough to make this an easily recommendable purchase. The story mode carries its own set of problems, as well. There are some great ideas, but EA should have chosen to make one great mode, rather than two passable ones. -- Adam Nunez, PGNx Media
---- Sep 25, 2006
|
