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The Godfather - Blackhand Edition Review - Wii

Introduction

Take one blockbuster hit game, one megahit movie franchise, mix in a new storyline and some motion sensitive controls and you have The Godfather: Blackhand Edition. It's a familiar concept with familiar gameplay, even if the controls are new. But is it any good? Well, actually, it is.

For anyone not familiar with 'The Godfather', you should know that it's a movie about family life. Specifically, the family. The mob family. Don Corleone is a man to respect. The head of an Italian mafia group, he has a lot of friends and even more enemies. Being a friend of the Don isn't always easy, as your character's father soon finds out. When we first meet our avatar, he is a small boy being comforted by the Don, told to hold his anger, to grow up and, when the time is right, get his revenge. And wouldn't you know it - just look at the time!

The story of the player is woven in and out of the movie world's adventure, placing the player in key scenes throughout the films, albeit in the background. It's nicely done, even if a little shoehorned at times, but the writing is competent, for the most part, and the atmosphere terrific.

Gameplay

The Godfather: Blackhand Edition is EA's port of their Godfather game to Wii, featuring new motion sensitive and targeting controls. It still retains the very familiar feel of the other titles, in that it very closely resembles the blockbuster hit Grand Theft Auto, right down to the HUD and mini map.

This is not a bad thing and, quite frankly, was to be expected. The thing that differentiates Godfather from GTA is the setting and the license but, apart from that, Godfather could have been Grand Theft Auto: Little Italy.

All the expected gameplay elements are here. One large, sprawling city based on 1950's New York, with suburbs ranging from Little Italy (your starting ground and home base) to Hell's Kitchen, Brooklyn and New Jersey. There are plenty of pedestrians to get in the road, plenty of cops to chase you when you're caught breaking the law, plenty of period era cars to steal and plenty of businesses to hit up for protection money.

Yes, the shakedown. Certainly an interesting feature of the Godfather game. Finding a new business will allow you to enter the store and “negotiate” with the owner. With five other families and their own protection rackets running, taking control of new businesses will earn you the ire, scored with Vendetta Points, of other families.

Once you've amassed enough Vendetta, they will come after you. Once you've earned enough Heat, the game's term for cop trouble, the cops will chase you down. Earn enough respect and you'll level up, allowing you to add new attributes, such as hand to hand combat, weapon handling and negotiation skills.

Like most Wii games, the learning curve for the Godfather is considerable, (continued next page)