The Godfather: Blackhand Edition for Nintendo Wii

Hey, mi pizanos. Today we get into the waste management business, the consortium of upstanding businessmen. Hey, hey - fuggeddabout it!

Ouch - ok, that's enough of that.

I am now admitting my secret shame. I've never seen the Godfather - or more accurately, I saw it SO long ago that I don't remember anything about it so I might as well not have seen it. I recall that I enjoyed it, but it just didn't click with me. And I certainly know the general story, at least as much as the cliches go - "An offer you cant refuse", the horses head in the bed, Brando mumbling with a fake Italian accent, the 'punch' that missed by a mile.

Why in heavens name then, would I pick up a game for a franchise I'm not really into?

Well, I guess I can blame Rockstar Games for this one. I really enjoyed Grand Theft Auto Vice City and San Andreas, so I can probably be talked into a game that promises more of the same. So - does Godfather: Blackhand Edition deliver the goods, or should it be sleeping with da fishes? Lets find out.

The story goes something like this: 10 years previous, a mob hit from a rival family blows up one of the Corleone family's business, and takes out one of the family's promising young enforcers. His son witnesses the hit going down, setting up the tried and true "My name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die!" motivation for when he becomes A Man.

During the "no Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day" scene, our characters mother approaches the Don and asks him to take her son into the Family, to make sure he doesn't fall with the wrong crowd. And so he does, starting your long and promising career as a mobster.

GAMEPLAY -
The plot of the game runs concurrent with the movie, occasionally crossing paths with famous scenes like the hit on the Don (you have to drive him to the hospital), or rescuing Tom Hagen from the rival family that kidnapped him. But there are a ton of side missions, bank robberies, blowing up buildings and just running around causing gang wars - so it's not a straight jacket beholden to the events of the movie.

That said, it doesn't appear that there's quite the depth of game play that GTA offers. There's no "Hijack a cop car and arrest criminals" or "Deliver Pizzas" missions. I'm only 7 hours into playing the game (and only about 10% finished), so there very well may be more just around the corner.

It must be said however, that this game is TOUGH. Instances where I would jump in guns blazing in Vice City and come out the other side victorious would leave me face down in a pool of my own blood in The Godfather. The game developers clearly intend for you to use a slow, subtle hand backed up with strategy. So while it may not be as deep, it's not nearly as mindless.

There is an RPG aspect to the game, with skills that you can customize your character with, and two career paths you can follow. The Enforcer track is a more hands on approach where you beat people up better, take and dish out damage more effectively while the Operator track where you can gain a more effectual hit crew to run with, are better at extorting and intimidating, a track where you don't get your hands dirty.

Also, the level of designing the actual look of the character is impressive. It's not quite as flexible in building your character like say the City of Heroes character creator, but it's pretty close. Hair, ears, face, eyes, hat, shirts, shoes and pants - pretty much every facet of your character is able to be changed in some way or another. Of course your look effects your Respect (your experience points), so a sharp dressed man will get more Respect than someone dressed like a slob.

THE GRAPHICS -
Oh, here I shall shed a tear for the Wii. Don't get me wrong, I love the console and fully grok what Nintendo is trying to do in keeping it cheap - but I do wish at times that the console had more horsepower under the hood. While the Godfather doesn't look bad at all, it's not super outstanding ultra-sexy either. There are instances of pop-in for long distance objects (When I had to follow the Don's ambulance after the assassination attempt, it was common to lose sight of it, following only by the mini-map).

It gets the job done, but not enough to blow my socks off.

THE SOUND -
Very nicely done. Several voice actors from the movie are back to reprise their rolls. While Pachino declined to come back, Brando did (the last thing he did before he died, in fact) which is a nice touch. The music has that very Sicilian wispy strings sound that is instantly associated with The Mob, and serves well to set the mood - yet subtle enough not enough to get in your face.

THE CONTROLS -
If there's been one disappointment from the Wii, it's been that developers have not quite wrapped their brains around how to fully utilize the motion control of the Wiimote. Often a third party dev will bolt on motion control onto a static game and hope for the best. While I'm sure that this will change as the development cycle of the console rolls on, EA seems to have nailed it right out of the gate.

If you take nothing else away from this review - take this: the controls are fun. The ability to grab and shake your victims around, slowly strangle them, and head butt them by swinging the wiimote around is a blast. I find myself just grabbing random people on the street and applying some Corleone justice just because it's so damn fun.

There is a learning curve to figuring out how to play, but mostly this is a process of unlearning what I have learned from 20 years of video gaming. The process, once you wrap your brain around it, is so intuitive that I was doing more advanced attacks long before the tutorial showed me how to do it.

I should also point out the ranged weapon targeting, a whole separate animal from the melee combat system. For the boring (or the desperate) amongst us, hitting the Z button on the nunchuck locks in on a target and lets you unload your gat. However, a flick of the + button and you're in free aim mode, where the Wiimote acts as a pointer, allowing you to do called shots, kneecap a guy, wing his gun arm or plug some palooka who's using a hostage as a shield in his head. It' adds a bit of first person shooter into the game, and it's a fun touch.

REPLAYABILITY -
There is probably not a lot of long term replay value here. However for the short term, with a ton of missions, a wide range of character development choices and something close to fifty hours of game play, you're going to get a lot out of it on the first pass.

WOULD I BUY THIS AGAIN IF MY COPY WERE STOLEN?
Depends if I had beat the game or not. Right now, most certainly.

THE BOTTOM LINE -
If you liked any of the iterations of Grand Theft Auto, odds are you'll enjoy this. While not as deep as comparable games such as GTA, or other Wii games currently out such as Zelda, it's a fun diversion and enough to keep me happy until GTA IV this fall (crosses fingers for a Wii version.) All in all, it's a very solid title for the first wave of Wii games.