The night before the big event all the journalists that could make it to dinner sat down to play a Godfather II card game. The big bunch of dorks we are, we fought for businesses, purchased soldiers, and had a helluva lot of fun trying to eliminate our opponents. I did pretty horribly, mostly because I thought I didn’t need guards. Big mistake. This isn’t a real tabletop game, unfortunately (cause it really is fun!), it’s simply a tool that the developers created to fine-tune the strategy aspect of the game.
It didn’t make sense to us either at first, but play the videogame a little and it’ll start to become clear. The biggest change this time around is the new “Don’s View”. Go to the menu and you can get a look at both your empire and your enemies’. The goal of course is to turn everything over to your side, and much like the real mob it’s all about money here. Every day you’ll get a certain amount of cash depending on how many businesses you own. If you want to keep them, you’ll place guards at each one so your opponent can’t easily grab it back. Each guard costs a couple hundred bucks a day in upkeep though, so you have to figure out how badly you want something protected. You can always run somewhere to back it up if it’s under attack, or even simply send one of your own soldiers to take care of it for you. Made men are a helluva lot stronger than guards, but the same applies to your opponents. You can have your soldiers guard a place and it’ll be that much more secure, and from the Don’s view you can see what your opponent is up to- how many guards and soldiers he might have at a location.
The first area in Queens doesn’t allow for much strategizing but it’s supposed to ramp up in the later levels (Florida and Cuba), where you’ve got multiple families to contend with at once. One big thing you’ll want to go after when you’re taking over rackets is a monopoly. For example, take over all the nightclubs and whorehouses in the first area and you’ll gain a bonus- in this case brass knuckles for you and all your men. Later on in the game if you take over all the drug suppliers in an area (or labor unions, gambling dens, etc.) you’ll get bonuses for each one as well. One will give you bulletproof vests, another armored cars. This of course works for your opponents as well, so you’ll have to play your cards right to take them down in order and make them weaker. Besides taking over a racket you can also bomb or burn down a building, which will put it out of commission for a few days- hurting your opponent’s cash flow and removing any bonuses he might have. It’s an interesting twist that we unfortunately weren’t shown enough of in the first area of the game.
Another strategy is to take out the other family trees, whittling away at their soldiers and capos. If you kill them during a front takeover they’ll just be put out of commission for a few days in a hospital (as will your own soldiers). To take these super soldiers down for good you’ll need to order a hit on them and perform it in a specific way. The first guy you take out you’ll find hanging out in a parking lot, and have to choke him out. It’s harsh, but it gets the job done and you won’t have to worry about running into him ever again. These guys take a ton of bullets to go down so it’s important to find out each made man’s weakness- which you can do by performing favors for various senators and other individuals found around the world.
Speaking of kills, there are execution kills in this game that are absolutely brutal. They’re weapon specific- and just wait till you see your character knock an opponent to his knees, jam your tommy gun in his mouth and just fire away. Sick and satisfying stuff. There are only so many animations though, and they do get a little repetitive.
Thankfully the graphics are pretty decent. Your character will show damage, and it’s pretty funny to walk out of a firefight with bloody holes in your clothes. The game will definitely earn its M rating, not only because of the violence but also the (topless) nudity on display in the strip clubs, a pretty ballsy move on the developer’s part.
I walked away from the Godfather II community day not completely sold on the game, but happy that things have improved the way they have. I’m almost wishing they went the full strategy game route here- it would have been much more interesting simply taking over businesses, working with your money and generally handling things from a desk like the Don you are- but at least this is a step in the right direction.
Next week an embargo lifts on the multiplayer side of things, so expect another article letting you know what to expect when you go online. Questions on anything else about the game? Ask away in the comments or in this messageboard thread.