Confusing navigation
The interrogation of the different subjects is extremely well balanced. You’ll often have to find a different weakness to exploit with each character.
The success of an interrogation is measured by a meter. If it slips into the green you can interrogate your subject and he’ll submit. Push him too far and the meter will hit red, meaning that he’ll fight back.
Armed combat involves using your ‘L1’ button to switch between targets, or pressing ‘L2’ to enter manual target mode. The d-pad allows you to switch weapons or reload. The d-pad should never be used for reloading! It takes far too long to respond to your command. This is emphasised by your character’s inability to be ‘quick on the draw’. You’ll need to find cover before unleashing your weapon because you’ll be dead before you’re gun has left your pocket. The whole combat system in The Godfather is downright clumsy.
Click for larger imageThe Godfather follows a main mission, which is showcased by some great cut-scenes, with tremendous voice acting. It’s also littered with numerous side-quests, strung across Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. These side quests allow you to earn money, and increase your attributes. Each time a quest is completed you’ll receive stars which can be used, amongst other things, to increase your health and shooting skills. You’ll often move from one quest to another by vehicle, giving you the opportunity to participate in fierce car chases. Whilst the larger vehicles drive with all the grace of a tank, the smaller vehicles handle well.
The car shoot outs are fun, well executed, and contain all the thrills and spills you’d need from a high speed chase, including hard-hitting crashes, but environments are fairly dull. Whilst driving back to your safe house from across town, it soon becomes a chore navigating the traffic to reach your safe house. You’ll often be covering huge areas to reach your destination, especially in the missions so, unfortunately vehicles are a necessary annoyance.
Click for larger imageEach quest or mission involves travelling from point A to point B, you’ll be able to enter a large chunk of the buildings and interact with pedestrians, and steal vehicles along the way.
The city can be confusing to navigate, even though you have a map at your fingertips. Due to the winding roads, and numerous streets it’s often difficult to work out which direction you need to go to reach your destination. This will result in many wasted minutes driving the wrong way, in fact I’ve turned the game off on many occasions because it’s frustrating.
