The Godfather released for last generation consoles a few months ago. It was generally well accepted by reviews praising that it did a good job with The Godfather license. Not wanting to leave the PS3 out of the equation, EA spruced up the last-gen title and ported it over. The Godfather: The Don’s Edition is more or less a “director’s cut” of things that were left out of the other versions of The Godfather. How does this version stack up? Read on.

Little Italy
It is 1936 and you live in Little Italy. Organized crime it at its peak and everyone needs “protection.” You are just a little boy, not yet involved with the mobs. One day you come across the body of your father after you heard an explosion. He is shot dead by a rival mafia. Don Vito Corleon comforts you and promises you will one day have your revenge. Nine years pass and you have become nothing more than a street thug. Your own mother is worried and asks The Don for his help. He dispatches his trusted advisor to find out where you are so you can be part of the family.

As you roam the streets of New York City circa the 1940’s you’ll feel like you are in that era. The dress, the scenery, the music all throw you back to a time of smooth crooners and sharply dress gangsters. The world that was created in the books and movies of The Godfather remain intact as you feel like you are part of the Corleon’s family. Streets are dirty and the gangsters hiding in the alleys makes the old New York seem like a seedy place to live and operate. Once you start to drive around, you’ll notice that some buildings look the same and the floor plans of the business you need to extort are identical. Not only are there problems with the game world looking the same (save for a few famous buildings) character animations look like stiff boards trying to swagger about.

I Need A Favor
The Godfather: The Don’s Edition might be classified as an open world “sandbox” type game but don’t be fooled. The Godfather is more linear as the story is more pronounced and important than creating unorganized havoc in Brooklyn. You interact with key characters from the movie as you make a name for yourself. Marlon Brando’s voice and likeness are used for The Don, which is nice to see and adds you right in the thick of the movie. Still, there are all the elements of an open, persistent world game. You can mug random avatars, hijack cars, plant TNT on safes, or bride local police. Aside from the story, which is something you’ll want to delve into the most, you can do a variety of side jobs to increase the family’s bank roll.

You can extort businesses for money by offering your protection. If the business owners do not comply, you “negotiate” by any means necessary. These negotiations are a fun mini-game as you find out what breaks the will of the shopkeeper the most efficiently. This is where SIXAXIS control makes a large contribution. To rough up the owner, you can thrust the controller to the side to smash their head into the cash register to open it up or slam them into the wall so they know you mean business. There is a problem with consistency because sometimes the motion controls do what you want and other times, you head-butt the victim.