Sid Meier, a legendary game developer and creator of titles such as F-15 Strike Eagle, Pirates!, Railroad Tycoon and Civilisation, amongst many, many others, knows a thing or two about game design, so when he speaks or writes on the subject, game developers aught to listen. And when Sid Meier starts talking about mistakes he’s made while developing a game, leading to valuable lessons from which future game designers can learn, those selfsame game developers have to listen.

Case in point: in an article appearing in Game Developer Magazine in January this year (2009), Meier speaks about a mistake he made on a game called Covert Action, in which he tried to cram two disparate and separate games (essentially two types of games) into one product, as Meier says:

“The mistake I made was actually having two games competing with each other… Individually, each part could have been a good game. Together, they fought with each other… Covert Action integrated a story and action poorly because the action was actually too intense - you’d spend ten minutes or so of real time in a mission, and by the time you got out, you had no idea of what was going on in the world.”

This resulted in what Meier calls the ‘Covert Action Rule,’ referencing this mistake he made in Covert Action. This blunder led to a diluted, confusing experience for players, which is a severe problem and definitely not what game developers want to deliver.

When a game contains two disparate, separate games, like Covert Action, but both of those game types fail to live up to the depth and quality of each genre’s respective peers, and the overall tone of the combined products brings words such as ‘lifeless’ and ‘joyless’ to mind, there are going to be even more severe problems. This is unfortunately the case with The Godfather II.

Let’s step back for a second, though, and find out what The Godfather II, the game, really is. The Godfather II is an open-world, free roaming action adventure game casting you as the star in your very own mafia/mobster story. This set-up entails the usual sorts of things you’ll be getting up to in an open-world game, such as driving (and stealing) cars, shooting and blowing up enemies (and unlucky, innocent bystanders) with a variety of guns and explosives, and generally making a nuisance of yourself as you move from place to place.

The story set-up for The Godfather II is simple yet effective - you’ve just inherited control of a mobster ‘family’ in New York and it’s up to you to grow the influence of that family around your corner of the city, as well as recruit more members, each specialising in various activities, such as safecracking, demolitions, arson and medical expertise. These specialities will come in handy when you’re taking on missions, either by yourself with your crew in tow, or by sending your goons out to carry out missions by themselves. These series of actions and events entails one ‘game’ by itself.

The problem with this game mode, besides the physically clumsy controls, is that this is being offered as a fully fledged action adventure game, guns and all, but feels more like a second-class game of Gears of War or even Grand Theft Auto. Gamers have come to expect a level of quality when it comes to third-person shooters (and third-person games in general) and having to deal with a system that is at odds with itself, and simply not intuitive, is frustrating.

The second ‘game’ of The Godfather II, which is this title’s attempt to differentiate itself from other open-world games, is the strategic element which allows you a certain level of control over your operations via a 3D city view, that shows you where your influence lies (what buildings and/or illegal operations you own) and where your enemies lie (what buildings and/or illegal operations they own). It’s up to you to take over your enemy’s operations through all out assaults on their buildings and intimidating the head of the organisation. Occasionally your enemies will try to take over your operations at which time you need to defend your buildings either with hired help, or by making a personal visit, guns blazing.

By taking over more and more of your enemy’s operations, you grow stronger, gain more perks (bullet-proof vests, armoured cars, better weaponry etc.) and rake in more cash from your operations, while your enemies become weaker and lose their perks, making them more and more vulnerable in the process. Eventually, you end up ‘owning’ a city and you move on to another. To get more money, you can take on a variety of odd-jobs from the everyday citizens of the world, most of which entail finding and killing another member of society for revenge, or trashing a shop or two.

The problem with this game mode is that, not only is it needlessly complex for very little outcome, but the cause and effect of the game is very obvious and apparent, where a level of transparency would have been appreciated – if you do this, then that will happen. There are seemingly zero levels of simulation going on behind the scenes and everything is very state and rule driven. There is never any doubt about the outcome of your actions, unless the story throws you for a loop (that there was no way you could have anticipated). This almost negates the need for a strategic element, which could have been much deeper and far less complex in execution.

One last unconvincing element of The Godfather II is the overall tone of the game – it’s simply not there, and if it is, it’s one of the biggest detractors. Voice acting is flat, not one single character (outside of poorly executed homage to the series of Godfather movies) shows a fibre of personality, and everything in the game merely exists – everything that is expected to be in a game is present, but fails to be present beyond its functionality.

The Godfather II is a lifeless, joyless experience, simply going through the motions and spoon feeding you through dull exposition and, dare it be said, stylish, yet information-rich tutorials, which end up feeling lazy because you’re simply told without the opportunity to carry out the taught lessons with any confidence. The game feels like it’s bitten off more than it can chew (to use a tired saying) and, in so doing, the end results are only half of what they could have been.

If there’s ever a Godfather III game (and there surely will be), the developers would do well to heed Sid Meier’s ‘Covert Action Rule,’ and either make one, solid, cohesive game experience, or make sure that separate game elements don’t detract from one another, muddying the overall game in the process. In The Godfather II’s case, not only is the ‘Covert Action Rule’ broken, but the separate elements that make up the experience simply aren’t good enough to warrant their own games, while the joyless tone is simply a reflection of the enthusiasm with which the game was made. Maybe the next one will benefit from EA’s relatively recent reinvigoration.

Pros: It has multiplayer; Contains everything you’d expect in a singleplayer game…

Cons: … but is delivered unconvincingly

Purchase: