GAME DESCRIPTION: Welcome to the Corleone family. After a life of small-time jobs and petty theft you’ve been accepted into America’s most famous criminal organization. Now it’s up to you to carry out orders, earn respect, rise through the ranks, and make New York City your own. Play your cards right and you could even run everything as the next, and most powerful, Don.
A classic story about family, respect, and loyalty, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and the Paramount Pictures film based on that novel serve as the game’s inspiration. The Godfather™ Mob Wars puts you at the center of the action in one of history’s most revered cinematic masterpieces, allowing you to choose your path as you rise from lowly outsider to envied and feared Don in 1945-1955 New York.
With two gameplay modes, The Godfather Mob Wars for PSP offers countless choices for solving the family’s problems with brutal violence, skillful diplomacy, or a cunning mix of both. From mob hits to bank heists and extortion, step deep inside the world of The Godfather Mob Wars, where intimidation and negotiation are your tickets to the top. Use your powers of loyalty and fear to earn respect through interactions with police, businessmen, racket bosses, other mobsters, and more. The decisions you make have lasting consequences, just as they do in the legendary mob underworld of The Godfather books and films.
The Godfather film featured many of Holly-wood’s finest actors and several are contributing to the game’s development. Actors lending their voices to add a dramatic and cinematic touch to the game include the late Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, James Caan as Sonny Corleone, and Robert Duvall as consigliore Tom Hagen.
Key Features
* The World of The Godfather: Experience a decade of the mafia in New York City from 1945-55.
* Classic Film Moments: Take on film-based and original missions as you interact with classic characters and experience unforgettable moments from the film.
* PSP-Exclusive Game Mode: Engage in a turf war as you take over territory in the strategic Mob Wars mode unique to the PSP version of the game. Maneuver your mobsters and play the right cards to take control of NYC one territory at a time.
* Respect and Consequences: Loyalty and fear are two of your greatest weapons and the ones that will earn you the most respect, and therefore power. Your choices affect how the action plays out, so make sure you use your power wisely in order to rise to the top.
* Control New York: Your bid to take control of the Corleone Family and make New York City your own will be challenged by the other four families from the fiction: Tattaglia, Cuneo, Barzini, and Stracci.
* Wield the Power of the BlackHand: The power of intimidation is in your hands. Use the BlackHand Control combat system to punch, kick, grab, and even choke someone with a stranglehold.
* Pressure Point Targeting: A dead man can’t talk. Pressure point targeting lets you get a less-than-lethal lock on your opponent so they’re still around to give you valuable information.
* Authentic to the Fiction: Mark Winegardner, author of the novel The Godfather Returns, provides story editing and consultation.
PLAY: The Godfather: Mob Wars is a big change from the console versions. Rarely does the PSP version get a complete makeover from the console releases. The console release is completely wide-open with missions that are similar to Grand Theft Auto. While the PSP uses some similar aspects, The Mob Wars is a true turn-based strategy game.
Each turn allows you to do a number of things from running rackets or hiring new gangsters to help in your activities. The game doesn’t stay true to the turn-based strategy of some war style games that you may have played before—such as Civilization. Instead you are able to control your characters on occasion. It seems like a good idea however it defeats some of the purpose of a turn-based game.
Part of the problem is that you can get tossed into some of the same action of the console versions however you can’t control everything. It’s a major give and take that takes too much away from the enjoyment. Another major difference from the console version is the lack of cutscenes. Because it’s turn-based, the original timeline of the movie cannot be followed.
GRAPHICS: Mob Wars doesn’t lend itself to showing off highly stylized graphics. The characters, when available to view, look quite good. The backdrops are really amazing and hold true to the movie. There are some clipping problems as well as animation issues.
SOUND: The voice work is taken straight from the console version which was fantastically done. The music is straight from the movie and of course you can’t complain about that.
FRANKLY: The turn-based strategy is a different way of taking on the Godfather franchise. I’m not sure if EA was trying to give PSP gamers another reason to buy the game when they already own the console—but honestly it would have been more interesting to play the full console version on the handheld.
+ Richie Wright
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