Movie tie-ins are usually a rather tiresome affair. They sell bundles of units and are more often than not a large pile of mediocrity. The Godfather game is different. Obviously it's been made on the back of the unparalleled success of Francis Ford Coppolla's gangster masterpiece. And it will sell for this reason as well. However, The Godfather game has it's own place in the epic narrative.

It would have been easy for to put the player in the shoes of Michael Corleone – the main protagonist in the movies. Indeed, it may have been due to the failure in securing a license to use Al Pacino’s voice and likeness that forced EA's hand in creating a fresh perspective on the famous storyline. What we’re left with is a new take featuring your good self; a narrative that sees you seamlessly weave in and out of events loyal to the film. For example, when Luca Brasi is stabbed through the hand and garrotted - at the start of the first - you look in on the event through a window, you're spotted and the scene turns into a revenge mission. It's expertly executed as you feel a part of a story that is genuine and loyal to film.

The has been superbly recreated also. The realistic nature of the firearms in The Godfather makes for interesting gameplay. As you might be used to the rather ‘cartoonish’ gunplay of Saint's Row and GTA, The Godfather might at first seem unforgiving. And it is. But it's realistic - take one bullet from close range and you’re sleeping with the fishes... it's as simple as that. Conversely your own guns carry the same clout, so shootouts often become intense and challenging affairs, if a little frustrating. Where as in GTA’s gun fighting success is dependent on how quickly you can change targets and get your shots off, The Godfather sees you picking your shots and timing runs between cover. It’s obvious that EA's focussed heavily on the walking and shooting parts of the game, as this is where most of the appeal lies.

Driving however is a different affair altogether. Given the nature of The Godfather EA were limited on what is and isn't possible for the driving sections. The physics of the cars mean they are frustrating to play with. Most of the vehicles are slow and the faster cars seem unnaturally quick. The handbrake turns that work so well in are irritatingly difficult to pull off, especially when being chased by the coppers. Cars bounce off kerbs but smash right through lampposts practically unaffected. Other vehicles, however, are seemingly made of concrete.

Also, getting from one way point to another can be at times be tedious - GTA gets round this by the superbly scripted radio stations, but The Godfather doesn’t have such ingenuity – you’re instead treated to a violin-based soundtrack that is depressing once the novelty has done a runner. The valid excuse is that most of this isn't EA's fault – this is more or less what it was like to drive a car in 'them days'. There was no radio; the cars were lame, classic, but moved like pair of concrete boots. Where the violence is so real, so must the rest of the game be if only for consistency.

As you would expect much of what you do is directed by the storyline. However there have been provisions for those who are more impulsive. Outside of the missions there are businesses to extort and rackets to take over. Doing as such will build your weekly wage, which you can then in turn spend on clobber and sorting your hair out. You have a respect bar that increases with each completed mission, but coolly this isn't the only way to gain kudos amongst fellow gangsters. Buying a nice wise guy suit brings in the plaudits and boosts the respect meter as much as whacking a guy. Each time your character levels up you get a point to allocate to his attributes. It’s a bit of a weak element, but worth thinking about when acquiring garments.

Extorting businesses is tricky, but worth the effort. You’ll usually have to take out two or three 'bad guys' before being able to get to the owner. When you do the situation requires thought. Essentially you need to scare the businessman into paying, and you do so by finding his or her 'limit'. So while some owners will agree to 'protection' as soon as you ask, others will have to be battered to the brink of death. Pretty sick, but then the life of a gangster isn’t for fairies. Be warned though, going over the top or killing the proprietor will render the business inactive for a while and you’ll get nothing but a bruised set of knuckles. It's a fantastic sidetrack to the main game that has to be taken seriously if you want to hire muscle and buy more powerful weapons for later missions.

And so you've got two sections of the same game that sit paradoxically to each other. The superbly well balanced combat game play that forces you to be thoughtful and timely. And the very dodgy vehicle part that frustrates and bores more than anything else. It's difficult to review a game without making a comparison to GTA, although it's slightly unfair to do so with The Godfather given the rules imposed by the subject matter. At it's very best it delivers a gritty realism, but by the same realistic token, it can be at times terribly dull.

It is difficult to dislike The Godfather as EA have been so faithful to everything we loved about the films – but this is the undoing of the game also. It would have been forgivable to exaggerate the gameplay in places in order to make it more entertaining. But The Godfather is a game for the purists and in order to please it has to feel genuine, The Godfather certainly is.

77%

By Gary Flavell