Game review: The Godfather – lame game based on classic mob film is an offer you can definitely refuse
A weak, repetitive game with combat mechanisms largely based on sliding pictures and boring menu screens, The Godfather uses the cachet of a famous movie to cloak its inadequacies
PUBLISHED : Monday, 27 February, 2017, 8:03pm
UPDATED : Monday, 27 February, 2017, 8:03pm
FT Games
2/5 stars
I thought this must have been the first game based on The Godfather until I remembered there was a halfway decent thing in the style of Grand Theft Autoreleased just more than 10 years ago on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
However, this Android game is an offer you should refuse. This is a game you’ve no doubt played before, and played better, a strategy release that uses the cachet of a famous movie to mask its obvious incompetence.
The game was developed by China-based developer FT Games (I’m not sure why it didn’t make a game out of a Johnnie To film instead). FT Games has an impressive track record of making cheap movie-inspired games, and a disturbing obsession with the undead, including famed releases Zombie Frontier, Zombie Storm, Zombie Evil, Zombie World War and – bucking the trend slightly – Hell Zombie.
This is their first real licensed game and they’ve completely messed it up. The graphics look impressive enough, Brando’s photorealistic face and the ’50s New York setting decently recreated in a SimCity-like style. But the gameplay is weak, involving a series of upgrades for shops and establishments, balanced by combat mechanisms that are largely based on sliding pictures and boring menu screens.
Game review: Strange Telephone – a smartphone game for those long minibus rides
It all feels repetitive, too, and while rewards do come every so often, there’s no real end in sight, the game a Sisyphean nightmare of mobsters and managing an empire. The only real fun comes in online play, where you partner up with fellow players to make deals and take down rival families. But considering how poor most of the gameplay is, I’m not sure how many people will be playing online.
Game review: Knee Deep – enthralling Southern Gothic murder mystery
What I want is a guarantee: no more attempts at The Godfather video games. Because this one sleeps with the fishes. Leave the game – take the cannoli. Sorry, I’ll stop now.
Most Popular
Viewed
- 1
![Chan, who played Gwennie in The World of Suzie Wong, dated the future Lord Snowdon, appeared in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, and worked with ‘yellowed up’ white actors, is busier than ever as she nears 80]( "Chan, who played Gwennie in The World of Suzie Wong, dated the future Lord Snowdon, appeared in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, and worked with ‘yellowed up’ white actors, is busier than ever as she nears 80")
- 2
![The piano duo of Jennifer Rüth (left) and Ming, known as the Queenz of Piano, who will perform their dynamic acrobatic musical show, mixing classical, pop and rock music in Hong Kong on November 17.]( "The piano duo of Jennifer Rüth (left) and Ming, known as the Queenz of Piano, who will perform their dynamic acrobatic musical show, mixing classical, pop and rock music in Hong Kong on November 17.")
- 3
![RM from BTS says he learned English by watching US sitcom Friends. When The Times newspaper compared him to Joey Tribbiani, BTS fans were outraged.]( "RM from BTS says he learned English by watching US sitcom Friends. When The Times newspaper compared him to Joey Tribbiani, BTS fans were outraged.")
- 4
![Steven Chan (above centre), stage manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 40 years, has enjoyed being able to watch the growth and development of the orchestra, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. Photo: Phil Shek/HK Phil.]( "Steven Chan (above centre), stage manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 40 years, has enjoyed being able to watch the growth and development of the orchestra, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. Photo: Phil Shek/HK Phil.")
- 5
![Hongkongers burn incense and paper offerings for deceased loved ones during Chung Yeung Festival at Diamond Hill Cemetery. Photo: Bruce Yan]( "Hongkongers burn incense and paper offerings for deceased loved ones during Chung Yeung Festival at Diamond Hill Cemetery. Photo: Bruce Yan")
Shared
- 1
![Chan, who played Gwennie in The World of Suzie Wong, dated the future Lord Snowdon, appeared in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, and worked with ‘yellowed up’ white actors, is busier than ever as she nears 80]( "Chan, who played Gwennie in The World of Suzie Wong, dated the future Lord Snowdon, appeared in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, and worked with ‘yellowed up’ white actors, is busier than ever as she nears 80")
- 2
![The piano duo of Jennifer Rüth (left) and Ming, known as the Queenz of Piano, who will perform their dynamic acrobatic musical show, mixing classical, pop and rock music in Hong Kong on November 17.]( "The piano duo of Jennifer Rüth (left) and Ming, known as the Queenz of Piano, who will perform their dynamic acrobatic musical show, mixing classical, pop and rock music in Hong Kong on November 17.")
- 3
![RM from BTS says he learned English by watching US sitcom Friends. When The Times newspaper compared him to Joey Tribbiani, BTS fans were outraged.]( "RM from BTS says he learned English by watching US sitcom Friends. When The Times newspaper compared him to Joey Tribbiani, BTS fans were outraged.")
- 4
![Steven Chan (above centre), stage manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 40 years, has enjoyed being able to watch the growth and development of the orchestra, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. Photo: Phil Shek/HK Phil.]( "Steven Chan (above centre), stage manager of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra for the past 40 years, has enjoyed being able to watch the growth and development of the orchestra, which celebrates its 45th anniversary this year. Photo: Phil Shek/HK Phil.")
- 5
![Hongkongers burn incense and paper offerings for deceased loved ones during Chung Yeung Festival at Diamond Hill Cemetery. Photo: Bruce Yan]( "Hongkongers burn incense and paper offerings for deceased loved ones during Chung Yeung Festival at Diamond Hill Cemetery. Photo: Bruce Yan")
Commented
- 1
![The conflict between China and the United States has less to do with trade than it does with value systems. Photo: AP]( "The conflict between China and the United States has less to do with trade than it does with value systems. Photo: AP")
- 2
![Hong Kong thrives on being an air-lock of free currency flows, of people, and of ideas between China and the world. Photo: Alamy]( "Hong Kong thrives on being an air-lock of free currency flows, of people, and of ideas between China and the world. Photo: Alamy")
- 3
![A worker puts the finishing touches to an iPal social robot, designed by AvatarMind, at an assembly plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 4. Robotics is one of the focus areas under the Made in China 2025 plan. Photo: Reuters]( "A worker puts the finishing touches to an iPal social robot, designed by AvatarMind, at an assembly plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, on July 4. Robotics is one of the focus areas under the Made in China 2025 plan. Photo: Reuters")
- 4
![What do you do when you have an unwelcome guest in your home? You send him packing. That’s what Hong Kong did with Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet. Photo: Edmond So]( "What do you do when you have an unwelcome guest in your home? You send him packing. That’s what Hong Kong did with Financial Times journalist Victor Mallet. Photo: Edmond So")
- 5
![US vice-president Mike Pence has reset the course of US-China relations with his speech to the Hudson Institute. Photo: AP]( "US vice-president Mike Pence has reset the course of US-China relations with his speech to the Hudson Institute. Photo: AP")
You may also like
In conversation with Tan Dun: the Oscar-winning Chinese composer and cultural preserver
In partnership with: Leisure and Cultural Services Department
Innovative startup ideas help make MTR shopping malls a better place
Sponsored by: MTR
Comments: