I'm revisiting some of my old game reviews from back in my Gamespot and Giantbomb days and reposting them here. Some of them are over 3 years old so the games are not very current. I do plan on reviewing Donkey Kong Country returns and Goldeneye 007 for Wii sometime soon, so there's that.
The first one to respost is going to be The Godfather: Blackhand Edition for Wii, an excellent game from 2007 that i'm replaying now. So without further adeu here it is:
THE GODFATHER: BLACKHAND EDITION
WII
2007
WII
2007
The Good: Great gameplay – Superb voice acting and soundtrack – Plenty of mission variety – Huge city to explore, without loading times – stays true to the spirit of the film
The Bad: Outdated graphics – Manual aim is not very good – No Al Pacino
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Based on the 1972 classic film "The Godfather", EA brings The Godfather: Blackhand edition to the Wii with surprisingly good results that stay true to the spirit of the film.
The story is basically the same as the film, but there are new parts specifically designed for your character. These don't change the core story too much and stay true to the film and book for the most part. You'll play as your created character, who didn't appear on the movie but played a key role in the story. Your father was killed by Barzini when you were a kid and now your mother wants you to work with Don Vito Corleone who sends you with Luca Brassi and you start as an enforcer for the family, but by the end of the game you'll be the Don of 1940's New York City. It's a shame though that one important part of the story (Michael's exile in Sicily) is nowhere to be found in this game.
Needless to say, you'll use both the Wiimote and Nunchuck combo to play this game. Throw punches by swinging the remote forward (like in Wii Sport's Boxing), move with the analog stick, get your gun out with C, lock on with Z, fire your weapon with B, run by holding A which can also be used to interact with the different objects and move the camera with the D pad. Also you'll get to do different executions by doing specific gestures and many of them are very, very cool to watch (throwing a bad guy out of a window, breaking his neck or shooting him to death for example).
The Bad: Outdated graphics – Manual aim is not very good – No Al Pacino
__________________________
Based on the 1972 classic film "The Godfather", EA brings The Godfather: Blackhand edition to the Wii with surprisingly good results that stay true to the spirit of the film.
The story is basically the same as the film, but there are new parts specifically designed for your character. These don't change the core story too much and stay true to the film and book for the most part. You'll play as your created character, who didn't appear on the movie but played a key role in the story. Your father was killed by Barzini when you were a kid and now your mother wants you to work with Don Vito Corleone who sends you with Luca Brassi and you start as an enforcer for the family, but by the end of the game you'll be the Don of 1940's New York City. It's a shame though that one important part of the story (Michael's exile in Sicily) is nowhere to be found in this game.
Needless to say, you'll use both the Wiimote and Nunchuck combo to play this game. Throw punches by swinging the remote forward (like in Wii Sport's Boxing), move with the analog stick, get your gun out with C, lock on with Z, fire your weapon with B, run by holding A which can also be used to interact with the different objects and move the camera with the D pad. Also you'll get to do different executions by doing specific gestures and many of them are very, very cool to watch (throwing a bad guy out of a window, breaking his neck or shooting him to death for example).
The Gameplay is, for the most part, great.
Some of the early objectives include taking over business for the family, dont think the owner will give you his business just like that though, you'll have to intimidate them; which means punching their faces until they give you what you want, if done right he (or she) will pay you weekly. It's really fun to take over business, though it gets old after sometime. Don't think that's all there is to the gameplay though; there are a lot, and I mean a lot of mission variety to be found: you kill drugdealers, destroy enemy compounds, scort the members of the family to safety, do favors and kill enemy mob leaders. It's really fun because there's a lot of variety in there plus you'll get to recreate some of the most memorable scenes from the movie such as the baptism and Sonny's ambush scenes and it does a great job at that.
The Game's version of New York city is massive and you're going to have some really great times exploring it during your time with this game. During playtime you'll visit Little Italy, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Midtown and Hell's Kitchen; each belongs to a family (Corleone, Tattaglia, Cuneo, Barzini and Stracci). The city is very detailed and it's just plain fun explore it. There are many buildings in the game where you can walk in and make yours and and there's a nice variety of places to see (bakeries, barbershops, banks, hotels) and also many buildings taken directly from the movie such as the Corleone compound.
You will use several cars to do travel through the city and also meet a lot of pedestrians which you can kill (much like the GTA series) this will increase your heat, which will make the police go after you and kill you, this however can be avoided by bribing the policewhich means they'll also fight in your side. Other gameplay elements include: Hiring your own crew to blast your way through the game, and after every mission you'll get respect points which will be use to buy new skills such as being able to plant a bomb in the car or increase the ones you already have like health, its a nice touch that gives it a small RPG feel. There are also tokens hidden in the city which are used to get new clips from the movie.
The Game's version of New York city is massive and you're going to have some really great times exploring it during your time with this game. During playtime you'll visit Little Italy, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Midtown and Hell's Kitchen; each belongs to a family (Corleone, Tattaglia, Cuneo, Barzini and Stracci). The city is very detailed and it's just plain fun explore it. There are many buildings in the game where you can walk in and make yours and and there's a nice variety of places to see (bakeries, barbershops, banks, hotels) and also many buildings taken directly from the movie such as the Corleone compound.
You will use several cars to do travel through the city and also meet a lot of pedestrians which you can kill (much like the GTA series) this will increase your heat, which will make the police go after you and kill you, this however can be avoided by bribing the policewhich means they'll also fight in your side. Other gameplay elements include: Hiring your own crew to blast your way through the game, and after every mission you'll get respect points which will be use to buy new skills such as being able to plant a bomb in the car or increase the ones you already have like health, its a nice touch that gives it a small RPG feel. There are also tokens hidden in the city which are used to get new clips from the movie.
Shooting is not the only way to kill the enemies
The graphics are good, but not as good as they should've been on the wii, the fire and weather effects look nice but most of the buildings and car models look blocky and sometimes just plain ugly, it's not the worst looking wii game, but it is certainly not the best. The characters models however look just like their movie counterparts. The sound is great too and it blends old music with new one making you feel like you're actually part of the game; the voice acting is also phenomenal, many people from the original cast lend their voice to the game including: James Caan, Robert Duvall and there are even some parts where you'll hear Marlon Brando before he died, the only disappointing thing is that Al Pacino is nowhere to be found.
Overall this game is great, there are a lot of missions and it's strangely addictive. This game grabs you by the balls and doesn't let you go until you're done with absolutely everything. It doesn't hurt that there's barely any competition on the Wii. But this one is great in its own right and it's a must for every action fan who owns a Wii.
Overall this game is great, there are a lot of missions and it's strangely addictive. This game grabs you by the balls and doesn't let you go until you're done with absolutely everything. It doesn't hurt that there's barely any competition on the Wii. But this one is great in its own right and it's a must for every action fan who owns a Wii.
