The self-shadowing is adequate, while the facial damage looks more like your character just slept in a pig trough or smeared his face with Nutella than suffering actual facial injury. Simple stuff, really, but it adds a little touch. You'll drive down the street, see lighting flash across the sky, hear thunder a few seconds later, and then rain will come pouring down. Of these, the explosions are freaking radical (blow up a car with a few Molotov Cocktails and you'll see) and the weather is likeable. These include outrageously cool new fire explosions, enhanced particle effects and facial texture maps on key characters, a cleaned-up map, dynamic weather, self-shadowing, and persistent face damage. Visually, The Godfather won't garner any medals from the Annual Graphics Tart Critic Awards, but there are some standout qualities. These additions bring the game up to par with next-gen Xbox 360 titles, but they don't push the game into any unexplored territory. There are other minor additions, but these are the most substantial ones. The 360 version now packs new special visual effects, additional missions, tweaked AI, Xbox Live leaderboards and Achievements, and most significantly, hirable crew members. If you played the current-gen version, this plays exactly the same as the first game, but every so often you'll see or experience a surprising little tweak. The Xbox 360 Version Like many Electronic Arts games initially published on current gen consoles, The Godfather is essentially the same game with minor visual and gameplay upgrades. Stealing+opponent+trucks+gives+you+cash+but+also+pinches+their+supplies. The Xbox 360 version is essentially the same game as the current-gen version with cranked up visuals, better tuned and additional levels, and a higher-grade presentation. EA has the hubris, the money, and the people to enter and contend, and when the game shipped this past March, it fared pretty well, scoring a press average of 8.1 out of 10. Most companies that have tried in this area have done OK or done poorly.
To make both a great videogame version of the movie and to contend with three increasingly deeper, larger, and more sophisticated versions of GTA - and now the surprisingly popular Saints Row - is not an easy task.
For EA, this is of the utmost importance. When you add both of those monumental components together, coupled with EA's own internal pressure, pressure from Wall Street, and - well, you get the picture.
It's EA's serious attempt at getting into the Grand Theft Auto category, the mother load of console moneymakers, if you will. EA's tale, however, isn't just a videogame version of the movie. The Godfather, the grandfather of all Italian mob movies, is a landmark story that resonates through our culture and history. Whether you love or hate Electronic Arts, there is little doubt that of all the multi-million dollar licenses the mammoth company has bought, handling this one is the biggest yet.