The Godfather: The Game [X360]

To its great credit. Electonic Arts' The Godfather is one of those rare video games that makes decapitating a horse and then sneaking its bloody head into some gavone's bed both fun and challenging. In fact, it might not be a stretch to suggest Godfather as rendered on the Xbox 360 offers the pinnacle in dead equine stealth adventuring.

Godfather has been reborn. The game, based on Mario Puzo's epic novel and subsequent film trilogy, saw release for current generation system in March and was, generally, well received. It offered a Grand Theft Auto-style third-person crime adventure with players taking the role of a neophyte thug in the Corleone criminal syndicate. Although flawed in some very real ways, its license and almost-there fusion of driving, shooting, and exploration, meant it was a sure bet the game would be translated to the next-generation of game consoles.

The Xbox 360 version of Godfather proves to be more than just a simple port. Here, Electronic Arts has opted to expand upon the original experience and add new content, as it did, most recently, with the 360 translation of the frenetic racer Burnout Revenge. Changes here are more than cosmetic; new missions, weapons, and combat-based executions have been added. Problems that plagued the original title have been addressed. Godfather for the 360 is not an entirely new beast, but it is vastly different than its predecessor in some very real ways, and Electronic Arts wins some points for putting a concerted effort into improving the package.

Intimidation tactics, used when players confront shopkeepers in order to collect protection monies, proved to be one of the original game's most interesting features. Here, players had to find their target's weak spot, whether it was outright physical violence or simple destruction of store property so as to take over a business. Each victim had a breaking point; pushed past a certain limit, the store owner became recalcitrant and wouldn't pay under any circumstances. The dual challenge of finding the weak spot-upon which a cash bonus was awarded-and trying to push the shopkeeper to receive the maximum payment without causing him to snap, never got old and served as a wonderful counterbalance to the less cerebral, action-heavy play that dominated Godfather.