The Godfather: New Footage & Screens

As EA's hype machine for the luscious-looking Godfather game speeds up, we bring you a helping of new media.

While film-to-game conversions are seldom any good, The Godfather is no ordinary flick. The game will delve deep into the canon laid down by both Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 movie and Mario Puzo's original novel.

Players will be able to create their own mobster and put themselves in the action of the game and experience the fiction of The Godfather. Your character will interact freely with other characters in the world, and depending on your needs in the game and how you choose to play the game, by violent or intimidating means or respectful or negotiating means, the characters in the world will remember your interactions with them and your interactions will affect the outcome of the game.

Ultimately, the control of New York will be challenged by the five families from the fiction including the Tattaglia, Cuneo, Sollozzo, Brazini, and Stracci families.

A trailer for the game has been unveiled (see below), featuring convincingly animated and detailed characters and environments, depicting a gritty, tangible Little Italy. Facial expressions and so on, in what appears to be completely real-time visuals, are pretty much second-to-none, putting the likes of San Andreas in the relative shade.

Robert Duvall and James Cann pictured at the recent Godfather: The Game launch event in Little Italy, New York.

As EA's David DeMartini recently explained, "The Godfather movies raised the standard for cinematic achievement with their high level of drama and intense storytelling and gamers will be able to experience that dangerous and living world for themselves."

But simply following the same plot wouldn't be much of a game, which is why EA is opening up the experience. The game will be non-linear and mission based, similar to the recent Grand Theft Auto games, and will follow the life of a young hoodlum in New York, as he works his way up the criminal ladder and into the Corleone family.

And just like the Mob, which goes about its manifold ventures in many different ways, you'll be able to accomplish your criminal objectives through coercion, diplomacy and outright violence. The storyline, which will follow elements of the film and the book, branches, depending on how you play, so everyone who plays will have a different experience.

Character facial expression and animation is impressive

From mob hits and bank heists to drive-bys and extortion, step deep inside the world of The Godfather where intimidation and negotiation are your tickets to the top. Players will use their powers of loyalty and fear to earn respect through interactions with characters in the world. Decisions made by the player in the game will have lasting consequences, just as it was in the mob underworld featured in The Godfather fiction.

To add authenticity to the video game, EA has already secured appearances by several of the original movie cast members, including James Caan, Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando, who recorded his contribution shortly before his death last year.

The Godfather is being developed by EA Redwood Shores, which has previoulsy worked on franchises like Lord of the Rings, James Bond, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour.

The Godfather game is currently on track for release on PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PSP this autumn, with an Xbox 2 version expected to follow at the launch of the new machine.

One thing's for sure: Mafia this ain't. Well... hopefully, anyway.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com