The Godfather Blacker-er-er-hand Edition Confirmed

June 20, 2008 in Gaming, Wii

Awesome. I just found out from Wii Fanboy that one of my favorite Wii games – The Godfather Blackhand Edition – is definitely getting a sequel sometime in autumn.

Blackhand Edition
For anyone not familiar with the game, it is a GTA-esque franchise of the film. Unlike a few franchised games, it was actually quite good. It starts off in 1945 and you are free to roam a 40s/50s style New York. While the map itself isn’t a particularly convincing version of NYC, it works well with the game and lends itself quite well to drive bys, car chases and epic battles.

It took me about 3 weeks to finish it, playing pretty much solidly while I was between jobs.

The one feature that set it apart from other versions of the game (on the PS2, Xbox etc) was the control system. Now, you could say this about almost any Wii version of a multi-platform game, the The Godfather was sickening. Possible actions/gestures include: Girotting people by shaking the nunchuck/Wiimote like there was a wire between them, kicking people in the back of the knees and then shooting them in the back of the head with a pistol, holding people over a ledge to interrogate them then throwing them over the edge…

There is a reason why it was rated an 18.

Not only could you do this to enemies, but you could go all-out GTA style and do it to hookers too!

So why am I all excited about the sequel?
Okay, so if you haven’t already clocked on: I really like the first game. Yes, there is a lot of blood and gore, dangerous driving and interrogation – these are all good things. You also have to play the game quite strategically, as the ultimate aim of the game is to become the Don of NYC. Basically, this means remove or severely diminish the power of the other families in the game.

Each family had a set of businesses, warehouses, compounds and mansions that you have to take over to remove them. This was good fun, as the emphasis was on killin’ shit (remember the turf wars section in GTA: San Andreas? Sort of like that… But more 40s-ish). However, you had to carefully chose your next hit, your next property to take over if you were to get anywhere fast.

Sure, you could be at the point where you only need to take over a mansion to remove one family, but at the same time be getting heat from another family. Solution? Take out some of that other family. Yes, it’s faint, but there is an element of strategy, which set the game apart from all the other shooter/RPG type games around at the time.

So, this is why I’m excited about the sequel:

“It’s a game that I think we’ll be talking a lot about this fall,” Riccitiello told investors. “You can play this game both at the street level, much like a GTA-style game, but you can also play it top-down, almost like you’re in an RTS, controlling the strategy of the boroughs so you can see what’s going on…”

Source

Wow. So, the game play is going to be similar to the first version (hopefully with a few graphical improvements!), but with more emphasis on the strategic element! Well done EA! They’ve obviously recognized one aspect of the game that sets it aside somewhat from similar titles and are planning on capitalizing on that.

So, EA have realized that this game has a massive potential in a RTS-type sequel to this game. What would make it successful? Here is a list of a few features that I would like to see.

• Keep the original game’s basic game play.
  It was awesome. Don’t change that. It looks as it that is the current plan anyway – it would be upsetting if they took away any of the street level stuff because I think they’ve got it right, especially with the special move/gestures and aiming system.
• Other playable characters, à la Scarface
  An interesting feature of the recent Scarface game was that you could buy other characters to support Tony. You could also switch to these characters and play as them, gaining experience and such. Any money they made went straight to your main character, but in most other respects they were separate characters.The one thing I didn’t like about this was that there was a limited amount of missions to complete as a side character, so it got boring pretty quickly.

  I think that adding this element to Godfather could bring another dimension. They could couple this with the existing crew feature (i.e., you can hire other members of the family with varying skill levels to help you), so you could build and develop your crew through the course of the game.

• Autonomous crews
  One unique feature would be the ability to create a crew out of one of your side characters and some other family members, then assign them a task, like a unit in a more conventional RTS. Obviously you wouldn’t be able to assign them a complicated task like completing a full mission, but something more repetitive like taking over a shop or warehouse. As you develop the character, their crews get better and they can take over higher level properties, fight against stronger families, protect neighborhoods etc.
• An overhead/map view that allows you to control all this
  This feature will allow you to take an empirical view of the current state of the game and interact with crews as units on a map. You will be able to assign tasks to a crew, track their progress on their current assignment etc.
• Ability to expand the empire
  The only way to expand your empire in the original was to take over everyone elses property. This was good, but was also quite linear. I would really like to see the ability to build a new warehouse or racket. You should be able to buy real estate and develop it into some apartments, or a hotel, or a warehouse. Once it has been built, you will be able to develop a racket within it. Doing this early on in the game while you have little power would attract other families to take it over, whereas when you have more power the consequences would be worse, so they would be less likely to attack first. Other families should be able to develop properties as well, and in a similar fashion you can take them.

I’m guessing based on Riccitiello’s comment above, at least the overhead/map view will appear. The other stuff would be nice, but I guess we will just have to wait and see…

I’m finding different estimates from different sources, but according to Next-Gen, it may be around as early as this autumn. Whenever it come out, I’ll definitely get it based on how much I enjoyed the first game. I can’t wait :D

Other sources: TechShout, IGN, Next-Gen.