Let’s look at the
story of The Godfather. I say “story” because it has been recreated in nearly
every major media form. Initially it was a novel, then a major motion picture
trilogy, and finally a game. Any tale with enough cultural substance will
eventually be represented by each of these three media. Star Wars, for example,
began as a movie series which spurred a vast number of novels, video games,
newer movies, and countless paratexts. Anyway, the Godfather is usually only
considered in its film and literary form. While the game is substantially newer
than either of these, it is worth taking a further look to see whether this new
text should be shelved alongside these past two texts or merely discarded as a
tasteless paratext.
As I mentioned is
a previous blog post, the significance and independent of a video game, “…depends upon two things: 1. the quality of
the video game, and 2) the format of the video game.” Let’s apply these
parameters to the example of The Godfather. First, the quality must be analyzed.
I will say beforehand that this is somewhat subjective and I have not played
this game firsthand as of yet. However, I have read about it extensively and am
intimately familiar with its sister game – Mafia
which shares common elements in the areas of narrative, target platform,
format, and many others. The Godfather
pays homage to its routes in several ways. The storyline is borrowed very
directly from the first film, and many of the original actors such as James
Caan and Robert Duvall are voice actors for the game. <http://godfather.wikia.com/wiki/The_Godfather:_The_Game>
The character that
you play as are neatly fitted into the narrative. I have a personal appreciation
for this often overlooked element of game design. So often, especially in cases
of video games based off of movies, a new character or situation is introduced
that doesn’t compromise the direction or integrity of the original piece. In
the case of the Godfather, the character introduced to the mafia when his
father is, “…gunned down on the street by the Barzinis, the Corleones'
rivals in New York, Don Vito Corleone comforts the child,
telling him when he has grown up and the hour comes he can take revenge for the
death of his father.” This plot warp is a nice nod to the part of the original
story when the simple and incompetent Fredo watches his own father, the Don,
get shot by rival gang members. Such attention to detail and devotion to the
game’s origins makes me give the game a high score in the quality department,
though I would like to have more experience with the gameplay mechanics before
I make too comprehensive of a review.
The format of the
game is that of a third person shooter, where the view is from above and behind
the figure of your character, and that character is often carrying a weapon or
gun. This worked very well in Mafia, and seems to be an effective compromise in
games that require efficient combat mechanics but also want to showcase an
impressive environment for the player to explore, (this format has a broader
view).
I
encourage anyone reading this to go the URL source listed at the bottom and
read more about the synopsis and other game elements. It is very clear that the
complexity and authenticity of the original texts did not disappear in this
media transition. So, I put it to the academics, the public, or maybe just
Godfather fans altogether: Don’t just give credit to the book and films,
consider the video game as well.
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