It’s now the turn for PlayStation 3 owners to experience the violent world Mario Puzo’s Godfather movies that mixes a healthy dose of action, adventure and violence into one of the most realistic titles on this next generation console.

The Godfather: Don’s Edition is a nefarious journey through the early days of the Corleone family that could almost be mistaken in believing that this is a prequel to the Godfather movies that will have fans of the genre experiencing the life of an Italian mobster.

Gamers will find themsleves committing acts of extortion, collecting protection money, engaging in high speed shoot-outs, bribing public officials, fulfilling contracts and a plethora of other activities in order to rise through the ranks of the Corleone family.

As soon you as you begin the game, you automatically know that you are in a for treat from its first class presentation, state-of-the-art graphics and playable gameplay. Your life is soon dictated as you witness your father’s execution at the hands of a rival family, vowing to take revenge, your life as a gangster begins.

It is at this point in the game that players are introduced to the “life,” starting from the very bottom of the hierarchy, learning the art of collecting protection money. As you convince these business owners to come under your protection, you earn a monthly income and increase your standing in the family. During the course of the game you’ll tackle the main plot which is intertwined from key moments in the film, along with a ton of side quests that will further cement your standing in the family.

While The Don’s Edition is familiar ground for fans that have bought and played the Xbox 360 version of The Godfather game, this game does offers some extra content along with light support for the PS3’s SIXAXIS controller. While this support is more of a gratuitous novelty than an integral part of the game, it is nonetheless interesting.

The game uses the SIXAXIS controller for some novel fight features: by getting close to a wall or an object and then motioning the controller towards it you can slam a victim into it to reduce their health. There are also some quick and deadly moves like one that lets you quickly kill a grappled opponent by turning the controller clockwise. While these and other moves are interesting, they aren’t as integral to the gameplay as you’d expect. While you can knock your intended targets around a little more interactively, the SIXAXIS way of doing things is no better than simply beating them with a bat or kicking them in the groin. 

While there have been some substantial improvements made to the game’s visual aesthetics since the game’s release on the Xbox 360, the PS3 version of the game isn’t as high definition as we’d hoped. The key improvement is the reworking of interiors, which have been spruced up substantially. These interiors are now populated with more objects and improved textures which lend to creating an improved atmosphere.
 

The rest of the world in The Godfather game for the PS3 is pretty familiar, and while it looks good, much of it and its inhabitants look last generation. This tends to happen when companies find themselves using assets recycled from previous games that are so similar that it doesn’t make much since to reinvent the wheel. Mind you, support for high definition resolutions keeps the game for looking absolutely awful but we expected the game to look a lot better than it does.

But the biggest and most noticeable changes are the subtle adjustments and all new features that have been made to the PS3 version of the game. These new things include ten new hit missions, the four man Corlene hit squad, 4 new rival family compounds, 2 new transportation hubs, the new car bomb feature, a new personal soldier to hire, 12 new favours, throwable objects and more. Beyond that EA has done their best to address many of the complaints with previous versions of the game including the targeting system problems, improved AI and animation, and lots more.

In conclusion, The Don’s Edition is a very solid game on the PS3 that I would recommend to anyone who loves the action/adventure genre and have not experienced the title on the XBox 360 or PC. Great stuff!