When Electronic Arts first announced that a game based on The Godfather was under development, it was met with mixed results. The concept of a GTA-styled game set during the film was enough to get some gamers excited while others, including the film’s director Francis Ford Coppola, met the announcement with harsh, yet somewhat justified criticism. The Godfather: The Don’s Edition is fundamentally the same game that shipped last year, but with a few gameplay tweaks and noticeable, but minor additions.

While several gameplay aspects have been redone, the visuals remain untouched for the most part. With the exception of shinier surfaces in some areas and other minor changes, the PS3 version is comparable to the 360 version in nearly every way – which wasn’t that great to being with. The texture work is pretty bad, as are the models and special effects. The Godfather looks like an enhanced port of the last-gen version rather than something developed for current hardware. There are, however, a few minor changes. Interiors have been redone, giving them more variety. New rooftop areas have also been added, as have a few new character creation options.

As with the other versions, the best part of The Godfather’s presentation is that several of the key actors from the movie lent their voices and likenesses to the movie. The biggest of these participants is Marlon Brando, who even recorded new lines before dying. Other major talent include James Caan as Sonny, Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, and Abe Vigoda as Tessio. The only major player missing is Michael, who neither looks nor sounds like Al Pacino – something that ends up hurting the story.

Presentation carries over into the soundtrack, which includes the famous Godfather theme as well as several period and genre appropriate pieces of music that will randomly play during the game or in certain situations.

The Godfather: The Don’s Edition contains all of the content from the 360 version of the game and adds a load of new features to improve and tweak gameplay. These include Sixaxis support, reworking of city layouts and interiors, as well as new family compounds and businesses. The added features help improve the game, though at the same time don’t make it a better one.

The game takes place during the first movie with you taking the role of a player-created character who doesn’t show up in the movies, but plays a major role in just about every major event in the movie.

After witnessing the murder of your father, a high-ranking member of the Corleone family, by a rival family, your mother turns to Don Corleone for help. The game opens with the wedding scene from the opening of the film where your mother is asking the Don to protect you. Of course, by protection she means take you into the family, a favor the Don is happy to grant. He soon places you under the watchful eye of Luca Brasi, who shows you the ins and outs of being a mobster.

You begin as an unofficial enforcer for the family, which means your main job is to muscle protection money from local businesses. Sometimes it only takes a few heavy-handed words to get a shop owner under your protection, though some require other means of persuasion. The more common way is to smash up their shops, though you may have to use brute force to get your point across. This can be accomplished with a few well-placed punches or by other means, such as holding their head in a furnace. Some will even ask you to complete a favor for them while others may be under the protection of other families – meaning you’ll have to apply a little more pressure or gun down a few rival thugs.

Once a business is in your hands, you earn a cut of its profits. Money is hard to come by early on, but once you have a few businesses under your belt, you’ll have more than enough. Some stores even serve as fronts for other illegal rackets, mainly bars, casinos or brothels. Once a business is under your control, you can then negotiate with the person running the other activities, earning you even more money.

While most of your time is spent trying to take over the city’s businesses, there are plenty of other activities to keep you busy. Story missions weave in and out of the movie’s plot. While faithful to the overall story, several sub-plots are left out – making the game feel a bit hollow. It is fun to interact with famous characters, though you can’t help but feel like you’re watching a watered-down Cliff Notes version of the movie. Some of the events also seem a little too convenient. You are there when the Don is shot (you even drive him to the hospital), you hide the gun for Michael and you are the one who delivers the horse head. I can understand including major events for authenticity, but it sometimes feels like you are the sole reason for anything happening, taking away from the overall story. There is, however, a more personal story that involves your character that fits in nicely with the main plot and, on some level, the movie's theme that violence and revenge only make things worse.

As you go through both story-based missions and perform other duties, you’ll earn respect points, which will move you up the ranks in the Corleone family. You begin as a low-level enforcer, but soon move up to be one of the Don’s most trusted men. Higher rank within the family brings special privileges, the biggest of which is the ability to hire goons to help you out during missions. At a low rank, you can hire one low-level thug, but eventually you can hire up to three, higher-ranking henchmen.

Respect points also play into the development of your character’s skills. Once your character “levels,” you can add points to various parameters, unlocking new skills and bonuses. Some increase your maximum heath, while others improve your shooting and driving skills or allow you to use different explosive types. The skill system has been reworked in the PS3 version. Skills are now divided into two types: Operator and Enforcer. When you drop points into a skill, you can unlock new abilities, many of which didn’t appear in previous versions. Some are useful, while others introduce some balance issues and remove the tense fun of some situations.

In all, The Godfather has its moments, though when compared to other open-world games, it doesn’t match up all that well. The story can be completed in about 15 – 20 hours, while the added side-jobs and mob wars bump it up to the 30+ range. One of the bigger issues is that there aren’t as many chances for “play”; instead everything is very structured and linear. Of course, this isn’t completely the developer’s fault since I am sure license and the game’s time period probably influenced how much could be done, but at the same time, I didn’t feel as compelled to go back and replay the game often.

Most missions are easy to complete, though a handful can become frustrating. Harder missions typically involve you going up against whole families solo. Even when you start hiring henchmen, these missions are still difficult since your goons will usually end up dead within a few minutes – especially when trying to storm a family’s compound. At the same time, the harder missions usually make for some of the game’s more exciting moments, especially when you’re low on health and in a shootout with other mobsters.

Large gun battles in the streets are usually enough to get the interest of the police. Similar to GTA, a heat meter fills up as you cause mayhem. The more police badges that show up, the more police will come after you. If you want to reduce your heat meter you can die, find one of your many hideouts or simply bribe the local authorities. Unless you’re in a gunfight with a large number of officers, police are usually easy to escape and don’t cause too many problems.

The driving and combat mechanics behind The Godfather: The Don’s Edition are simple and fun. Driving is handled similar to other GTA-style games where you simply need to walk up and steal a car with the press of a button. Cars handle well and it is easy to quickly dodge through the streets of New York – especially since many have been reworked, making it easier to get from place to place.

Combat involves both gunplay and melee attacks. While armed, you can lock-on to enemies with the press of a button and charge them or dodge behind cover. The latter option is the suggested way of handling things given the number of enemies you have to face and the scarcity of health tonics in some areas. Weapon variety ranges from simple pistols to shotguns and machine guns. You can even pick up Molotov cocktails, dynamite and time bombs – though these are best used for cracking safes or for when you really want to send a message to a rival family. Guns can also receive illegal modifications from back alley dealers.

If you would rather get up close and personal, you can grab enemies and attack them by using the right analog stick in a punching system similar to Fight Night’s. You can also pick up melee weapons like bats and lead pipes, or break out a series of scripted execution moves.

Sixaxis functionality has been included, though it doesn’t always work and feels like it was added on just because it could be. You can use the controller to shove enemies and pull off certain executions. When it works it is fun, though in the long run, it isn’t an important aspect of the game since gunplay and fist fights are the more rewarding aspects.

For anyone who has already played The Godfather, the additions included in the PS3 version aren’t enough to warrant a second purchase; but for new PS3 owners looking for an open world game, The Godfather: The Don’s Edition might fit the bill.