The Godfather: The Don's Edition is largely the same game as last year's X360 version. It's still a free-roaming action game to the likes of the Grand Theft Auto series. In this game, you take the role of an unknown mobster wannabe that has to make his way up the ladder of the Corleone crime family. As the story progresses, you’ll meet many of the film’s famous characters, such as Don Vito, Santino, Clemenza, Tom Hagen, Fredo and the likes. Many of the original actors have leant their voice and likelihood to the game, which adds to the feeling of authenticity. Though you don’t actually replay the movie, you’ll play a role in many of the film’s remarkable scenes. For instance, you’ll have to provide cover for the man that planted the horse head in the bed of director… or you’ll be trailing Sonny’s car, just when he gets shot at the toll booth. If I just spoiled a plot twist for you: be ashamed of the fact that you haven’t seen one of the greatest film trilogies ever and go rent/buy them tonight. Infidel.

You start by creating your own character using MobFace, just a fancy new name for EA's GameFace technology, which we all know from the Tiger Woods games. Later on, as you earn money, you'll be able to customize your gangster's clothing. Your first few tasks serve as tutorials, but after that you're free to do as you please. The game revolves around gaining respect. As you slowly become a force to be reckoned with, you gain levels (50 being the upper limit). Which each level gained, you can improve one of the eight attributes of your character (as opposed to five stats in the other versions). In the beginning of the game, you'll quickly ramp up your level, but when you reach level 20, it won't be that easy anymore.

There are many ways to gain respect (thus experience), but the most important ones are doing the storyline missions and taking over shops and illegal rackets. There are over 50 places of interest you can own. You can do this by bribing the owner, "convincing" him to join the Corleones or by doing him a favor (getting a rid of a local drug addict, arsenist,...). The more places you own, the more money you'll earn. Other stuff you can do to gain money and respect are accepting hit contracts (kill X or Y), heisting banks, hijacking transport trucks, blowing up safes etc. Though, admittedly, that's a lot of things to do (if you want to do and collect everything, the game should last you north of 40 hours), the Grand Theft Auto games offer more, more varied and better side-activities.

Same goes for the storyline quests. Yes, they can be very amusing at times, but in general, it's hard to shake the feeling of 'been there, done that'. Almost everytime, they revolve around killing some guy, capturing this or that building, or returning some object. The good thing about the main missions is that they are divided in several checkpoints, which is huge advantage over GTA, that lets you replay entire missions when you die. Unfortunately, in The Godfather, it's very easy to get killed, even with highly improved stats. Though you hardly suffer a penalty for dying (you get to keep all of your weapons, for instance), it can be very irritating to get shot down by a mafia member who apparently spawned out of nowhere. Notably enemies with shotguns can rip you apart in a matter of seconds, so it's best to assault an enemy compound with the necessary care. To aid you somewhat, you can now rent a team of gangsters (as opposed to only one guy in the previous versions of the game).

To get rid of enemy mobsters, you can use about half a dozen firearms and explosives. That's not a very impressive ammount, but each weapon can be upgraded twice by visiting an arms dealer and shelling out some cash. But you don't always have to use weapons to get the job done. The Godfather: The Don's Edition also contains an elaborate melee fighting system. You can grab your opponents, choke them, throw some quick jabs and punches or knock them against the interior of a building. Depending on how you killed your victim, you'll gain 'execution styles', of which there are around 40. It helps that the button lay-out and control scheme are very intuitive. You can also use the Sixaxis' motion sensors to do some executions. Though it works reasonably well, it's really not a big deal.

New York is very nicely modelled after its real-life counterpart, and you'll instantly recognize landmarks such as the Brooklyn Bridge. The game succeeds very well in evoking that '50s feel. It's therefore disappointing to see that EA really didn't do much to bring the game up to next-generation visual standards. The interiors of many locations have been redone for this port and even though the car models and characters look a bit better on the PS3 than they do on the 360, they're still underwhelming. The explosions and fires, on the other hand, are some of the best we've seen on any platform to date. Still, The Godfather truly shines in the audio department. The sound effects and background noises are exemplary done. Aside from Al Pacino (Michael Corleone), all of the actors from the film have given their support to EA. They all did a terrific job in reading their lines (even Al Pacino's replacement is decent, though nowhere near the original). Even the great Marlon Brando leant his voice to the digital Don Vito, just months before he passed away. Last but not least, the fantastic and well-known movie score succeeds in creating the one and only Godfather atmosphere, though, in my humble opinion, the theme gets repeated a bit too often during the game.