Walk up to any given person through the city and ask them to name off some of their favorite films, and chances are one of the selections that they'll rattle off will be The Godfather, Francis Ford Coppola's 1973 masterpiece about Don Corleone (the late great Marlon Brando) and the empire that surrounds him, strengthened by fear and determination but also garnering power and respect. The film was a masterpiece, between its performances and memorable scenes that will live forever in cinematic infamy.

Now, by the same token, look at the Godfather game, announced by Electronic Arts some time ago and finally hitting the market this week. You can still find some of these epic moments from the film scattered throughout the game's events, and some faces, including that of Don himself, are recognizable, but the whole thing comes up average. You heard me, average. Calling The Godfather average is sort of like calling a windfall of several million dollars "acceptable". It just doesn't fit.

Back when the game was announced, Coppola wanted no part of it, and at first I was questioning that. But I guess I see his side of the story now, taking a look at a game that tries to identify with the subject matter at hand but still can't shake the feeling that it's not its own game. There are borrowed elements here taken from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series that are undeniable, whether it's being assigned to "whack" a local goon trying to cause trouble or getting involved in a car chase, where the law tries any means necessary to take you down...aside from acting aggressive, that is. Those suckers are too easy to outrun here. Even in dying, you wake up right there at the hospital, with some money taken out of your pocket. Same thing happened in Auto.

At least it's something a bit more withstandable than in previous urban violence games. Here, the story's shifted around a young up-and-comer, who you design with a feature similar to that of EA Sports' Gameface mode, who enters at the bottom and works his way up the crime ladder, completing a number of missions and side missions to gain power over the city. Of course, this task isn't easy, as the structure of missions builds to immaculate difficulty. Some of these goons aren't just willing to lie down and die for you, so you'll have to be ready for a fight.

The problem is, the game doesn't really offer too much motivation in terms of you getting to be the next Don. First of all, the variance of missions is limited, whether you're in a car chase or assigned a certain amount of "whacking". Secondly, the combat system, while trying to innovate, gets a bit frustrating at times, whether you're trying to control your gun to shoot down enemies while remaining in the open or just trying to figure out the triggers for the up-close combat mechanism. And once you do reach the top, there's very little reward for completing the game. No new up-start that tries to challenge you, no rivalry to tackle, just the side missions. I fought my way through the dead fishes for this?

The game does have a number of side missions that manage to entertain, if Story Mode seems a little short for you. Between finding hidden film reels, taking care of extortions, taking down warehouses, and destroying heavily guarded compounds, your gangster life will keep you pretty busy. However, if you die, a lot of your progress dies with you, so you'll have to start from scratch on some occasions, which is a lot more frustrating than you'd like to think.

Too bad the AI waivers a bit. Like I said, the cops seem to be incredibly dumb when it comes to chases, and you can reach your safe houses with ease and a few sharp turns. Meanwhile, some gangsters are lazy, while others are downright malicious in their attempts to bring you down. It's this kind of imbalance, tied together with the somewhat faulted combat system, that makes for heavy frustration.

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