The Godfather II (Xbox 360)

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In The Godfather II you'll really feel like the Don

"When you think about the film there were many times when you heard the phrase: 'It's only business.'" says Hunter Smith, executive producer of Godfather II at EA's Redwood Stores studio. "When Michael wanted to go after the guys who shot his father, Tom kept trying to calm him down, saying: 'It's not personal. Remember it's only business.' Everything behind their decisions to kill someone, to take someone out, was about making your organised crime family more successful. It's only business. That's the mindset we want to put inside the player. We want you to live in that fantasy of being a Don."

And with that our first look at the sequel to 2006's surprisingly decent PS2 original (and everything else in the way of ports) begins. But first, a history lesson. In the first Godfather game, which currently enjoys a solid 75 Metacritic review average, players assumed the role of Aldo, an up and coming member of the Corleone family, whose rise to the position of Don was played out in a GTA-style open world New York. It sold a whopping 4.5 million copies, too, across the many platforms it was released on. In other words, it was a resounding success, both critically and commercially. And, as we all know, when games make money, a sequel usually follows.

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So here we are, sitting in front of a big screen television, about to be granted our first look at Godfather II. We've a bulging list of prepared questions ready to throw at Hunter, but we may as well tear our notepads up and chuck the scraps out of the window, because this, we were not expecting. Godfather II is part real time strategy, part role playing, part gang sandbox. That's right. It's all of those things rolled into one, juicy, Godfather gaming sandwich.

It's all down to the new 'Don View'. Time freezes and the camera zooms out of the third-person action into a 3D top down view of the entire city, be it New York, Cuba or South Florida, the game's three main areas. You can see buildings, what families they're controlled by, income generated from money laundering, rackets, how many goons there are protecting them and more useful information that helps you make the kinds of mob-like decisions Marlon Brando didn't break a sweat over.

"If you play many of these open world games you're constantly going back to your map to figure out what you have to do next," Hunter says. "Well not only are you going to see what you have to do next but you also see what all the other families are doing in the game. This is where you see who's battling who, who's taken over what, who owns what rackets, how many people they've got defending them."

In this new RTS-style Godfather you're the Don, building up your own family, hiring your own crew, promoting them, assigning missions, making strategic decisions based on the actions of your rivals who are not only at war with you, but with each other. And all this pans out as you play the game. Control over rackets will ebb and flow as families send men in to attack and defend key buildings, irrespective of what you're up to.

Currently the game is in pre-Alpha so it's got a long way to go

The game begins in 1950s Cuba, just as the film did. Hyman Roth, boss of the Jewish mob, as well as all the heads of the other families, are on the island on the night of Fidel Castro's communist revolution, celebrating success as well as discussing the future. The revolution kicks in and riots break out, leaving it up to you, Aldo's underboss, to get yourself, as well as the rest of the Corleone family out of the country and to safety.

The mission acts as the game's training level - a precursor to the more elaborate experience that is to follow. Aldo gets killed during the escape and, realising that the family is falling apart Michael (Al Pacino's famous character from the films), appoints you as head of the New York operation. It is here, in a city that is in the midst of a mob war, that you learn how the game's strategy really works.

You learn about organised crime rings, about the need to take out rival family members and how you execute hits. If you're successful in New York Hyman Roth invites you down to Florida, where things really open up, providing bigger, more elaborate gangster shenanigans to sink your knuckle dusters into. In Florida you're heavily involved with Roth, as well as the CIA. The story here is embellished via recently declassified information about the CIA, the mob and Fidel Castro from the 50s and 60s. We like.

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