10 Video Games That Killed The Main Character Early

By Jack Pooley /

6. Johnny Trapani - The Godfather

EA Redwood

2006's The Godfather is one of the better video games adapted from a movie, because it quite sensibly tells its own story within the timeframe of Francis Ford Coppola's original classic movie, occasionally intersecting with its iconic narrative.

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The game begins with a prologue set in 1936, where the player (briefly) controls Corleone family member Johnny Trapani.

Within moments, however, his bakery is blown up by members of the rival Barzini family, and the player is then thrust into hand-to-hand combat against the Barzini thugs.

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After a solid 30 seconds of gameplay have passed, a cut-scene shows Johnny being ripped apart by machine-gun fire, at which point the perspective immediately shifts to Johnny's young son Aldo.

Following a nine-year time jump to 1945, the rest of the game sees Aldo plotting his revenge against the Barzinis while climbing the ranks of the Corleone family.

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And because the game opted to focus on a mostly original set of characters, it was able to serve up a brilliant rug-pull in its opening two minutes despite being based on existing material.