9. Commonsense Media - The Godfather: The Game
I have to give credit to Commonsense Media for existing in the first place. They tell parents about the content of games and whether they're appropriate for children, etc. It's an excellent idea, especially since
stupid parents bother me. That being said, I do need to call out Commonsense Media on their overall review of The Godfather: The Game. While they briefly discuss the good - the legitimacy of characters, the use of actual dialogue, etc. - they miss the point of the game. They criticise EA for not including the character enough directly in the actual unraveling of the story - instead, they play a role in the
backstory and behind-the-scenes. For EA to have stuck so true to The Godfather in the first place is a success. Had they thrown an ambiguous character (your character is never named) into the heart of The Godfather, true fans would have felt insulted. The main scenes in The Godfather that
could have been playable either already had an unknown attendee that was filled with the protagonist (Luca's death; Paulie's death), or required a main character like Michael or Sonny (Michael kills Solazzo and McClusky; Sonny beats up Carlo). To keep the story true and committed, EA had to mix up the action a bit and put the protagonist in missions that didn't
directly help the story unfold. Instead, the protagonist plays an equally important role in helping to lead up to those crucial scenes. Commonsense Media seemed to miss that whole idea in
their review of The Godfather: The Game.