EA attracts star names to GTA-style Godfather game

By Tom Bramwell Published 2 February, 2005

James Caan, Robert Duvall and the late Marlon Brando have all contributed, the soundtrack is authentic and the style is distinctly GTA-esque.

Electronic Arts has opened the books on its adaptation of The Godfather after the Hollywood Reporter revealed that star actors James Caan and Robert Duvall have committed voice acting work and their likenesses circa 1972 for use in the game, and that the late Marlon Brando entered into a similar agreement and recorded voice work prior to his death last year. EA has also secured the rights to use Nino Rota's musical compositions for the film and its soundtrack.

The Godfather is due out on PS2, Xbox, PSP and PC this autumn and is in development at the publisher's Redwood Shores studio, EA said yesterday. The game seemingly mimics the structure of Take-Two/Rockstar's monstrous Grand Theft Auto franchise, putting you in the role of a low-end mafia hood trying to earn a living in New York between 1945 and 1955. Players will work a number of jobs on the streets, including shakedowns, bank job, drive-bys and assassinations, and then join the Corleone family where they will work with the likes of Sonny Corleone (Caan), Tom Hagen (Duvall) and Don Vito Corleone (Brando).

EA is aiming for GTA-style non-linear gameplay which will "offer gamers countless choices for solving the family's problems with brutal violence, skilful diplomacy, or a cunning mixture of both," and "decisions made by the player in the game will have lasting consequences".

We should learn more about The Godfather shortly as EA gathers hacks and stars including Caan and Duvall for a grand unveiling in New York's Little Italy next week on 10th February. The game is also expected to be a serious fixture of EA's E3 showing this year.

In the meantime, you can revisit the low-key trailer EA released in December via Eurofiles.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Milk #1 7 years ago

    6 out of 10 here we come....

  • ChrisOTR #2 7 years ago

    Don't know if anyone else agrees, but part of what made the GTAs so great was that it had a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour. This sounds like it's going to be like the Getaway - a bit overly serious.

  • Blerk #3 7 years ago

    I can't see this being any good at all.

  • RobertFoster #4 7 years ago

    Mafia was a great game for the PC. The Godfather was a great film. EA are whores.

  • space_ace #5 7 years ago

    ChrisOTR - exactly what i thought... i mean, nino rota score... come on!

  • sam_spade #6 7 years ago

    My vitriol dispenser isn't working today.

  • valli #7 7 years ago

    Heard from the EA executive meetings: "Damn, I wish WE had one of those GTAs, they're making a shitload of money!".

  • space_ace #8 7 years ago

    /waiting for "the conversation: the game"

  • Royal Fool #9 7 years ago

    This game is a guaranteed hit based on the name alone. It won't matter whatever they do to screw the game up, it'll still most likely dominate the charts.

  • Teeth #10 7 years ago

    Money money money

  • st3ph3n #11 7 years ago

    Half the fun of GTA is the driving. American cars from 1945-1955 are jelly suspensioned, slow, heavy and crap. Where's the fun in that?

  • DUFFMAN5 #12 7 years ago

    As long as they make it more like GTA than Mafia, which was a massive let down (xbox)
    Good point about the car's but as long as they get the handling right (hand brake's power-slides) the speed isn't that much of an issue.
    I would love this game to be great, I just think it has PANTS written all over it.
    p.s. come on Arsenal we can still win 2 this year,

  • Teeth #13 7 years ago

    Half of the other half of the fun in GTA is it's not meant to be gritty and realistic.

  • sir_tripod #14 7 years ago

    /awaits Godfather 2006, Godfather 2007, Godfather 2008...

  • The-Bodybuilder #15 7 years ago

    Pulls out ye old "4 out of 10" stamp.

  • DUFFMAN5 #16 7 years ago

    Sir_tripod, Class!

  • Tweakmonkey #17 7 years ago

    Will it be released in 3 episodes?

  • hula hoops #18 7 years ago

    Typical EA bashing :( ... lame, lame, lame ...

  • Blerk #19 7 years ago

    Typical EA bashing :( ... lame, lame, lame ...

    I'm sure I would've had exactly the same reaction regardless of who was doing it. It's a poor idea for a license.

  • Clive_Dunn #20 7 years ago

    Seems a strange one this, I'm not sure what EA's target demographic is. Is The Godfather a huge franchise amongst 12-18 year olds ? I'm not sure, but somehow I doubt it. It always seemed to me that the relatively modern setting of GTA was its biggest feature - cool cars, top music. I'm not sure how they'll be able to recreate that in a 1940's / 50's setting. Mafia appeared to fail commercially for just that reason.

    I'd be tempted to sign up the Goodfellas license, you get to play a waiter serving Joe Pesci. "Do I amuse you......." - Yes / No options, he'll shoot you whatever you say. How's that for open ended gameplay ?

  • Whizzo #21 7 years ago

    Doesn't EA have a no blood policy? How the hell are you supposed to do the Godfather without having bloody effects?

  • Thamuhacha #22 7 years ago

    You can see the meeting now ...

    EA exec: "We need a GTA game NOW! Are Rockstar for sale?"
    EA Bean counter: "no"
    EA Exec: "Well do we have enough money to get an expensive license?"
    EA Bean counter: "Yep ... but that won't leave much for development. The game may well be crap"
    EA Exec: (thumbing through book of expensive licences) "LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING" .....

  • Ali #23 7 years ago

    Tsk, you cynical lot. It's got a lot of potential. Very rich source material (not to mention the riches of EA backing it up), proper voice talent and even some GTA knock-offs can be quite fun. The screenshots in the new official PS2 mag (few though they may be) look quite impressive. Personally I think it's one to keep an eye on.

    This EA bashing is quite unfounded sometimes.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/05 @ 16:23

  • Clive_Dunn #24 7 years ago

    "This EA bashing is quite unfounded sometimes."

    /sends Ali a copy of James Bond.

    Really ?

  • Daryoon #25 7 years ago

    After EA's attempt at a JRPG using LotR, can anyone blame us for being cynical.

    Popular series/genre + Popular Hollywood name + below average game + high presentation costs = EA

  • tengu #26 7 years ago

    I guarantee this will be ten million times better than GTA San Andreas.

  • tengu #27 7 years ago

    Who says I was joking?

  • Whizzo #28 7 years ago

    Well considering Tengu enjoys Galactica 80 I think we can all appreciate what great judgement he has...

  • Nillsens #29 7 years ago

    Reading these comments is like watching a soap.

  • Kami #30 7 years ago

    Nah, the ratings aren't good enough for this to be as commercially viable as Corrie or Eastenders...

    ... if it were, EA woulda bought the licence already.

  • 3william56 #31 7 years ago

    It'll be worth it for the Horse's Head pick-up alone.

  • Madder-Max #32 7 years ago

    It'll be from the point of view of Joe Pesci, but all bling and dis-respeccin' 'n that. Loads of hand signals and little dialogue apart from "hey....who's your daddy bitch.." before releasong a torrent of hand-signals and screeching off in your pimped ride to mod it up, and all to a phat gangster rap soundtrack.........probably.....

  • Royal Fool #33 7 years ago

    "]WHAT. THE. FUCK?

    This will sell BUCKETLOADS. Great license idea. Looks like good excecution too.    "

    It's gonna sell, sure. Is it a good license idea, seeing as how they are going to plaster it over GTA's gameplay and have you "create your own mob character and reenact classic moments from the Godfather fiction alongside famous characters"? Eh, I can't say that it is.

    We'll see just how it looks in a week or so...
    Edited by 1 at 03/02/05 @ 12:53

  • Mike_Corleone #34 7 years ago

    The godfather was a great film and if they have the horses head and the restraunt scene its good enough for me.