“Godfather II”
Genre: Action
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC
ESRB rating: “M” for mature
Price: $59.99
Grade: C-

If you grew up with the cinematic legend of the “Godfather” movies hanging over your film-watching experience as Game Guy did, you expect anything that dares borrow from that legend to approach but not quite reach the same level of greatness.

After all, the “Godfather” trilogy forms the “I Ching” of American manhood — the ideal of loyalty and power and cool us regular guys aspire to but know we’ll never reach even with Francis Ford Coppola himself directing our lives. We instinctively lean toward the screen as Don Vito Corleone gives quiet counsel and shudder at his son Michael’s cold, unflinching stare, all the while thinking, “Yeah, that’s how it ought to be done.”

In short, we “feel” the “Godfather” movies as much as watch them, because regular guys believe that somewhere, somehow, there’s a place where we can be in complete control of our world, and it has fine wine, great pasta and concealed weapons all within easy reach.

Thus, when a video game comes along looking on the outside like it’s a slice from the same cannoli, we expect much more than the typical, blood-spattered, film-noiresh gangster-shooter; we expect a title that puts players in the Corleones’ shoes (well, maybe except Sonny’s) as well as conveys the same ethereal quality of the cinematic experience — an ultimate live-out-the-dream sequence.

That’s a tall order for any game trying to mine a legend, and with “Godfather II” the mining churns up mostly sand.

Don’t get me wrong; I think “Godfather II” is a fine game, a real knee-capper with good visuals, impressive style, and seeminly limitless open-world qualities. If you ever feel the need to off somebody at lunch between the antipasto and viti courses, “Godfather II” satisfies that hunger.

It’s just that this “Godfather” isn’t … uh …

Well, let me try explain. In the “Godfather II” game, players start out in top form, receiving promotion from the don of all dons, Michael Corleone himself, to manage a primo piece of real estate: New York. No grunt work from the start as in “Grand Theft Auto IV”; being one of the Don’s favorites means you get to hand off those chores to underlings.

First though, you have to hire the underlings, each with a special talent appreciated only in this line of work, then you guide them through development of their connections and crime rings. Assistance can come from a dirty-deeds-done-dirt-cheap BlackHand feature introduced in the first “Godfather” game and made more robust here. Thanks to BlackHand, players can gouge, geld and garrote as much or as little as possible. Or, they can use it just for fun.

The key to success however is not frequent strangulation but strategy — figuring out how to manipulate assorted crews at once while overseeing the entire empire. Another useful tool, called “The Don’s View,” helps immensely with that latter chore because it not only permits a bird’s-eye view of the empire, but also provides insight into what other crime families are doing. Think of the “View” as a large-scale cheat that the film Corleones would have given their right arms — or someone else’s — to have.

But the real test comes online, where players can pit their teams and strategy against up to 16 opponents worldwide. There, the term bloodsport can take on a whole ‘nother meaning.

And that’s part of the problem with “Godfather II” — in fact, with the notion of merely branding a game with greatness.

There’s no palpable dread anywhere in this title, no sense of justice or injustice, none of the evocative “coolness” that made the “Godfather” movies still so impressive some 30 years after Fredo went on his fatal fishing trip. You just aim, shoot, reload, then move on to the next task. That’s typical fare for a game, not so typical for a legend.

Sure, some of the movie’s stars lend their voices to the game, but that’s hardly enough. To make a title that lives up to the “Godfather II” movie ought to require more than securing the legal right to use that name. Because as Michael Corleone says in the movie, “If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone.” And in gangster-themed games, to get out of a jam, that’s pretty much all you have to do.

That’s why this “Godfather II” is less of a robust Italian dish and more like American fast-food take-out.