EA sent over some interesting promotional materials on their upcoming movie game,
The Godfather.
We're hoping to score an exclusive interview with someone on the team
at a later date but until then check out some screens and get some
information about the game from the source.
Q&A – Brooklyn.
Steven Smith, World Designer
What makes Brooklyn a unique neighborhood in The Godfather?
Brooklyn is a neighborhood located along the riverfront
between two of New York City’s main bridges, the
Brooklyn and the Manhattan.
Both bridges serve as two key life lines connecting Brooklyn to the rest of New York City. Most
of the Brooklyn businesses are located in this
core area, which reflects a rather grungy working class neighborhood with
warehouses, industrial buildings, dock sides, town house walk ups and Federal
housing estates. Near the end of the Brooklyn
Bridge is the Brooklyn City/Borough Hall,
the civic area and an upscale pocket neighborhood reflecting Brooklyn Heights.
How is Brooklyn 'planned' differently than the others?
Brooklyn in the Godfather
game world context is a very stylized version of the actual neighborhood.
The main area we wanted to focus upon is the industrial waterfront area.
Thus the character of the river front area is emphasized for Brooklyn
with attention to the Vinegar Hill and the Down Under the Manhattan Bridge
Overpass (or DUMBO as it is known) regions. The outer areas of Brooklyn
are Brooklyn Heights, the Borough Hall, and a Federal
Housing Estate near the old navy yard.
What key movie and
game locales are found in Brooklyn?
One of the key movie moments takes place in Brooklyn. You’ll have to dispose of a certain
traitor to the family. In terms of general game play, Brooklyn is the
neighborhood belonging to the Tattaglias, and with this family as an early
adversary the player will get quite familiar with Brooklyn
in the course of the game.
The Tattaglia Family was known a bunch of sleazy pimps and
drug pushers. Do certain parts of Brooklyn
reflect that?
We had this idea very much in mind when developing the Brooklyn neighborhood. We wanted this neighborhood to
project a grungy and industrial décor, and so we opted to emphasize the water
front region as the setting for the neighborhood core. In the context of
fifty years ago, areas such as the Brooklyn
water front were not desirable places to visit due to the heavy commercial
activity of loading and unloading of goods and produce. Such areas are
off the main the path and not inviting to the general public. Thus it’s an
ideal setting for illegal activities.
What is your favorite
location in Brooklyn and why?
In Brooklyn there are two
areas I like. One area is around the Brooklyn Borough Hall. This
building projects a grand civic appearance and has attached to it a modest city
park. It’s inside that park that the player can meet up with black market
sellers. The challenge however is that there are enemy gun men who like
to wait in ambush in the park. The player can get a pretty good if not
vicious shoot out going in this area, and it’s not guaranteed that you will
make it out in one piece. The other area I like is centered around the
enemy warehouse in the waterfront region. I feel that this area
really reflects the Brooklyn waterfront region of the late 1940’s, with the Manhattan Bridge visible behind it to one side and
a huge power plant building looming in the background. And as is the case
with all enemy warehouses, it’s a location for a guaranteed and ruthless fire
fight.
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