The game is based on the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, and is a sequel to the 2006 game The Godfather, which was based on the 1972 film of the same name. As with the 2006 game, The Godfather II tells the story of an original character, Dominic, who is placed in charge of the Corleone family operations in New York City when the protagonist of the original game, Aldo Trapani, is killed in Cuba. As with the first game, Dominic’s original story intersects with the narrative of the film on multiple occasions. However, the game changes the film’s plot more so than the first game did: none of the material concerning the rise of Vito Corleone is present in the game, and the events of the film are presented in a different order. Additionally, whereas in the first game, most of Aldo’s actions took the form of events which happened off-screen in the first film, in The Godfather II, Dominic has a more central role, appearing in numerous scenes in which he was not present in the film; for example, he is with Frank Pentangeli during his attempted assassination, he accompanies Tom Hagen to see Pat Geary after the prostitute is found dead, and he, rather than Rocco Lampone, assassinates Hyman Roth. Robert Duvall reprises his role from the films and the first game as Tom Hagen, but Al Pacino, who played Michael Corleone in the film, is absent in both likeness and voice, having signed an exclusive contract with Vivendi Universal Games to appear in their 2006 game Scarface: The World Is Yours.
The Godfather II received mixed to negative reviews across all platforms. Common criticisms included graphical glitches, technical bugs, poor AI, and an unimaginative open world design. Many critics also felt the game deviated too much from both the plot and tone of the film, and that it was too easy and too short. It was a commercial failure, selling less than 400,000 units worldwide across all platforms. Its poor critical and commercial performance led EA to scrap plans to adapt the third film.
