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 kills Hyman Roth and Fredo Corleone.

Much of the game is based around third-person shooting, with the player able to wield a pistol, a magnum, a tommy gun, a shotgun, and a sniper rifle, as well as projectiles such as molotov cocktails and dynamite.

Intimidation methods include beating the owner up, throwing them around, smashing their shop, hanging them off ledges, attacking customers, or pointing firearms at them.

Each made man has one or more special skills; "Arsonist" (can set fire to various locations), "Demolitions" (can rig bombs on cars and buildings), "Bruiser" (can smash certain locked doors and perform stealth kills on enemies), "Safecracker" (can open safes and certain locked doors), "Engineer" (can cut through fences and deactivate communications in enemy businesses, meaning they cannot call for backup) and "Medic" (can revive Dominic and other made men if their health is reduced to zero during combat).

Shooting rival family members in public, killing innocent people, or attacking police officers will all raise heat levels.

If a player uses their made man's skill enough times in a game, they gain honors, which can be used to unlock new weapons in both multiplayer and single-player modes.

In 1958, three years after the events of the first game, elderly mobster Hyman Roth (Danny Jacobs) calls a meeting with the Corleone, Granados, Mangano, and Almeida families in Havana to discuss their future Cuban business prospects under the cooperative government of Fulgencio Batista.

However, the guests become caught in the ongoing Cuban Revolution, and Corleone underboss Aldo Trapani (Rick Pasqualone) is killed during the chaos.

Frank Pentangeli (Gavin Hammon) wants them dead, but Michael suggests sending them a message by taking over their protection rackets and killing their men.

Tom enlists Dominic's help in framing Senator Pat Geary (Chris Edgerly) for the murder of a prostitute, and then offering to get rid of the corpse in exchange for his friendship to the Corleones.

Asking Roth for advice, he and his associate, CIA agent Henry Mitchell (Peter Hulne), tell Dominic that all their problems will be solved if Fidel Castro is killed and Batista is reinstated as president.

Dominic travels to Cuba to assassinate Castro, but is stopped by Don Esteban Almeida (Sasha Roiz), who knew he was coming.

Dominic manages to escape Cuba, but as his plane leaves, Roth arrives and ensures Almeida the assassination attempt will not interrupt their plans.

The development of the sequel was unofficially revealed on May 17, 2007 when Nollenberger Capital Partners analyst Todd Greenwald sent out a note to investors recapping a recent visit he had paid to EA Redwood Shores.

According to the article, the game would be "Scarface meets Total War", and would feature an open world environment combined with RPG and RTS elements.

The article revealed the game would take place in New York City, Miami and Havana, and would once again feature extortion of business owners as a central gameplay element.

[29] In the press release, EA stated set in a stunning open-world environment, The Godfather II expands on the popular gameplay mechanics of the first game and doubles down on the series' signature BlackHand control scheme, which now features even more visceral hand-to-hand brutality at your fingertips, introducing a new combo system, pressure tactics and executions.

The combination of strategic organized crime gameplay and brutal BlackHand action sets The Godfather II apart from other open-world games.

The Don's View is so unique, it could fundamentally change the rules of open-world games by blending action and strategy to create something entirely new.

John Riccitiello explained the decision was taken because the original February release date was seen as too cluttered, and EA felt that by pushing it back, The Godfather II would have better luck in the market.

He also found numerous technical and graphical glitches; "characters will frequently find themselves stuck on objects or within walls [...] shadows which has look horrendous, loads of texture pop-in and rendering issues which stand out like a sore thumb."

He concluded "It's still fun and has almost all of the elements of a great game, but until a harder difficulty level is added, The Godfather II falls a tad short.

He too was critical of graphical glitches, citing "two character models occupying the same space," "shooting the bottom crate in a stack, only to see the others float magically in the air," vehicles appearing and disappearing at random, and "bullets blocked by invisible barriers."

He praised the strategic elements of the game, but wrote "The problematic gameplay, unfaithful story, and array of graphical glitches create an experience I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy, which is a shame since all of the tasks associated with being the Don of a family are handled nicely.

He too was critical of the license, writing "If The Godfather II had been a mediocre, mindless action flick, the game of the same name could at least be considered faithful to its source material.

He too criticized the design of the gameworld; "Godfather II commits one of the biggest sins of any sandbox-style game: being a boring and ugly sandbox.

From an artistic standpoint, New York, Miami and Cuba are ugly, low-poly worlds filled with cookie-cutter design elements [...] The Godfather II's blah burgs come off looking like test levels the devs put together using an engine left over from the PS2 era."

"[59][60][61] Eurogamer's Kristan Reed scored the game 4 out of 10, accusing it of "strangely lacking in soul, and consistently failing to make you care about what you're doing and why."

At the core there remains an enjoyably precise combat system, but EA has predictably pandered to the mysterious demands of the audience of players who want games to be played for them and want zero challenge [...] the sight of you and your AI buddies charging around getting raked with gunfire and sprinting away unharmed is a pathetic sight, and smacks of game designers not even bothering to try anymore."

Lacking both a challenge and soul, and failing to even engage on a narrative level, what you're left with is an overly forgiving shooter with weak strategy elements.