Now this is a pleasant surprise...
The graphics are pretty nice, but it's in the character's faces where they truly shine. There are a few "ugly" civilians, and some jaggies on the cars, but the people art is just incredible.
The gameplay is why I love this game so much. Grappling people and beating them to death with uppercuts until they run out of saliva and blood to spit out is fun. As a matter of fact, all the fist fighting is freakin fun. The gun play is also awesome, with a kind of half auto-aim and half free-aim going, it never gets boring. It's so fun to peak around a corner and see the enemies arm hangout out the hallway. BAM, you made them drop their weapon, and made them drop to their knees.
The sound is quite alright. The gun sounds are awesome, and the packing sound of a fist into someone nose sounds gorgeous. But one thing I really liked was the theme song played every now and then. It really feels like it's putting you in the film.
Though it is only a single player game, it'll keep you busy for hours. There are lots of stores to extort and take-over, and lots of gangs to put out of commission.
All in all, The Godfather is a truly great game, and GameSpot must be crazy for rating it lower than an eight.