For those who haven't seen the movie or read the book.
The storyline, for one thing. You play a character inserted (in my opinion cleverly) into the plot. You help deliver the infamous horse's head. You help root out traitors. You help make the Corleones the most powerful family in New York City. The storyline itself stands alone as a worthwhile and compelling story. While not, perhaps, capturing the depth and breadth of the movie or book, it is nonetheless enthralling. There truly is a story here, and not an obvious rehashing of its progenitors.
The presentation is simply remarkable. When you load up the game, you're treated to a simply beautiful score. Also, from the start you have quite a few options in designing your character. For what it is and what it offers, it's about on-par with Tony Hawk games for detail and options. As you earn more money, you can purchase clothing to fine-tune your character's style. And when you're ready, you are thrust into the world of 1940s-era New York City. From the lesser amount of traffic (compared to other games, notably the Grand Theft Auto series), to the New York accents, to the look of the buildings themselves, you are thrust into a world that is mostly believable. Whether whizzing through the streets or skulking past enemies, the era that the game represents is constantly reinforced. When scantily-clad (yet with nothing--ahem--revealing showing) women dance before the radios, you hear authentic tunes from the era.
Graphics, admittedly, is one of the game's less admirable qualities. While not bad by any stretch of the imagination, you'll be treated to the same models for no-key characters (which is pretty much everyone save you and higher-ups in the Corleone family). Also, though I didn't find this as annoying for most of the game, the interiors of the buildings are very similar; they're downright clones in many cases. Speaking for myself, I didn't really mind it until I'd almost beaten the game, even though early on I spent many hours doing side-quests. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary.
Also on graphics, the choices of cars are notably slim. You have your basic, four-person car, your faster Capone-esque buggy, your roadster, your freight truck, your pick-up truck, the police car and--that's about it. The color schemes used vary rather widely, however, so it isn't quite as noticeable and thus irritating. Then there's the issue of pop/fade-in. When something appears on the screen, it either pops in or fades in. Playing this on the Playstation 2, I didn't have much problem with fade-in when I was zooming along the streets. When I was running or driving at a slow pace, however, sometimes people and objects would fade-in mere feet away. The pop-in is hardly noticeable; myself, I only really noticed it traveling along through tunnels, so that isn't a bad issue at all.
The music is inspiring, from the sweeping orchestrals to the fast-paced action-accompanying music. On the downside, the choice of music is even slimmer than the choice of cars. It's the same couple-few songs, repeated and mixed up, over and over and over again. However, it can be forgotten when you're racing through the city while being chased by someone or trying to get to your destination before time runs out, so it could be a lot worse.
The voices of the key characters are particularly nice--Marlon Brando particularly, in one of, if not, his last performances before his death, delivers a positively stunning performance. I could sense the emotion coming from that character model. The other actors deliver performances nearly as spectacular. Those performances alone are nearly worth the price of the game. Of course, there's a downside. In this case, it's the repetitious comment/reaction comment when you make a deal or interrogate a random, unimportant goon. Sometimes, the reaction comment doesn't even make a lot of sense. Thankfully, many of these can be skipped. Unfortunately, many others cannot.
The game-play itself is, quite honestly, stunning. You are given a wide range of hand-to-hand fighting methods, you have a good few melee attacks, and you can carry around quite a bit of guns. Plus, every gun can be upgraded twice, doing more damage and/or holding more ammunition, or whatever else. The driving, of which you'll be doing a good amount of, is simply wonderful. Each vehicle handles uniquely, and each one performs best under different circumstances and how you handle them. Also, the movements of the characters are almost always smooth and fluid.
Furthermore, the combat system is simple, yet without losing anything. You lock onto a target, shoot a gun or beat them with a bat or pipe, and can quickly switch targets with the flick of a finger. It has a few trouble areas, of course, particularly if your character is facing someone but the camera isn't, but a quick click and the camera is centered behind you. And as a corollary, the A.I. in the game is not too bad at all. The enemies will make use of their environments, ducking around pillars or behind crates, and moving their gun out to fire blindly in your direction. They advance on you with semi-decent tactics, though sometimes they get too close together, allowing for you to lock onto one enemy, side-step, and take down a guy in front of him then the guy you're targeted onto all without lifting your finger from the fire button (though you won't complain about that, right?). While the A.I. isn't as advanced as, say, Freedom Fighters, there are many, many games out there with A.I. that should be called A.S. (Artificial Stupidity). This game is not one of those latter ones. It's somewhere in the middle, pleasantly so.
Also, there's a "Respect" system in use; it's a stat you build up by flirting with the ladies, taking out enemies, looking stylish, and other such things. The stat will build up until you gain a level, and when you do you earn a point to put toward one of any five attributes which make you reload your gun quicker, make you less noticeable to the police, and other such things. There's also a "Heat" system, which, much like any game where you are on the other side of the shield from the police, is a representation of how much the police really care about your antics. One or two shields, the cops probably won't go after you much. Five shields, the maximum, and you'd better be an ace driver to get away from the police.
The cars, as previously mentioned, handle beautifully--but there's always someone faster than you. Whether chasing someone or being chased, don't expect to outrun anyone or catch up to your target without a worry. They'll either be right on you, or you'll be eating their dust. On the one hand, it makes one wonder how the slow four-person car can catch up to the roadster without a problem. On the other, if your car catches on fire, you really do have more than enough time to get away unless you're pinned down by repeated fire. Even if you're blocked in by cars, you're teleported nearby, so you almost always have a chance. The only real drawback I can offer is that everyone seems to be so adept at the P.I.T. maneuver. They come at you from behind and to the side, planting their bumper between your bumper and your back tire, and try to spin you out of control. As often as not, they succeed.
For the game-play overall, if you have patience and are willing to think things through, the game should be enjoyably challenging, without being incredibly frustrating. Though there are timed missions, the alloted times aren't too small, and though you can't evade your pursuers you can scoot around traffic which slows them up.
And during or after the story, you have more side-missions than you can shake a stick at. From taking contracts for the Don, to filling out various "extras" which earn you the title of Don of New York City, you'll have plenty of things to do. If you want a break from the story, go extort a few businesses and rackets. Or perhaps go crack some safes. Or there's always robbing a bank. Of course, you could also wage a one-man war on rival families (which is very possible, and not as hard as it might sound). All in all, you can breeze through the storyline in a handful hours, or spend upwards of thirty hours working to complete every little thing.
The game isn't an exact copy of the movie; they give you, in some cases, the bare basics, even omitting a few characters or lessening their parts. Yet the story is cohesive, compelling, and entertaining. If it doesn't make you at least interested in the movie, nothing will.
So what does The Godfather: the Game offer to someone who hasn't read the novel or watched the movie? Everything. An intriguing storyline, plenty of side-missions, and an overall game-play that focuses on being challenging rather than frustrating. People who have never read the novel or seen the movie should give this game a try. I say that as someone who hasn't read the book or watched the movie. You can be sure, however, that I'm going to now. The game is just that good.
So, here's the run-down, the formula (but not the scores or blurbs!) taken from I.G.N.'s rating system:
Presentation: 8.0
The gritty feel of the city in the 'Forties, the sound of the music blaring from radios as dames with moxie dance. The fedoras, the cars, the slang--it's all there in spades.
Graphics: 6
The key character models are superb, but that's balanced by the repetition of everyone else, and the carbon-copy interiors.
Sound: 7.5 The key actors' and actresses' performances are stunning. If they were this good in the game, how awesome must the movie really be? On the other hand--the endless repetition of the music will drive you batty if you don't ignore it or just turn the music off.
Game-play: 9.0
Simplicity is an art form here. You aren't bogged down with a million side-missions that don't matter. You aren't forced to tend to every "realistic" need your character might have (beyond the whole not-dying thing). The combat system is sleek with only a few really noticeable flaws, and I, for one, never got tired of taking over businesses and rackets. Scattered everywhere as they are, and as repetitious as the layouts are (and boy are they; if you've seen one compound, you've seen them all--literally), I simply couldn't get enough.
Lasting Appeal: 9.0
You can rush through the story, but you'll be missing out on quite a bit of extras. If I had any real complaint, it would be how addicting this game is. While I didn't get so bad as to have logged my fifty-plus hours of game-play in one sitting, at times it felt like I could, and wouldn't realize it.
Overall: 9.0 (not an average)
Fantastic game, well worth the purchase.