Has some fun ideas but it becomes extremely repetitive, and the faults outweigh the positives.
+ This game tries to mix top down strategy in a open world environment with third person shooter elements. And honestly it almost works. The concept and the rules they lay down are not bad in and of themselves but you will soon discover the many faults the game has to offer.
In some respects this game is like Grand Theft Auto or Mafia 2. The shooting, driving, and (very basic) cover elements share similarities with both franchises. Also, the maps are open world so you are free to drive around and choose your own course of action. There aren't really any "side missions" per se, but there are other things to do.
Each city you are in has a number of rackets (businesses) controlled by rival mafia families. You must attack these rackets and gain control over the businesses, which earns you a regular income, and if you control all the rackets in a group it will earn you perks (like bullet proof armor). When attacking a racket you will have to fight off the rival family's guards and eventually reach the owner of the business. Once you make it to him you must intimidate him to let you control the racket. There are different forms of intimidation including punching, choking, pointing a gun at him, hanging him over the side of a ledge, slamming him into walls, or destroy his business's property. Each business owner has a weak spot and if you find the right one then you will gain extra money when you take it over. You have to be careful when intimidating, though, because if you go beyond the breaking point then they will either die or they will call your bluff and refuse your offer.
Once you've taken over a racket then you must employ guards to protect it while you're away. There is a maximum number of guards each racket can have, and each guard costs a significant amount of money so you have to plan how many guards will work for the moment. Because after you leave, all of your businesses risk being attacked by other families. The guards you hired will do an average job protecting it, but later on you'll probably need to send a member of your mafia family to help protect it.
Part of this game is building your own family. You recruit people who have specific skills, and you can use them to help take over a racket or help defend a racket. You'll eventually be allowed seven members in your family, but only three will be available to join your crew at any given moment. Your crew is just the term for the people who will follow you around and help you attack. Each family member has a specific skill which allows them to interact with different environments. For example, there is a perk to cut fences, set off bombs, kick down doors, crack open safes, and even a medic perk. When you attack a racket you will have to choose your crew carefully so that they will have balanced perks that will help you get by. For example, it might help to have someone cut the lights to the building, and then someone else to kick down a back door. Then when you get inside you or your crew might lose all your health, so a medic can revive you. And then you might find a safe which a safecracker can open for extra money. Don't worry, though, because by the end of the game you will have family members who have multiple perks which makes it easier to choose who to bring along. I thought this part worked really neat except that the buildings never were challenging to attack and after a few instances it just became the same formula for attacking a building.
The game does distinguish itself from other open world shooters because of the strategy involved in creating a mafia family and controller all the rackets. In fact, you have a "Don's View" mode which basically gives you a strategic map of the city you are in. This mode feels a lot like the board game Risk because you have to take over a racket, employ guards to defend it, and you risk being attacked by a rival family and occasionally must send extra reinforcements. Plus having control of a set group of rackets will give you an extra bonus. I thought this part really fit into the game well and was an interesting addition to the third-person shooter elements.
Unfortunately the game does not really grow and evolve later in the game. Once you find a decent strategy of taking over businesses then it will be pretty easy for the other ones. This really takes a lot of the difficulty out of the game and makes things become really repetitive.
So while the game does have a unique combination of strategy and action, it just doesn't feel satisfying enough. The game doesn't offer enough diversity and growth and by the end of the game things can feel pretty empty like there was a lot of missed opportunities.
Story/Presentation: 2.5/5
+ The story is rather weak. For a franchise with a name like the Godfather I was expecting something more engaging. Granted, I'm not really that familiar with the Godfather movies, but the story in this game was completely uninteresting. The plot seemed really forced and thin, and there were hardly any surprises. If you were looking for a good mafia story in a video game then both the Grand Theft Auto and Mafia franchises do such a tremendous better job at crafting an interesting and engaging story.
Graphics: 2.5/5
+ The graphics feel really cheap. The faces are the only thing that looks decent, but all the other textures are very plain and basic and lack any detail. They can still look okay but they definitely feel dated, dull, and unimpressive. Not only that but the engine has a real struggle with the graphics too. If you drive your car really fast then objects in the distance will awkwardly pop in, and if you reach a certain speed then the entire game will start stuttering. It feels like it can't handle drawing all the objects appearing on screen and so the framerate drops considerably, which is bad when you are driving a speeding car because missing just a few frames could mean crashing into a car and ruining everything.
Value: 3/5
+ The game lasts about 9 hours, which is okay. But there really isn't much replay value in it. The game is open world but in the end you'll be following one path in order to win. I guess there is a multiplayer mode where you can take your family and go online, but I didn't even bother trying that and I would be surprised if anybody else is even playing this game any more.
While you may find some fun in this game, it really doesn't do a good job at trying to maintain that level of entertainment. It feels shoddy at times and the potential that the game rules lay out are really ruined by it. If you do want to play this game, you shouldn't pay a lot for it and you shouldn't be expecting much either.