The Godfather is an open world action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, in which the player controls Aldo Trapani as he ascends through the ranks of the Corleone family, with his rise intersecting with the narrative of the film on numerous occasions. The basic gameplay and game mechanics are similar to most open world titles as the player can travel across the city freely, commandeer vehicles, do whatever they want in terms of attacking and/or killing innocent civilians, and progress through the storyline at their own leisure, spending as much time traversing the city as they wish.
Combat
Much of the game is based around third-person shooting, with the player able to wield a .38 snub nose, a pistol, a magnum, a Tommy gun, and a shotgun, as well as projectiles such as Molotov cocktails and dynamite. The game features both a lock-on system and a manual aiming system. In the manual system, the players have complete freedom to aim wherever they wish. In the lock-on system, when the player locks a target, a targeting reticule appears on-screen. The longer the player is locked on, the smaller the reticule gets, allowing for more precise aiming. Within the lock-on system, the player also has a certain degree of freedom to aim manually; the reticule can be moved around the locked on target, allowing the player to target specific areas. If the reticule turns red, the player has found a weak point. All enemies have five weak points: their two knees and their two shoulders, plus their groin. If the player shoots one of their knees, the enemy will no longer be able to run, but will continue to shoot back. If the player hits a shoulder, the enemy won't be able to fire back or fight. Hitting the groin accomplishes the same effect as a knee shot, also stunning the target.
The other mode of combat in the game is melee combat, for which the game uses a system dubbed "BlackHand", after the Black Hand extortion method. Once the player has locked onto an NPC, either hostile or non-hostile, they use the right analog stick to engage in melee combat. The system allows for light attacks, heavy attacks and directional attacks. It also allows the player to swing the opponent around, drag them, strangle them, lift them to their feet if they fall to their knees, slam them against walls, smash their head against counters, throw them over ledges and out windows, and perform execution maneuvers when the opponent is suitably weakened. Players can also wield numerous melee weapons, such as baseball bats, tire irons, police batons, and wrenches. For the PlayStation 3 Don's Edition and the Wii Blackhand Edition, the BlackHand system has been enhanced, utilizing the motion sensor capabilities of the SIXAXIS and the Wii Remote.
Extortion and rival families
A major part of The Godfather's gameplay is extorting businesses. The player must extort business to earn enough respect to level up, to complete certain missions, and to earn money. When the player is attempting to intimidate a business owner into paying protection money, a meter appears on screen with a green bar and a red bar. To get the owner to agree to pay, the player must intimidate them until the meter fills up to the green bar. After this point, the more intimidation the player can achieve, the more money the owner will pay out. However, if the meter passes the red bar, the owner will begin to fight back and will refuse to pay anything. Every business owner has a weak point, something they particularly fear, and if the player finds it, the amount of money paid out will rise faster than the meter fills, allowing the player to extort more money before the meter reaches the red zone. Intimidation methods include beating the owner up, throwing them around, smashing their shop, attacking customers, or pointing firearms at them. In the Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, the player will occasionally have the option of carrying out a favor for a business owner rather than intimidating them. This can involve carrying out a hit on someone, scaring someone, or going to a particular location at a particular time. If the player chooses to perform the favor, the amount of protection money paid by the owner will be maximized.
There are five main geographical regions in the game; Little Italy (controlled by the Corleone family), Brooklyn (controlled by the Tattaglia family), New Jersey (controlled by the Stracci family), Hell's Kitchen (controlled by the Cuneo family) and Midtown (controlled by the Barzini family). At the start of the game, the entire map is available for the player to explore, but the game encourages the player to remain in Little Italy, as it is the easiest area of which to gain control. To completely control an area, the player must extort all business and rackets owned by the other families, and take over their warehouses and hubs. Many businesses serve as fronts to rackets, which can be taken over in a similar manner to the front, although in the case of a racket, the player has the option of simply buying the racket boss out. Rackets yield more money than businesses.
The player can also gain control of warehouses and hubs. Warehouses supply rackets, and hubs supply warehouses. Both warehouses and hubs are heavily guarded, and the player must fight their way inside, and find the boss, who they can then intimidate as with business owners and racket bosses. Warehouses pay out more than rackets and hubs pay out more than warehouses. Ultimately, the player must tackle the enemies' strongest holdout - their compound. Once the compound is destroyed, that family has been defeated. To destroy a compound, the player must fight their way inside and then plant a bomb. All compounds have two buildings, both of which must be bombed. Each compound is heavily guarded by opposing family members.
