Godfather is shockingly good. I posted about it a ways back. That said, it gets old after awhile and the mission variety isn't nearly as interesting as GTA. Sitll, I'm hoping GTA4 picks up on some of it's close combat options- Shoving bakers into ovens and throwing bitches out a window was never so fun!
Also, it was the last game that my wife really liked. She got a real kick out of it