Gorf is an action-adventure game that consists of five levels. The first level, Astro Battles , has the player's ship behind a defensive shield, defending against an alien attack. The level is a top-down view, with the player's ship and shield on one side and the aliens on the other side; this level bears the most resemblance to Space Invaders. The gameplay of Gorf varies across each level. In the second level, Laser Attack , a formation of ships appear with some that swoop down and a laser that fires at the player's ship. Bonus ships also tend to appear in this level. The third level, Galaxians , is similar to the game Galaxian with ships constantly dive bombing the player's spaceship. This mission only appears in the Arcade version.
The fourth level, Space Warp , has the player entering hyperspace. The viewpoint switches from a top-down view to a behind-the-ship view. One by one, alien vessels will come out and fly in a circular formation shooting at the player's ship with the players goal being to destroy each one. The fifth and final level is called Flag Ship . In this level, the player does not fight a wave of enemies, but a single one which happens to be a large Flag Ship with a weak spot which is its core. Hitting the weak spot will instantly destroy it, but the player must first shoot through a similar shield that the player had in the first level.
Finishing the game increases the player's rank and starts the game over at level 1 with a faster game speed for more challenge.