Gangland

Nick indulges his delusional Sicilian fantasies...

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We all have a list of professions that we deem 'cool'. My list scans like a veritable "who's who" of machismo chic - lumberjacks, ninjas, astronauts, demolition experts, fire-breathers and shark catchers all make the cut. And before you ask, yes there are real shark catchers. Doesn't the name Quint mean anything to you? But my list doesn't stop there - gangsters are also included, for several notable reasons. For starters, they are snappy dressers, bringing new meaning to the phrase 'dressed to kill'. Secondly, gangsters have some great parlance, and some awesome nicknames. From now on, in fact, I shall be known as 'Little Nicky The Fish', for reasons that I can't tell you of, since it would break the oath I took on the day I was made. Which is today. Anyway, we're all agreed - gangsters are cool, and impressionable as we are, we would like to emulate them somehow, preferably in a manner that does not bring us into contact with the wrong end of a tommy gun or a plain old two by four. Games, therefore, are the perfect medium to let us indulge in our Sicilian fantasy. MediaMobsters and Whiptail Interactive have sought to bring us the very means to fulfil these aims with Gangland - an overhead, 3rd-person perspective strategy game that sees the player take the role of an aspiring reprobate.

The game's premise is simple enough. You play as Mario Mangano, a Sicilian out to kill his three elder brothers in revenge for an attack on your favourite brother, Chico. The game begins in Paradise City in the New World, with Mario apprenticed to his uncle Vincenzo. The game's early missions have the player take on several tasks for Uncle Vincenzo, and then returning to his restaurant for your reward and your next briefing. Initial impressions are good, as it is clear to see that there is a solid 3D engine at the heart of the game. The camera pans and zooms well, and the world itself seems well realised. Pedestrians are abundant, and the world is nicely modelled and textured. The day and night cycle adds atmosphere, and there are numerous other nice graphical touches. In short, Gangland is a nice looking game.

The player begins the game with a single sidekick, and a mission to begin extorting the businesses surrounding Vicenzo's restaurant. This involves swanning in to the nearest profitable-looking establishment, dishing out some good old fashioned beat-down, and then collecting the dough. Somewhat satisfying, if a little crude. Other early missions include various hits on rival establishments. As Mario gains experience, he is able to control more AI helpers simultaneously, with a variety of different sidekick types becoming available through the course of the game. These range from simple melee goomba's, to tommy gun wielding gangsters, to vicious hookers who somewhat strangely use mace on their adversaries. Trust a woman to bring an irritant to a gun fight. Later on, things get even weirder, with bazooka soldiers, snipers and ninjas (!) all becoming available.

After these initial tasks, things get more interesting, and far more complicated, as you begin to operate your own gang. New units are introduced, as are new enemies, and a variety of secondary resources can be taken over to provide your outfit with raw materials. Chop shops, brothels, distilleries and gun shops can all be acquired. The player can make deals with outside gangs for money in exchange for a variety services they might want from you. These range from supplying car parts to providing blackmail photos. The player even eventually finds a wife and together they have some little gangsters, who become part of the family outfit and act as underbosses. It must be said, however, that the wife quickly brings trouble, as she can be a pain to protect thanks to her habit of wandering freely around outside the safehouse. Overall there are some 16 or so conquest missions and a dozen optional challenges, so there is plenty to get your teeth stuck into. There is, however, no continuity between missions, in that the businesses captured are reset and the only thing retained is Mario's experience level. This is a shame, as the player feels as though much of their previous effort is lost.

Indeed, Gangland suffers from an unfortunate number of such difficulties. There are very few cars on the road, which lessens the sense that this really is set in a real, thriving city. Worse, the music is not suited to the setting at all, making it difficult to achieve any kind of player immersion into the graphically excellent world. It seems that quite a large portion of the game does not quite live up to the standards set by the impressive visuals - the AI is workable, but occasionally frustrating, and collision detection with vehicles is poor. But by far the two greatest problems the game has are the difficulty level and the complexity of running a large gangster empire later on. The game's combat is a bit too difficult for average player tastes, and the impossibility of saving mid-mission means there will be a lot of frustrated reloading. Equally, the game becomes too complex to manage efficiently after a while, as the player must simultaneously defend his interests against attack, manage several offensive missions and all the while keep an eye on his wayward wife as she struts suicidely around in the street.

Gangland will therefore not appeal to everyone. It has a poorly balanced difficulty curve and some bad design that will put off many that would have otherwise been attracted to its popular content and excellent visuals. It's a bit of a shame, because it is plain that the developers have a lot of talent. If, however, you are the type of gamer that can put up with a bit of frustration for something worthwhile, and don't mind a challenge, then Gangland may have something to offer you.

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By Nick McCrea