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Reviewed by Jimmy | 10.16.06

Intro
The thugs are causing chaos in London, England with The Getaway spin off, Gangs of London. If you thought the ghetto is the only place that kept it real, think again. The gangs of London are in your face and nasty as ever. It's all about control, and the big payout. We put on our best three piece suit, drank a pint of beer and load up to take on Gangs of London.

Game
In Gangs of London you'll be introduced to seedy underworld of organized crime. In a rumble for control, five top echelon of gangs each want to own the city streets and your first duty is to sign up for some blood and bullets. After you're associated you'll start running and gunning your way to the top in approximately 60 missions on the quest to become the next Kingpin.

The five gangs in London are based loosely on real gangs and each one has their unique weapons, cast of characters, advantages and disadvantages. There is a five star rating the covers four categories for on foot and vehicles. To break it down even more, vehicles have a top speed, acceleration, handing and durability rating. The actually gang members are broken down in to aggression, speed, accuracy, and toughness. Each gang will counter act the other, so no one gang has a clear advantage.

The story is told through a comic book perspective with slides and captions are excellent, detailed and gritty. The presentation actually is more interesting then the actual gameplay and plot. It's too bad the developer; SCE London could translate that edge into the core game. The plot is really thin and the story basically has you conquering territories from each rival gang. Each activity like gunning down gangs members or kidnapping a person are fairly straightforward and it will feel like you've played this game before. It really hurts the overall game because despite the slapped together missions, Gangs of London is a solid production. The whole experience story experience really feels irrelevant and I didn't get into the plot or care what happened to the characters involved.

One factor would of helped make Gangs of London more interesting would have been sharper controls. The button placement is a little clunky and makes and the loose analog stick makes the game feel like more a chore then fun. I don't understand why they didn't just grab the simplistic control blueprints from Grand Theft Auto. It doesn't matter if it's similar or blatant rip off, as long as the final product plays good. Car chases and on foot pursuits should be fun, but unfortunately the control scheme robs some enjoyment.

Another factory that plagues Gangs of London is that you can't free roam in the story mode. Free roaming is only available in the "Free Roam" section of the game. The main problem with the lack of free roaming is that this also takes you out of the world. I wanted to roam around the city and be this bad ass gangster and cause my own havoc. It's understandable why the developers didn't make the story mode in this fashion, but I feel like it was more because they didn't want to have the inescapable label of a "GTA Clone". Even though I don't like labeling, an English version of Grand Theft Auto sounds like a win-win situation; it's too bad the main part of the game couldn't bring it all together.

Besides the main story, Gangs of London is packed full of other modes which acts as the discs savior. The "Free-Roaming" game mode is actually expands with a few more options besides being able to roam around London. You can also play as a typical off beat Tourist taking photos of the landmarks and asking directions in the London Tourist mode. London Tourist is basically free roaming with a camera and strangely I had fun searching for London 's most famous landmarks like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. "Speed Trap" is a car based mini-game where you have to keep a high speed until the timer ticks down to prevent an attached car bomb from exploding. Next is "Riot Control" where you take on the role of one of London 's finest officers and arrest rowdy troublemakers as they cause havoc in the city streets. In a Shawn of the Dead twist you can also take down zombies who are infecting the town folk. In "Four Weeks Later" you have to take them down before they take you. Lastly in the "Free-Roaming" game section is "The Knowledge" which has you behind the wheel of a cabbie navigating to destinations in London .

The real treat comes in the "Gang Battle" mode which is one of the most appealing modes on the Gangs of London disc, if you like strategy games. Gang Battle is a turned-based strategy game like risk where you have to take over sections on a map until you rule all. You can adjust the gangs, difficulty and win conditions to make the game more challenging. The Gang Battle also has a bonus card system that will help you out when you're in a bind. These cards come in three strengths weak, medium and strong and cost cash. I'm a turned based strategy fan, so for me this mode was cool. I can see it being a little dull for others, at any rate it's a nice option for strategy fans.

Lastly, but not least on the list is "The Pub" section of Gangs of London. The pub is what you'd expect a bunch of lounge games that are lots of fun. Again, like the Gang Battle I found myself hanging out at this pub, I could almost smell the Guinness. Here is a rundown of the games available at the pub; Darts, Skittles (Bowling), 8-Ball ( UK & USA ), and an Arcade game like Snake on those older Nokia phones. So that's the other modes in Gangs of London. There is a fair amount of extra content available besides the story mode and all these extra modes have some weight. From killing zombies and being a tourist to turned-based strategy and darts, Gangs is packed full of content.

Lowdown
It's hard to recommend Gangs of London as a straight ahead buy, it's on the shelf, but it's not jumping in the bag. Gangs of London incongruity between style, substance, and basic gaming mechanics is disappointing. I wouldn't refer to Gangs of London as bad game because there are several redeeming qualities about this English gangster that I love, it's just that Gangs doesn't live up to expectations and feels a little short on reaching its full potential.

Good Comic Styled Presentation, Lots of Good Extra Modes
BadTouchy Controls, Repetitive Gameplay, Uneventful Missions

Gameplay: 6, Graphics/Sound: 8.5, Innovation: 6, Mojo: 4. Final: 6 / 10

  • Choose from 5 different gangs bosses and witness the plot unfold in a series of graphic novel narratives
  • Control a team of gangsters and swap between them on the fly while engaging in explosive urban combat
  • Over 60 missions that offer a mix of shooting, tactical battles and various driving challenges, all in a living breathing photo realistic London
  • Free roaming city allows you to explore some of the most dangerous areas of the Underground
  • Play a series of mini-games which includes a unique Strategy Card game, Tourist mode, British pub games (pool, cards, darts, chess, skittles) and more
  • GameShare allows players to beam playable missions to a friend via your PSP system



Gangs of London
 
Publisher
Sony
 
Developer
SCE London
 
Genre
Action
 
Released
Oct 2006
 
ESRB
Mature