Gangs of London review

The dog ate it… no, my gran was ill… oh hang on, I was the one that was ill. That’s an excuse. That’s a real excuse. I can’t help but feeling like fans of a lot of the games I’m playing at the moment are coming up with the same excuse for a less than stella outcome, "It’s on the PSP."

True, the mere fact of a portable unit with good enough graphical power to run a GTA 3 engine game is a technical marvel, especially with its sleek black shiny curves, beautiful screen and ever growing game catalogue. But I digress, the first thing that I thought of when I played Gangs of London was ‘It’s on the PSP’, fortunately, not as an excuse, but as an explanation for some of the gameplay decisions and features.

The game is set in modern day London, with five rival titular gangs battling it out to gain control over the city. In an obvious step, the game will be compared to the GTA series, because of its full city, and The Getaway series, because of its… full city… and because it’s from the same people, and in most likelihood borrows many of its assets.

Affiliation

The majority of players will want to jump right into the story mode, one of the plentiful game modes that can be played from the get go. Unlike GTA however, you are immediately presented with a choice of which gang to throw your muscle behind, from the Triads to the Russian Mafia; each with their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of their preferred vehicles and weapons. Each gang has their own campaign, which involves wiping out the other gangs and gaining total dominance over around 25 missions for each gang. Each one is lovingly bookended by a graphic novel that expands the (clichéd and rather unfulfilling) plot. If you thought GTA was vulgar, there are no holds barred here, and while lacking the soft humour of the Grand Theft Autos, everything seems a little more raw and intense on this side of the pond.

These 30 missions for each gang seem to fly by rather quickly, for the very reason I realised it was targeted for the PSP; short sharp quick-play missions. From design it seems that you are intended to be able to grab the game, have a few minutes of play and shut it off again as the traffic lights go back to green. It works for its intended use, but more and more portable gamers (myself included to some extent) are looking for a little more in depth an experience.

Mish mash missions

Missions are started by simply selecting one in the map screen which plonks you down exactly where you need to be, bypassing the frustration of navigating an entire city each time you need to restart, yet hiding the free roam nature that the game buries beneath. In actual fact, the story mode does not seem to be the bulk of the game, despite its requirements to unlock characters and vehicles for the other modes.

On the city map you are treated to a one word description of what the mission entails which unfortunately does show up the limitations of types of missions, basically revolving around sneaking around trying not to be seen; knifing enemies in the back (or rather missing and trying to hack them to pieces while they shoot you in some cases), driving around the city chasing or being chased and the all action guns blazing shootathon missions. Interestingly, you do not play a specific character, but a squad of up to four, that can be ordered around and even switched between during gameplay; a character’s death not being the end, but just his omission from the experience points dished out to level up each gang member to improve their aiming, aversion to damage and general playing skill. A subtle twist to improve the tactics of the shooting missions, assuming you don’t just shoot everyone that appears without thought using the questionable auto aiming system.

How many days in 4 weeks?

A ridiculous number of extra missions are available from the free-roam mode, from taxi driving around London’s denizens to taking photos of London’s monuments to dealing with a Zombie hoard in the aptly named 4 weeks later mode. Added to that is a havoc mode for creating destruction and even riot control missions that let you control the other side; London’s Rozzers in an attempt to stop hooliganism.

Then there’s the pub, which gives you even more enjoyable minigames that arguably could have formed the basis of their very own game giving you skittles to knock over, darts to perfect your throw with, an arcade game that mixes Snake and Tron in a number of entertaining challenges and a pool table to find the pockets of. While pool could do with a few camera options, all of the aforementioned game modes allow you to earn medals as you progress through the missions (normally 8 in each section). What these medals are for, I am yet to discover, but my pride certainly enjoys the platinum one for zombie massacring.

Turn based too?

As if that wasn’t enough, a gem of a mode called Gang Battle puts you in a turn based map strategy game that demands you take over the majority of the city by recruiting gang members, attacking enemy areas and buying cards that can turn the tide of a game when played at the right time. These cards are rated by how powerful they are and how much they cost, performing tasks such as recruiting extra gang members for each space adjacent to where the card is played, or providing extra attack or defence for a specific square.

It remains quite simple but becomes addictive quickly as soon as you’ve grasped the concept and begin building your empire. Ultimately the confusing part is how such a game fits in with the rest of Gangs of London.

Flatland

London isn’t resplendent with hills, so it doesn’t come as a big surprise that the terrain is flat, but it does give a simplistic feel to the city. The graphics never seem as detailed as its latest comparison, Vice City Stories, which shows that the PSP can handle a stunning amount of wizardry, but the frame rate is solid and the missions that take place in a specific building or structure tend to be unique enough to warrant a play through. Then again, the kooky graphic novels tend to entertain, especially with the believable voice acting; in terms of performance, rather than the rather intense situations the gangs are landed in.

Generic chase music livens up the audio, but never really takes over the game like other games’ radio stations which is on one hand a welcome change, but on the other hand yet another feeling that Gangs of London is a simplified version of other games of the genre. The actual depth available for the player is amazing with a large number of missions, mini-games and mission types (including free-roam), but unlike Grand Theft Auto, they aren’t seamlessly integrated into the world, rather a big list of activities for you to choose from the menu, which seems to be a step back in my eyes. It’s a shame the gameplay couldn’t be a little more polished, but for a quick blast, you could play far worse than a bit of London Gang activity.