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Gangsters 2 Review
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Gangsters 2
It must be an interesting life being in the mob the appeal is obvious: power, wealth, fame, notoriety, fast cars and hot chicks. On the flip side thereās the guns, violence and high probability of meeting a sticky end. Thanks to Hot House Creations we can all have a go without any of the consequences in their sequel Gangsters 2.
Set during the early years of prohibition in the fictional state of Temperance. You take on the role of Joey Bane a young hoodlum who seeks revenge following his fatherās murder, itās up to you to build up your gangster family, engage in the occasional drive-by or liquor run, crush the rival mob and avenge your father.
Unlike the first game the action takes more of a linear stance giving you missions and objectives to complete, totalling a minimum of 20 objectives before you can take pleasure in avenging your fathers death. There are many ways to complete an objective, team up with rival gangs, bribe judges, all out war-fare but itās all based on familiar strategy material; you hire āmuscleā and other gangsters to do your bidding, buy the occasional business to front-end your dodgy deals in order to finance your dubious purchases and kill any guy who looks at you the wrong way.
Thereās a great amount of depth for anyone with the perseverance to play through unfortunately I found the whole affair clumsy and too complex, as a game this just doesnāt flow and the end result is a very stop-start activity. There is too much information that leaves anyone but the most hardened of strategy fans or would-be gangsters bewildered and facing the game over screen all too quickly.
The interface has been made simpler but itās bogged down by the actual game. One key introduction the developers are keen to promote is the āintelligent cursorā that changes every time you pass over something that you can interact with, hmmm havenāt seen that anywhere before.
Hothouse claims that a lot of the micromanagement from the original game has been automated, however compared to other games already out the AI system doesnāt appear to be the brightest of the bunch. Trying to get all of your gangsters to a certain location is a tedious affair, as rather then use any transport they have theyāll decide to run it no matter how long the distance. Instead itās up to you to put each of them into their cars and then locate where you want them to go. Itās this type of slow paced action that puts me off and stopped me from getting into the game.
A nice feature is the use of real-time effects; day passes into night and adds a new dimension to the gameplay and realism. During this transition the daily newspaper will pop up providing you with all the crucial information and giving you a chance to take a break from being a mobster whilst the sun goes down and the moon comes up.
Although never the focus point the graphics are functional at best. Although strategy games with their 2D graphics are never going to wow the crowds, we could expect some decent animation as witnessed in Eidos other upcoming strategy game Commandos 2.
Comparisons to that game hold Gangsters 2 in very poor light, itās very hard to recommend this title when the far superior Commandos 2 is on the horizon.
Comments
Fans of the original may find the changes made have ādumbedā down the game whilst casual gamers will find it still too complex for an engaging experience.
