Official Website

Platform: PSP

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1 (2-5 via AdHoc)
 

Welcome back to merry ole England. If you’re a PlayStation 2 owner, and chances are pretty good that if you own a PSP, you are, you may have already taken a trip or to over to the “digital UK.” Game designers really owe a lot of the Grand Theft Auto series, and even though the game has become a target by parent groups and senators, it’s what proved that not all gamers were still in grade school. The Atari generation had grown up, and they wanted adult games. Sony has a number of games that fall into that category, their own version of GTA, The Getaway, is just one of many. The series may not be hitting the PSP, but you can still make a trip to London to cause a little mayhem.

Gangs of London puts you in control of one of five gangs all involved in a turf war and control of the streets. You have your choice of Kane, the gang of the Morris Kane Firm, the Water Dragon Triads, the newcomers, the Talwar Brothers, the ruthless Zakharov Organization or the EC2 Crew. Each of the gangs has their own strengths and weaknesses to be concerned with. Some may have better driving skills while others might excel in weaponry, and additionally, each of them has their own choice of weapons that they will utilize.With five different gangs to choose, you may be curious if the storyline is going to change. To some extent it does, though you will find that many of the same missions do present themselves from time to time.

The main point to any of the stories is gaining more territory for you and your crew, and that’s the easy part. But keep in mind that while you’re gaining new turf, rivals are going to be trying to snatch it away from you as well. It’s war in the streets, and when you’re not busy trying to muscle someone else out of their territory, you’re going to need to protect your assets.

In story mode, you will find a variety of different types of missions that you will undertake. There’s driving missions, occasions where there will literally be a gang war while you try and take out a powerful rival, stealth missions, and a number of other types. However, this is about operating as a gang, and while there are occasions where you will be working solo, much of the tie you will be working with other members of your gang to accomplish a single mission and change between characters as well.

To get you used to how the game controls, there is a tutorial, but really the ideas are very simple. The D-pad is used for the gang and you can give them orders this way. A command of Go Forward will send them into battle for the most part, a good way to keep yourself safe, but you can also have them stay put. Not only can you order them all as a group though, you can also narrow this down to just one member which is the perfect way to heal those that have taken some heavy damage in battle. There are obviously quite a few benefits working as a team, and you won’t necessarily always have to give them orders. Getting into a car for instance means that everyone gets in unless they’ve been told otherwise, and if there are enemies on the road, they will shoot at them leaving you free to concentrate on the road.

At times, stealth comes in handy, and in this mode, you can sneak up on an enemy and either perform and instant kill (the X button) or hold them hostage, something that can also make enemies surrender (and remember this technique when you’re told to bring someone back alive.) In armed combat, you can lock onto the closest enemy by pressing R which highlights them in red. L meanwhile lets you strafe, and luckily in any firefight, your shots don’t cause any damage to your gang (at least not that I noticed.) You can reload at any point by pressing square, but there are some things that I didn’t care much for as far as fighting goes. Each gang is limited to what weapons they use, so even if you take down a rival, you can’t just run over and pick up their weapon. When fighting with blades of any kind, locking onto an enemy is almost impossible to do, making these fights much more tedious much of the time.

Finishing a mission may give you new turf at times, but there are other rewards as well. There is a minor RPG aspect to Gangs of London, and upon completion, you will receive experience points for any member who wasn’t taken out of the mission. As your level increases, so will your skills, and that’s incredibly important in the long run. This also opens the ability to replay missions and unlocks characters in the games free mode. In this mode, you will find a number of different game options. Free Drive will let you explore the streets of London at your leisure. But, maybe you’d like to take in the sights of the city, so London Tourist allows you to move around the city and snap some pictures of some of the more famous landmarks. If it’s not gangs you have to worry about, it’s the living dead, and Four Weeks Later has you taking on zombies (maybe reanimated by rage infected monkeys) that are terrorizing the streets. You can also take on the role of a certain wooden actor (or close to him) in Speed Trap. There’s a bomb on your car and if you drive too fast or too slow . . . . I think you know the outcome. You can also play the role of the police and try and stop a riot in the streets or go back to the wrong side of the law and attempt to outrun them in a high speed chase. You can even take a job as a cabbie and try and maneuver through the city and get your passengers to their destination.

If London grows tiring, you can relax at the bar for a bit. You may not be able to toss back an ale, but you can play a game of darts or eight ball, either the UK or US version. What’s the difference? US has solids and stripes while the UK simply uses yellow and red. Fancy a game of skittles? No, it’s not the candy, but it’s similar to bowling but with “pins” that are stationary and points are earned by how many are hit. You can even visit the arcade for a Gangs of London version of snake. Whatever you do though, make sure to mind your pints and quarts.

Finally on the list of extra games is Gang Battle. You can play this with multiple players or against the computer. This isn’t a free-for-all, but rather a Stratego style game where you will move your gang members into different territories to take them over, then defend against rivals who dare enter to claim it for their own.

Like many PSP titles, you also have a game sharing mode to give friends a look at a demo of Gangs of London. However, each of them is just a little bit different so not everyone will get the same experience. This is a nice touch and definitely better than the usual garden variety demo that is the same each and every time.

The controls do take a bit to get used to at first. Using the analog to move is one thing, but things can get hairy when you’re trying to give orders to your gang members via the D-pad. In the heat of battle, it can be a real test of dexterity, but luckily those moments tend to be something of a rarity. What I found really took some getting used to though was driving. The analog on the PSP is really touchy at times, much more than what the PS2 controllers are, and the cars Gangs of London can be a bit squirrelly at times, but much like any of the controls in the game, once you’ve managed to get the feel for it, it’s not too much of a problem.

The game doesn’t use animated cutscenes, but instead still images that look like something that you might see in a graphic novel. At first, the fact that the game bleeped out much of the profanity kind of bothered me, but then it occurred to me that since the game really was trying to imitate a comic to an extent, the lack of foul language really made a lot of sense. Outside of the cutscenes though, the rest of the graphics look really good and easily compare to The Getaway. You still have portions of London recreated and you’re free to run around and explore if you want to.

Gangs of London isn’t a bad game, but it does leave a lot to be desired when compared to the GTA series or even The Getway. It’s certainly not a bad effort, but the game does tend to get a little repetitive at times and when compared to how games like this play on the PlayStation 2, there are some definite tweaks that need to be done with the controls in my opinion. Gangs is more of a middle ground game where some are going to absolutely love it, others may hate it, and for this reviewer, I’m simply caught in the middle. I don’t hate it, but after an hour or so, I’m looking for something else to keep me playing the PSP.
 

-mike-