Gangsters 2: Vendetta Review

You start each mission in your office where you have all the stats about all people who work for your family, hired geeks and "specialists", incomes and expenses, the territory you cover and the latest gossip. This is where you determine the placement of all your gangsters and specialists. The illegal business I just mentioned cannot run without a specialist that would take care of it. Speakeasy will require a barman, Brewery requires a distiller, etc. The specialists usually have poor combat characteristics, so it would be wise to protect each site that makes a lot of money by hiring extra guards. Guards provide ideal protection for sites on border territories. If not more, they can hold off the attackers while your crack-squad arrives.

Just imagine the following situation: it is raining late at night, and the few streetlights that are working cast a dim light on the surroundings. A car approaches the nearby casino and suddenly stops. Several Tommy guns appear on the side of the car and the guards in front of the casino collapse. The team from the car swiftly runs into the casino to finish the job off, and seconds later disappear into thin air. Sounds like a scene from a movie? Nope, it is just one of many actions you will have a chance to perform in Gangsters 2. Drive-by actions like these are one of the most typical methods to conquer a site. Mission goals are usually along the lines of taking a certain number of sites or assassinating someone. The assassination targets are hard to find, and once you do find them, they are usually tough cookies to break. You should never forget that you are facing far more experienced and frequently better-equipped mobsters than yourself. The boys in blue are also omnipresent. Still, it will be enough to bribe the local sergeant and you won't need a single guard on that territory, as the police will protect you. Another thing about the police that irritated me initially was the fact that a cop appears whenever a fight breaks up, and they practically always start shooting at your boys first. On the other hand, if you tell your boys to retreat towards the police and the cops see them being chased by a gang with shotguns, they will immediately switch to your side. Cops will always tend to shoot at mobsters with high notoriety level or the ones wanted by FBI. Very well conceived and fun to play.

Sound and graphic design - both of these are as good as they could get for a game like this. The soundtrack is dark and moody, and provides a great atmosphere. The useful thing about sound is that you will hear noise typical for a site when scrolling over it, making sites easier to find.

The graphic design is clean and precise in spite of the tiny characters.

The game uses an isometric third-person view and only supports 800x600 resolution. Ingame map has several levels. When you scroll through it, the higher levels will disappear so that you could see what is going on inside buildings and control your men. The visual engine supports day and night changes and weather effects.

Gangsters 2 is a highly addictive game with good design and interesting gameplay. The unusual concept and the unraveling plot will keep you glued to the screen. The game is well balanced and keeps getting more complex as you progress deeper into the underground.