“We don’t give our criminals much punishment, but we sure give ‘em plenty of publicity.”
- Will Rogers

I remember Gangsters as being a pretty decent game. It was along the same lines as Syndicate (which was pretty advanced for its time, as I recall) but with more of a hometown flair (I’m from Chicago). I had great hopes that the sequel would take advantage of new hardware and game styles to deliver an even more engrossing opportunity to run my own criminal empire (so much for that presidential run).

As you can probably tell by my dour lead-in, I was disappointed with Gangsters. Aside from the challenges with getting the game to initially play, it was simply . . . boring. I played through the campaigns as far as my commitment to providing you with a rich and insightful review would allow only to discover that I just wasn’t interested in accomplishing the goals. I wasn’t pulled into the game.

The game has a combination of problems. The campaigns are sometimes overly simple in nature but marred by an incredibly challenging navigation system or overly difficult and marred by, well, an incredibly challenging navigation system. When it hits the bargain bins and you decide to drop $15 for it, you’ll see what I mean.

As a strategy game it’s lacking on several fronts. The most obvious one is the lack of an ability to build an underworld economic powerhouse. Was there any other reason to become a gangster? Yes, you can take over illegal or legitimate enterprises to increase your funds and hire more thugs. That, however, is the extent of the economic portion of the game. What about fighting? I’m glad you asked. Fight scenes always result in the death of a strong unit or the retreat of a more cowardly one unless you specifically intervene. Even then, the result is unimaginative and out of your control. If that wasn’t interesting enough, if your guy becomes too good at taking care of the bad guys the cops will come in force to take him down one way or another. Apparently, mediocrity is the order of the day.

Speaking of out of control, the campaigns are hard wired. Want to know who’s going to do what? Just wait and you’ll see. Then, restart the mission and work around that movement. I’m not completely sure the “I” made it into the “AI”.

Suffice it to say I am rating Gangsters 2: Vendetta a “weak buy”, meaning you should wait for the price to hit $19.99 before you even think about buying it.