Gangland

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $1.98

Features:

• Offers a unique blend of RTT/RPG/SIM
• Experience a living city with 800+ citizens per map
• Interact with 500+ npc's with individual behavior
• Make your own family from 20+ unique characters
• For 1 or more players

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Wish i had my money back [Posted on 2004-08-30]
i bought this game with high hopes, and regretably paid the full $50, there are way too many things wrong with this game to list. Do NOT buy this game

Best Mafia type game yet! [Posted on 2005-01-10]
First off let me say it beats out both gangsters 1 and 2. The graphics detail are amazing aswell as there is more to do. Gameplay is great except I found driving vehicles to be semi hard turning wise. The downfall to this game is that occasionally it crashes, however I didnt have this problem before I got the update patch. Overall this is a great game and I recommend it over any other mob type game!

Seriously disappointing [Posted on 2005-01-13]
People talked about this game like it was a cross between "Grand Theft Auto 3," "Gangsters," and "The Sims." Believing that, I went out to acquire this game. I regret spending my money.

Here's how gameplay is: you play a campaign, following a storyline. However, this is not like GTA3 where you can follow a certain storyline/story arch and still go out and do your own thing. Each mission is an isolated level, like a normal video game. Before I completed a mission, I went out and acquired a large portion of the city that I was allowed to go in, as well as raising my own personal army. Then when the next level was loaded...BAM! All of it was gone. I was heartbroken. Everything I had done was thus undone, as if the game only wanted me to have so much power. Imagine earning a lot of money, weapons, and vehicles in GTA3 and then suddenly losing all of it come the next mission, and you'll understand me better. What you come to realize is that while the game designers had a great concept, they presented it terribly. I got tired of doing the missions, and I didn't feel like I was in any great sim like the advertisements claimed. I think "Gangsters" was more like "The Sims" than this was.

The gameplay is also annoying. Moving the camera was awkward, though that wasn't my biggest complaint. The voice acting in this was incredibly awful. Every character says something in an attack, and its usually in a bad Italian accent. This is even worse for the girls who pepper spray people, and every time having to say something out loud. Imagine someone saying "How do you like my new piece?" and "You're goin' down!" every SECOND and you will understand just why I quickly turned down the volume.

There are other serious issues with this game however. The main reason I have given it one star as opposed to the original two I was going to give it is this: the patches. I downloaded the patch after a crash-to-desktop when the game first loaded...only to realize I had to download the other patches beforehand. Problem is...those patches apparently no longer exist. I couldn't believe it. I went to the company's website and searched all over, with just the recent patch available. I searched online, and though I found some earlier patches the game couldn't accept them, because it first had to accept the other, MUCH earlier patches. So all in all...I couldn't patch the game. This is inexcusable.

This game is not what I would recommend to other people. I hope in some ways my words have helped other gamers make a decision, or prevented them from making a serious financial mistake. Though the scars are too deep in me, I can exert my pain for the better good of mankind. Don't buy this game.

good gone ugly [Posted on 2005-11-21]
This story is similar to the Godfather series by Mario Puzo in the way it is played out in the video game. If you read the series think about how it would be to play his son in the family. If you haven't what it is, you go out to the godfather who is in very good terms with you and he gives you a bunch of missions. Most of these involve killing someone but some are as simple as extorting some money from a bar owner or the other with no blood spillt. The game's graphics are not that good, think diabloI or Starcraft(the first one). The gameplay is allright with the only problem is that is almost not at all based on strategy but rather on numbers. If you have more goons with you, the higher your chances of winning. I have found it very difficult to use strategy when you are weaker than your enemy in order to win. In a way it's pretty much a game where each side has a life balance and you stand in the open, shoot at each other, and see whose life gets to 0 first.
The makers tried to make the game more GTA style as you can take over a car here and there, and can take over bars and restaurants in the city to improve your city position. The only problem is that these dissapear as soon as the next mission starts. It's like you'r playing a GTA level with 20-50 missions and after each mission you would have to start looking for guns, cars,..etc again as everything reset itself.
Another possible problem I found, or maybe that's how the makers intended it to be is dealing with civilians. Some civilians as you walk by them for no reason whatsoever start shooting you. This can be annoying especially when you have low life and are trying to get away from a situation.
Overall this game is worth the money only if you are a fan of mobster type games, if you aren't I would keep my money and buy something else(maybe Mafia for PC).

Don't buy this after you've played "Mafia" [Posted on 2007-03-09]
I bought this game because I was so fascinated with the Mafia world. I thought it was interesting to own a business and hire people to help you. But, do not expect the same quality as the "Mafia" game from the God Games. That game is just so much better than Gangland. Okay, you may argue that "Mafia" was more about action than strategy, you're right... but still you'll feel disappointed when you play Gangland. There are some pro(s) and con(s) from this game:
(+)Mafia theme, great ideas that allowing you to own business and hiring your own people.
(+)Cheap price from Amazon: I only paid $4.74 including shipping and handling.
(+)Lots of levels and challenges that may keep you staying with this game for a while.
(+)The CD makes a crisp "snap" sound after I snapped it because it's so frustrating (two days after I bought it). You can use the box to hold your chair and the guide to make fire ( in addition to fire wood) when you camp.
(-)Awful camera position. The game gives you two ways to control it (including zoom in and out). One is to press "V" and "B" which will enable you to quickly rotate the camera on 90 degree, second is to hold "alt" button (in addition moving your mouse) to move the camera 360 degree to give you more freedom to enjoy the camera. I found those are not helpful because the streets and buildings are just too small/ narrow. So, you'll need to move around the camera position numerous times just to give you a better shot for your surroundings. It's annoying when you're being attack from many sides and you have to re-direct your camera just to see where you are and the enemies' positions. It simply gives you a headaches, literally.
(-)You cannot drive the car(s) on the sidewalks! Okay, so you want to be a great citizen and tax payer by not abusing the sidewalks.. but, you're mafia!! This may not be a big problem if the roads are wide enough to drive.. but they're just to narrow! To me they're just another sidewalk painted with black color and white stripes. It's also hard to make a left/ right turn since the control are just insensitive. I prefer to run during the game just to keep me out from being stressed out.
(-)Great story... your uncle sends you to make some revenges to your brothers.. owing business.. blah..blah.. but please.. can you put some animation on it or better actor to improve the voice?? Instead of just reading the text.
(-)You have to complete every single mini tasks in one level before you can save the game. So, prepare yourself to repeat one level so many times.
(-)Poor interface menu.. to me.. it's just too childish. Bright colors (like yellow and green colors from your Sharpie/ Sanford markers) do not tell me that you're playing a Mafia-theme game.
(-) There is not so much variation on the music, voice, and effect. After you've been playing it for a while you'll feel bored.
This is my first time to write a review for a game (or for any product description from Ebay, Amazon, etc)... and this was my first time to snap a CD into two pieces because it's simply too bad. I bought this game because of the theme and the ratings (four out of five stars) from Amazon. I don't know how those people who gave five/ four stars enjoy it, may be they're the ones who made the game. But to me...prefer to spend my $4.74 for something else.

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