Gangsters 2: Vendetta (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.4 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ron Dulin
• Reviewed on: 06/08/2001
• Released on: 06/05/2001
• Originally published on GameSpot: Gangsters 2: Vendetta (PC) Review

Released in 1998, the original Gangsters had a promising premise, but it was marred by the fact that it was more complicated than complex. There was potentially a deep strategy game hidden somewhere beneath its convoluted interface and strange artificial intelligence problems, but finding that game was a chore. For Gangsters 2, developer Hothouse Creations has attempted to remedy the problems of the first. The interface has been streamlined, and the game has been simplified. Unfortunately, the company also removed much of the detail, and the resultant game doesn't offer you much to do. It's repetitive and confusing in some areas, and too simple in others. And the interface, though easier to understand, is still problematic.

In Gangsters 2, you play as Joey Bane, a small-time mobster looking to avenge the death of his father and become big-time in the process. You begin in the city of Buffalo Falls, where you must hunt down a few of the men responsible for your father's death and establish a foothold for your operations. You hire gangsters and the muscle to protect them, and you send them out into enemy territory to wreak havoc on your rivals' establishments, kill their henchmen, and take over their operations.

As the game goes on, you'll be able to open your own illegal businesses, hire more gangsters, buy more equipment, and that's about it. There isn't much depth to the game, and neither the business simulation nor the combat elements are very interesting.

A typical scenario will go something like this: You begin with your territory established. There are a few illegal businesses already set up or a few predetermined locations where you can set them up yourself. Then you send gangsters out to protect your investments or hire local muscle to guard them. Some enemy gang members will inevitably come in and try to wreck your buildings, and your guys will kill them. Once you're set up, you send your guys to their territory and take key places. Then you either take over the objective location or kill the guy you're supposed to kill. And so on.

The scenarios don't offer much variety, though they'll get bigger, and the enemy will get stronger. There are many frustrations packed into this seemingly simple setup. For one thing, hiring business managers to run your operations is difficult. You must first set up the business, then switch over to a newspaper screen and skim the paper to find someone to run it. Then you switch back to the business and tell the newly hired manager to go there. It's unnecessarily complicated, and there's no strategic reason why you can't simply hire a manager from the building screen.

The fact that areas like this are so obtuse seems to be at odds with the overall simplicity of the game. You have very little control over your gangsters. Combat involves nothing more than getting them near the opposition, at which point your forces will fight to the death or flee, depending on how high you set their aggression level. At times, Gangsters 2 is like playing a simple real-time strategy game that only allows you one type of unit.

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