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Gangland

EMAIL PRINT pc

7.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 40 critic reviews
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Based on 6 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Whiptail Interactive

Developer: MediaMobsters

Genre(s): Real-Time Strategy, Role-Playing Game, Simulation

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Release Date: March 4, 2004

Summary

GANGLAND is a fast pace arcade style action game that combines the RTT, RPG & SIM genres into a whole new breed. All wannabe mobster bosses can look forward to a unique experience that'll blow your brains out! SINGLEPLAYER STORY: There were five brothers Romano, Angelo, Sonny, Chico and Mario. As kids they were inseparable as they grew up on Sicily with their grandparents. As they grew older three of the brothers became more and more unsatisfied with the quiet life in the Mediterranean and one day they killed their own brother Chico in a fight whereafter they fled to the land of opportunity where they began each their own criminal career. That made grandpa very upset He sent his fourth grandchild to America to track down and kill his malicious brothers and avenge the murder. First thing Mario should do when he arrives is to look up his uncle Vincente... MULTIPLAYER STORY: You take on the role of one of the four Italian brothers, Mario, Angelo, Romano or Sonny. Born into Sicilian mafia, you must work your way up within the family and compete with other mobs and gangsters for supremacy in Paradise City. [Whiptail Interactive]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: ActionTrip Preview Adrenaline Vault Preview Game Over Online Preview Games Domain Preview GameSpot Preview GameSpy Preview IGN Hands-On Official Website TechTV Preview

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PGNx Media

The characters aren’t great but are satisfactory and animate rather way. Not much in the way of visuals, but the art style definitely serves the game.

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Gaming Age

However you play, the amount of crimes you can accomplish in this game is fabulous, and it never gets old.

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Worth Playing

Gangland delivers where it counts. It’s hard to stop playing, you want to play it when you’re not and it makes you hungry for ziti.

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Armchair Empire

Gangland is a good game, with a great mix of real-time combat and strategy, and the economics of crime.

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Maxim Online

But this isn’t just car bombs and cement shoes; characters can marry into families, sire their own shifty progeny, and watch them assume seats of power. It ain’t pretty, but it’s business.

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Boomtown

A big bonus is that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.

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GameSpy

I find it both unforgivable and amazing that any game would be released without the ability to save during the game. That's right - you can't save during each of the Conquests.

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Playboy

Think of this strategy game as "The Sims" meets "The Sopranos." [Feb 2003, p.32]

Gamers Europe

A highly enjoyable title to while away at, offering a unique blend of "Syndicate" and "Drug Wars."

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Loaded Inc

A competent story, challenging gameplay and a good blend of several genres make it a game that should please the crime-game fan.

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RealGamer

One of those games where even though you keep getting killed you can't help but go back for more just to progress that little bit further.

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Gamenikki

Despite the small cracks in just about every gameplay function of the game, Gangland still manages to be addictive fun.

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GameShark

A good game that probably could have used some refinement in the way combat was handled and could have used a lot more common NPC interaction.

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Gamer's Pulse

Shoot outs are troublesome and hectic, moving around the map is too much of an effort, and keeping track of what you’ve actually done is a chore.

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GameZone

The steep difficulty, erratic AI and overall lack of balance in the gameplay ultimately flaw the experience.

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GameSpot

The execution of many of Gangland's different elements falls short of its lofty promise, thus leaving a game that has a lot of good ideas but is sometimes convoluted and often frustrating.

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PC Gamer

My biggest gripe involves gangland's implementation vehicles. You're occasionally given cars for drive-by shootings, but their awful handling makes completing those levels a chore. [June 2004, p.74]

GameBiz

The computer AI is disappointing at times, rather than working together as a team your opponent's efforts are disjoint allowing them to be picked off one at a time.

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Game Chronicles

This is Hollywood’s version of the mob taken even further over the top, but it does make for interesting and amusing game material. The game is hampered in many ways though, and it drags down the entire experience. Perhaps Mediamobster will whip the game into shape with a few patches.

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Game Over Online

Some of the missions are downright easy because enemy gangs will just sit in their territory and wait for you to kill them, and then in other missions the enemies appear to cheat (getting gang members for free, starting with their territory already taken over), and they’re next to impossible.

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Game Informer

Combat feels more like a slugfest than an intense tactical experience; not once was I able to recover from bad odds through strategic expertise. [May 2004, p.107]

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1UP

Despite offering some memorable moments, relatively unrestricted gameplay, and the occasionally satisfying play mechanic, Gangland should still be packaged with a bottle of Valium and a straightforward, "your brain has the potential of spontaneously bursting" warning, as it can be damn frustrating.

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Gamer's Hell

The shallow gameplay and mission construction coupled with elementary strategic play will turn off hardcore RTS fans, strategy-lite for the 'whacking' minded.

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Next Level Gaming

I think the ideas are there, and they are great. Unfortunately, the gameplay brought it down a few notches.

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Cheat Code Central

The game has its own style and would have been a contender if the gameplay was more refined. Online play is available but it's not fully supported.

Times Online

Releasing a game without a save mode is a brave move; releasing a game without a save mode because you forgot is just worrying. For those of you hoping to play Gangland and complete it, my advice is to wait until a save patch becomes available, supposedly in the next month or so.

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DailyGame

The steep difficulty of managing characters can become overwhelming, and the combat at times seems a bit too fast-paced for the game’s own good. The result is a good concept that finds itself in a messy situation, the video-game equivalent of cement shoes.

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Four Fat Chicks

This full-price game is not in the same league as “Mafia,” “Grand Theft Auto 3,” or even “Grand Theft Auto 2.” I suspect the developers tried to do too much, and they ended up with an often-confounding game

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G4 TV

Some stuff in Gangland, like building up your crime family, works great. Other parts, like the pace of combat, unhelpful camera angles, and useless vehicles will make you wonder if the developers should have radically rethought all the squad-based stuff.

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PC Gameworld

It seems very unpolished in its current state, and while patches might fix some of the more egregious problems, it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to pull the title up from its current mediocrity.

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Computer Gaming World

The game's fast pace makes managing your turf a hectic, confusing ordeal. [June 2004, p.87]

Computer and Video Games

The city in the game just doesn't feel alive. There are plenty of pedestrians milling about, but it's only the enemy and the police that you can meaningfully interact with. [PC Zone]

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ActionTrip

I certainly don't feel the incentive to play the game again, and I'm afraid neither will anyone else (especially not until they fix the save option thing).

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IGN

While the world looks open-ended, it doesn't have the appeal of other games of its type that reward and invite exploration. With roving bands of syndicate soldiers on virtually every street corner, you're hemmed into your particular mission.

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Frictionless Insight

Ultimately, the game feels like a solid scaffolding around which a really amazing game could have been built. On its own merits, Gangland isn’t a failure. In fact, it’s a flawed, but solid, game. Gangland simply falls short of its potential and its promises. That’s the pity.

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Game Revolution

An overachiever with too many character flaws to make it big. It just can’t swim with the sharks. Save your money and pick up "Mean Streets" instead.

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GamerFeed

There are a ton of great ideas here, but they were all executed badly. What we have is an utter mess of wasted potential.

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Adrenaline Vault

Its logic flaws and thoroughly vexatious difficulty are so omnipresent that any gains made via technology are completely overshadowed. In trying to mix strategy with action, a sense of identity got lost in translation.

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GMR Magazine

But, as usually happens when you try to put too many spices in your gumbo, the whole thing would up tasting like an armpit. [June 2004, p.91]

Computer Games Magazine

Never has contract killing, extortion, and prostitution seemed so pointless. [June 2004, p.78]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mart R. gave it a 4:
Gangland tries to be a gangster-style RTS/RPG hybrid, but unfortunately ends up as a wasted attempt at catering too many different audiences.

Ffelfurt Hare gave it a 4:
Gangland goes on about how it's a mixture of gaming styles, but ultimately it's not much more than a modern version of the old classic syndicate wars given a 'mob' look just with the lack of mission objective variables. Building up a family is hailed as a huge part of the game, but really the only missions you ever get given to complete are to kill 'so & so' & that does become very repetitive with no business or strategy side to it as is also promised on the box. The developers also hailed the action in the game to be based on strategy, strategy being whoever has the numbers of men it would seem. The AI of the computer aggressors always has them running right upto you rather than strategically taking cover so you can easily take 4 or 5 henchmen and clean up anything in your way with them. The games ideas themselves could have been great, except rather than being a great example of all the ideas within it instead feels like a poor attempt at trying to invent a reason into doing the same thing over and over again. Graphically for the system req. it needs it isn't all that spectacular looking and you'll often be cursing what you can't do in the game more than what you can do. The control system is also not what it should be for a game of this type. If you like Mob games then chances are you'll get some enjoyment out of this, otherwise don't expect anything groundbreaking as it tries to sell itself as.

Freddy B. gave it an 8:
This game seems to be heading in the correct direction, though i think it should have taken a more gta or true crimes feel, where there is just one HUGE map and you do all the gameplay from there. The fact that it is so arcade like takes away from the large city feel. The store owners and people on the streets using the same dialouge over and over also cast a rather shallow gameplay experience. But all in all it really is fun, and i am intrested in seeing how the event engine works in the final version.

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