"Gangraping" is the winning strategy in Gangsters 2
If you like the gangsterism, mafiosos and Italian-American accents, then you should consider Gangsters 2 as the next game on your netbook.
Unlike Mafia or Mafia II, Gangsters 2 is a game that puts you into the game as a don. So you control your soldiers, who you send out to do hits against rivals, bank robberies, kidnappings, bribery, and other gangsterisms.
Those glows are streetlights, and green means it's in your territory.
At the same time, you’ll have to manage your finances. It is important to have enough money as every hour in-game, you will be paying your crew, and they’ll desert if you run out of money. Therefore you’ll do even more underground work to earn this money – illegal booze during the Prohibition, prostitution, loansharking and other things surely to spark the furor of the FBI.
You’ll deal with rival factions who’ll be attacking your businesses, soldiers and you yourself. You’ll also deal with the law – which you can do so in two ways – bribery or kidnapping. At the same time, you’ll have to manage the protection of your businesses and hiring of gangsters and specialists.
The game is an isometric based game that has nothing much to boast about in terms of graphics. There are three views, first is the isometric view, the live map and the territory-delineated map. Most of the time, you’ll be using the maps to strategise your attacks, and then carry them out on-site using the isometric view.
The game is a very fun game once you get used to its many quirks, which mostly centre around AI stupidity – for example, if you tell your soldier to head home, he might get distracted by enemies and start turning around to shoot him, while he is just seconds away from death. It gets frustrating especially since there’s no autosave.
The News. Basically, a place where the press lauds your achievements
Problems?
Gangsters 2 has no problems playing in a Windows 7 environment, however, certain people have reported that there are problems with earlier versions, so the best way is to immediately upgrade Gangsters with the latest patch and play it in Windows Server 2003 Compatibility Mode.
The game cannot be played in widescreen, so you’ll have to tolerate the 4:3 resolution. In order to avoid stretching, follow this guide if you are on an Intel GMA.
Like
Multi-faceted strategy game involving finances, wars and management
Killing enemies is so satisfying
Dislike
No autosave can lead to frustrations
Traitors abound.
Outdated graphcs
Stupid AI
Verdict
The premier mafia management game is still highly playable today, especially if you haven’t played it before. The complexities of the levels require you a holistic approach that can get frustrating at times, but ultimately when you complete your goal, it’s a rush.
Gameplay: Great
Graphics: Excellent (30+ fps, no slow downs)
Work needed to get game to play: Minimal (5 minute)
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