Gangs of London
- August 09, 2006 00:00 AM PST
Move over Liberty City. Gangs of London is THE PSP title to have this holiday season.
If the PSP has one thing going for it this holiday season, it's Gangs of London (GOL). Developed by the Getaway creators, SCEE's London Studio, GOL is one of the few titles developed for the PSP from the ground up and with no console version in mind. At first glance, the game looks strikingly similar to the Getaway, but, dare we say, it has much more going for it.
GOL is presented in graphic novel fashion with dynamic storylines that create different experiences for each different player throughout the 60 some-odd missions. The game is of the free-roaming variety and, as you'd expect, takes place in London.
The Story mode is the main attraction here, and the gist of the plot is "underground gang stuff in London". That's really all you need to know. There is shooting, and lots of it! You can choose between five different gangs, and switch between each different gang member on the fly. In story mode, you'll choose one gang and attempt to stay ahead of the other gangs through strategic play.
The actual gunplay and on-foot controls are really solid. There is no up or down aiming, which means everything is basically controlled with a targeting system making things simple for the PSP's limited controls.
But there are three other modes too, including Gang Battle (defend different areas of London), Free Roaming (explore London on a player's own terms), Tourist (snap picture of the city's most famous landmarks and tourist attractions), and a bunch of London pub games like darts, pool, and skittles, all of which are 1-2 player compatible on a single PSP. And a really cool game share mode means that each different player has a completely different set of objectives, characters, environments, and weapons.
Gangs of London looks to be one of Sony's most promising PSP games of 2006, and will be ready to launch this fall.
