Omerta: City of Gangsters Review

They call me The Boss. Even though I told them to call me Mafioso. Eh, it doesn’t matter, as long as they do what I say, the business is going well, the money keeps flowing into my right pocket and the police is all inside my left one. Dirty cash, booze smuggling, busts on those who stand in our way and lots of 3 feet under surprises for the archaeologist to find 1,000 years from now. I am The Boss. This is my life in Omerta: City of Gangsters.

I started out nicely: first, I had to choose my face. What Mafioso is there without a face, eh? Then I had to remember some things from my past, which shaped my character and skills. I ended up very smart, but not too strong. It was a great character creation process (as I heard they call it) and I didn’t care too much about the “not too strong” part: that’s why I have a gang to help me!

We started out small in a crappy district of the city. It was me and Squigs getting the most out of the Prohibition: we’re getting some beers and liquor from here and there and we sell it to those who pay the most. That’s how you do business, capisci?

And let me tell you – it’s not easy! You have to keep looking for informants and bribe them to tell you about interesting places in the city – like warehouses or celebrity houses or speakeasies and such, otherwise the business can’t strive. We also need to rent buildings for our businesses – facades or not, we must have them. We must bribe police officers to get out of our way and slowly we will become THE family. We will own this city!

Sometimes I send Squigs over to do a job, because he’s got the skills for it. Other times, I’m the one going since I have the skills for it. Basically, each of us gangsters is good at something and it’s worth sending the right guy do the right job. You wouldn’t want that drunkard Doc go speak with the police, eh?

But it’s not always easy. Sometimes, we have to leave the safety and general boredom of the business and go to battle. Either to save one of our men, to steal something from the police or simply to complete a mission. We have to fight, and this is where all the fun of Omerta: City of Gangsters is found.

From a tactical point of view, the battlefiled offers a ton of options: you can take cover behind a desk (but don’t let too many bullets hit it, as it will break), behind a wall or simply rush to your enemy and punch them where it hurts the most. You first move, then you shoot and you have a limited number of points to each category. Since I’m a gangster from the future, I know that the fights were just as fun as the ones of Jagged Alliance and, up to a point, XCOM.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like too much the fact that you could move, then shoot. To me, a classic Mafioso, all action points should be together to offer you some more tactical options. With that moving AND shooting every time thing, battles tend to get a bit chaotic here and there and maybe even difficult. But that’s the life of a gangster – never easy!

And I know it’s never easy to create a solid looking city and Omerta: City of Gangsters doesn’t do that – visually, I am not impressed and I know that the technology allows for more detail and eye candy. But at least the music is absolutely excellent. I love it and I want the soundtrack to play right before I go to sleep, planning my next move. Because I will keep fighting in the City of Gangsters until we are the one and only left out there. And I will enjoy the entire experience.

And even though it’s not a flawless one and at times things to get a little boring – especially managing and running your empire – trust me when I say that Omerta: City of Gangsters is worth trying. For the battles alone, and you still have an amazing and challenging experience. Capisci?

Final Rating: