Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3924 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2006-09-01
• ESRB Rating: Adults Only
• Platform: Sony PSP

Amazon.co.uk Review

In a nutshell:
The Getaway series expands onto mobiles with an all-new spin-off that marries strategic grabs for territory with all out gang violence on the streets of the capital. With a suite of multiplayer modes and a 60 level single player this will keep you playing longer than the PS2 originals.

The lowdown:
Although it’s set in the same universe as The Getaway this is no simple port or sequel, but a whole new game that moves away from the series’ Grand Theft Auto inspired roots. Although the game does feature vehicle driving it’s more focused on combat as you take down enemies with a range of guns and other weapons – even using passers-bys as human shields. There’s also a strong tactical element to the game as you ferry fellow gang members across town to act as back-up in the most hotly contested areas of the city. And if you ever get sick of that there’s even a bunch of two player pub mini-games to relax with, including darts and skittles.

Most exciting moment:
The free roaming mode works a lot more like the original The Getaway games, since it lets you explore the virtual London however you want – with or without police and other gangs’ interference. Just like the originals the streets and buildings are modelled exactly like the real thing.

Since you ask:
Although the game is being developed by Sony’s London studio, the same team is also working on a PlayStation 3 sequel, which appears to be at least partially set in Amsterdam.

The bottom line:
Old London town has never been more dangerous in this new strategy shooter.
HARRISON DENT

Customer Reviews

Does what it says on the tin...nicely
I've had a few hours playing the various modes on this game, and it's (so far) one of the best games I've played on my PSP. Check out the features listed in the description - there is so much to do! The pub games alone will eat up your time (not metioned is the old arcade game; essentially 'Snake' but with some added modes). The game proper is very similar to the 'Getaway' PS2 games, and the controls are well suited to the PSP. Firefights are helped with a GTA style lock-on, with the option to precision aim, and driving is a doddle, with all the different vehicles having the right 'feel' to them. Though the PSP isn't really suited to shooter games, the controls have been well implemented here. Graphics are good, London looks fantastic! If you liked Liberty City Stories, then treat yourself to this game. I can't wait to try out the multiplayer!
A word of warning though - the 18 rating is for a reason. There is plenty of spoken and written swearing in this game, and the cutscenes have plenty of claret in them. Not an ideal present for little Johnny...but an adult game for adult people.

Gizmo
After reading all the reviews that were sort of undecisive about how good the game was i still decided to get it.

The game starts off well and you get to choose a gang, each having different attributes. But after the first five missions or so you can see the progress of the rest of the game, short and reptitive. It took about half an hour for me to wipe out one gang. There are 6 types of mission, defend, prtoect, assault, chase, lose the tail and kidknap. Defend and assault are literally all about how many people you can kill, just guns no cars, extremely boring after the first one.
Chase, lose the tail and kidnap are all drving based, going round in a car doing what it says on the tin. Finally protect some times has a mixture of both. These missions come about time and time again just in different locations.

The extras are pretty good but nothing to make you buy particulary for them, the free roam is quite poor as killing stuff is boring after the missions. The tourist mode is a laugh but again very short and repetitive. There are couple others but nothing special.

Overall i finished the game in a day and a half and have near enough completed all the extras too. All in all i wouldnt say it is worth the money.

Lock Stock and several Gangs of London?
If you've played either `Getaway' game then you'll know what to expect, but for those who haven't, Gangs of London has a style similar to the GTA series, but instead of taking a trip round the fast lanes and faster ladies of Miami, you'll be goin' 'dahn Sarth' to London to tell the baddies to "shat your maath". Okay, enough of the stereotypes... well, until you switch on your PSP that is and indulge in the main story mode that allows you to play the part of one of five different gangs and over 60 missions that mainly involve shooting at baddies and driving about.

And while you play across a large map, it's good to see that a similar look to the Getaway games has been used here because if there's one thing that was impressive about those games it was the style that made you feel like you were driving down the streets of our capital city.

As you'll go through the different missions, the main aim will be to attack another gang's territory and take it over, which places it in a similar mould to sections of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas where riots would break out and only the massacre of baddies blindly running towards you would resolve the situation. Personally, I started out by going up against Zakharov and his men, including a cool-looking shootout over the River Thames, before moving on to the Triads.

Gangs of London features comic-book style sequences at the start of each mission and some amusing cockney banter during them - the voices of which clearly featured Ray Burdis, who has been in Manchild and so many more other shows than you can shake a stick at, plus the whiny, rat-faced one from Lock Stock..., but as you progress through each one you can instruct your gang to beat people up or shoot them and you can join in too, since it's largely a team effort, the plan being that if you die, one of your henchmen will take over. However, there were times when I tried to make my character gesture 'go forward' to colleague and he only went part of the way and then didn't continue!

Since this was made by the same people as The Getaway games, they may know their London, but it still exhibits some of the same control problems. Turning round, for instance, is a real problem as you really need two analog sticks - one to turn yourself round and the other to move the camera so you can get a far better view of what's coming. This is hindered further by the fact that aiming your weapon is a far from acceptable task and when you do get into it, there's not a lot going on to task your gaming muscle as the mission objectives are very repetitive.


Problems also occur with the enemy themselves. Firstly, they don't show up on radar map so you don't know where they are, which really gives them an unfair advantage, and when they die you can't take any of their weapons or ammo. However, they clearly like the searing pain of hot metal entering their flesh as when you shoot them after lining up your target, if you get one or two shots off and then have to reload, the just continue to stand there waiting to get hit again!

Of course, one thing blasting away in public view will do is attract the attention of the local constabulary, but don't fret as it's easy to escape them. During one mission, just one police car came after me and after ramming me several times, I got out as mine and their cars were about to explode. They were easily dispensed with and no other cops took their place so I could carry on the mission in peace. If this was a GTA game the place would be swarming with them. More baffling behaviour was experienced as I tried one mission several times before agreeing to skip it and, instead of expecting to be able to try it again later, the PSP declared "Mission Success". Pardon?!

While there's some nice stereo sound separation in Gangs of London, there may be over 60 missions in total in which to try your hand but all the levels are so repetitive that once you've seen off one gang you've pretty much seen all there is to see in Story Mode.

The Free-roaming mode allows you to drive around; be a London tourist and ask for directions to landmarks to photograph; "Cause Havoc" - to do just that and score some points; the "Speed Trap" option sees your car rigged with a bomb so drive to the destination before it blows; "Riot Control" pits you as a riot officer arresting the baddies causing chaos against the clock; "Getaway" does what it says on the tin and sees you separating yourself from the, "The Knowledge" allows you to be a taxi driver for a day round London, and finally, "Four Weeks Later" shows that the inhabitants of London have turned into zombies. Pardon? Yes, zombies.

I also tried the Gang-battle mode, which allows you to take over territories, but in a turn-based card game which seemed odd as the idea is you just command gangs to go to those areas to take them over without seeing any of the usual actual violent action. Pass.

Mini-games are available in The Pub with darts, pool and skittles, but even if you do play against someone on these, they're not multiplayer, you just take it in turns to use the PSP unless you want a CPU opponent in the form of a character from the Story mode. There's also a basic Snake-style arcade game but this became very tedious before long.

Overall, Gangs of London has all been seen before and done better so it does come rather hard to recommend.