It's easy, based on some of the early screens, to write off the entire experience as another derivative GTA clone, but GoL's visual motif has enough going for it to possess its own flavor. That mainly comes in the way of cutscenes styled after graphic novels. In the story mode, players will choose a gang to take control of, from Eastern European gangs, Chinese Triads, to Jamaican Yardies. Later on, they can replay different levels as different gangs to experience missions through the eyes of each group.
In a move slightly reminiscent of Metal Gear Ac!d, Gang Battle forces players to take on others through unconventional means for a crime-centric title. It's a turn-based card game in which players will use strategy to smother the competition and takeover London's underworld. Gang Battle will support four-person ad hoc multiplayer so that friends can compete to squash one another. Free Roaming will allow players to pick an area of town and wreak havoc.
Other modes include Tourist Mode, which is a more free-roaming game in which players are assigned to run around London and take pictures of various landmarks. What will likely be one of the crown jewels of the game, thanks to its handheld nature, is the Pub Games mode. Composed of traditional lager-fueled games like Darts, Skittles, and 8-Ball (US and UK style to boot), the Pub Games look perfect for pick up and play.
At this point, the gameplay is both spiffy and iffy. The Pub Games are very fun right off the bat, with Darts proving to be quite addictive and fun to play. The other controls, such as in Story Mode and Free Roaming, still feel like they need some fine tuning. It felt very wonky to maneuver the player, and the driving was quite bad. We were told that each vehicle will handle differently, but it was hard to tell between bad and worse. However, in its defense, the game is still in its early stages of development, so hopefully the Sony London team will be able to tweak and repair some of the control issues before the game hits.
Also, it was difficult in Story Mode to efficiently target enemies in the midst of a shootout. Some sort of "flick" button or stick, or auto-targeting would probably go a long way toward making that experience smoother, and it might not be too late to incorporate that element into gameplay. What was very cool about the Story Mode, though, was the ability to switch between other gangsters on the fly. While infiltrating a criminal hideout, it was easy to jump between the gang leader, the heavy artillery (shotgunner), and a third member with a semi-automatic. The ability to let the AI handle some of the firefights proved convenient in keeping the entire gang alive.
What we know about multiplayer is that the title will support 4-player ad hoc, as mentioned before, for Gang Battle Mode. Also, Gangs of London will allow for a unique twist on game sharing. Players with a copy of the game will be able to send a level to other players that is unique to the serial number of the PSP receiving a sample of the game.
All around, Gangs of London looks to have something more to it than being just another port of a PS2 title. It appears that the Sony London team has worked hard to give players a taste of London's underworld while managing to create a unique game experience, thanks in part to the Gang Battle and Pub Games. There are some elements that could use some fine tuning, such as the controls for Story Mode and Free Roaming, but it's early enough in production that the team could tweak those elements before release. Stay tuned, as GameSpy will deliver more news regarding this PSP title as the production process continues!
