E3 06: Gangs of London Preshow Hands-On

If you're familiar with The Getaway series for the PlayStation 2, then you know that these games have delivered an impressively authentic re-creation of modern-day London featuring mission-based driving and shooting action. The action itself has met with mixed response from critics and other game players, which may be why the next game from the makers of the series is sporting a completely different brand name--along with plenty of changes to The Getaway's old formula. We got our first chance to get our hands on Gangs of London at an SCEA pre-E3 event earlier this month, and though our experience with the game was relatively brief, we were impressed with both the wide range of content as well as the presentation on display.

As the name suggests, Gangs of London lets you play as enforcers representing a number of different criminal organizations based out of England. The game's glamorized presentation of criminal life and gang-on-gang violence seems clearly inspired by other pop-culture portrayals of stuff like this, such as Guy Ritchie's movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. However, the game's sense of style is distinctly different from The Getaway at least in one respect: There are graphic-novel-style cutscenes, like the ones in Max Payne, used to move the story along. SCEA reps promised that these would have added voiceover to give them more character, but from what we saw, they already looked great.

The game will feature a number of different modes of play, including some pretty surprising stuff, but let's talk about the campaign first. Featuring about 60 different missions in all, it'll let you play from the perspective of five different gangs, including foreign outfits like the Hong Kong triads, Jamaican yardies, and Russians. Missions will involve both driving and shooting, but should be much more to-the-point than the fairly long, open-ended missions in The Getaway. For example, the mission we got to play involved getting out of a vehicle and proceeding to blast a whole bunch of enemy thugs protecting some well-known pop star scurrying through a heavily defended building. Our gang was represented by three different characters, and it's possible to switch between controlling them directly at any time, at the touch of a button. Each character wields a different weapon--say, a high-caliber pistol, a shotgun, or an assault rifle--and the action requires using cover to stay alive. Targeting and the overall look and feel of the shooting already felt pretty good, and the action was about as bloody and violent as we would have expected from a game like this. Being able to experience the game's missions from the perspectives of each of the different gangs seems like it could be quite interesting.

The driving portions of the game felt pretty solid, as well. The streets of London and some realistic-looking cars and storefronts have been faithfully adapted to the PSP. Overall, the game was looking quite impressive, exhibiting significant detail while maintaining a smooth frame rate, even after a fairly substantial traffic pileup we eagerly caused. Law enforcement showed up and gave chase, fully as expected, but proved little match for our hail of bullets...at least initially.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Gangs of London is that it isn't entirely about driving and shooting. For example, one of the options for the free-roaming mode, which normally lets you drive around and wreak havoc after choosing from a variety of vehicles and weapons, is to be a tourist. You'll be able to drive around London, speak to her natives, visit her landmarks, snap photos, and take public transport--tourists normally don't car-jack people, after all. Between this and the detailed in-game map, those of us who don't know London like the back of our hand might just learn to. Incidentally, the free-roam mode has some other options that sounded pretty compelling, like a zombie-infested one titled "Four Weeks Later." These weren't playable yet, unfortunately.

Another promising aspect of the game that we didn't get to try yet is called Gang Battle, which is essentially a turn-based strategy game reminiscent of Risk. Featuring the factions from the campaign, Gang Battle will task you with conquering London one district at a time. You'll be able to play against computer opponents as well as human players by passing your PSP around--no Wi-Fi support here. SCEA reps told us that Gang Battle was emerging as one of the most popular aspects of the game with testers, so we're hopeful it'll turn out to be a solid addition to the overall package.

But wait, there's more! There's a pub mode, featuring a bunch of different parlor games like the ones you might find in a good old-fashioned London pub; darts, billiards, and more will be on offer here. Only the darts game was playable, and as a matter of fact, it provided some good, simple fun.

Another unusual feature in Gangs of London is that it will allow for game sharing, essentially allowing you to provide other players with unique levels generated automatically based on your PSP's serial number. We're curious to see how these randomly generated action missions turn out and how it'll be possible to trade them, but clearly this is another in the game's substantial assortment of options intended to add replay value.

While we got to test only a few of the different options in Gangs of London, and the game still has months of development left before its release, things are off to a promising start. By streamlining the core action of The Getaway and adding a slew of new features, all while cramming the whole experience into a portable format, Gangs of London might just have what it takes to realize the potential of its predecessors.