Gangsters may not be accessible to many main-stream gamers, but I found that micromanaging a criminal empire sure is fun
If you are reading this, chances are you have heard at least one game critic lambast Gangsters: Organized Crime as a dull and often confusing series of mirco (and macro) managed events.
And to a point I can understand that. The amount of time and effort that is required to attain greatness as a mob boss is, indeed, ridiculous. I have spent many a night trying to get my mobsters to extort a fussy neighborhood, or execute the competition without getting my own hands bloody. It is truly a difficult game, hard to learn and IMPOSSIBLE to master. I've been playing it for nigh-on 6 years now and I still haven't learned the inner workings of it's engine.
But does that REALLY make it a bad game? I personally don't think so.
Micromanagement and endlessly difficult random tasks are okay in a game if it pulls off one thing correctly: Immersion.
I was willing to spend forever trying to get my rackets set up correctly, because they were MY rackets.
I was willing to try really hard to stop the Fed's and the Chief of Police from shutting down my illegal moonshine stills, because they were MY moonshine stills.
I could go on and on with situational examples like this, but it just goes to show how far you are willing to go for a game when that game really makes you feel like you ARE what it's telling you the game is about.
And I felt like a gangster, through and through. The endless conflict with other criminals, the police, squealers, all seem like things that could have happened in the days of Al Capone. Even the jazzy music put me in the mood for some drive-by's or running on down to the speakeasy.
Sure, the game had it's flaws, this is obvious. But those flaws were almost entirely STRUCTURAL. We could have used a few more bells and whistles, maybe a better way to access lietenaunt commands, but those problems were only skin deep.
If you had the patience to look past those errors (however gaping they might seem), underneath you would have found a completely immersive and compelling game that has the potential to keep in your "currently playing" box for years to come.