Omerta: City of Gangsters Review
Omerta: City of Gangsters' mix of mob management and turn-based strategy fails to capture the dangerous excitement of its subject matter.
The Good
- Interesting premise
- Colourful cast of characters
- Jaunty musical score.
The Bad
- Slow-paced, restrictive, and dull
- Bare-bones multiplayer and sandbox modes
- Underdeveloped UI and insufficient feedback mechanics
- Fails to deliver on its potential in any area.
Part management sim, part turn-based strategy game, Omerta: City of Gangsters attempts to offer the illicit thrill of building a nefarious empire from scratch. Sadly, some inexplicable design decisions and poor execution undermine its potential, while its glacial pace makes sleeping with the fishes sound like an extreme sport.
It all starts promisingly enough. Choosing an avatar from a handful of rakishly handsome rogues, you set about establishing the backstory for your character and thus determining his stats. Load points into your character's muscle statistic, and he can move farther and hit harder with melee weapons. Opt for higher smarts, and he acts more often during the turn-based combat, while an impressive guts stat makes him less likely to panic if his buddies start biting the dust. Unfortunately, all of the stats are tied to combat performance, and as you soon learn, combat is so dull that you actively avoid it where possible.
After creating the persona of your would-be crime lord, you're introduced to the management mechanics with which you take over Atlantic City, one block at a time. On the face of it, this element of Omerta has intriguing possibilities: you squeeze the locals for information, recruit new goons, set up establishments to generate dirty cash and clean money, and choose whether to run established business owners out of town or persuade them to operate under your auspices. Unfortunately, it sounds better on paper than it is in practice. Many of Omerta's failings in this area of the game come down to a lack of space and competition, a severely restricted set of goals, and most crucially, the disposable nature of each level.
It's this last fault that does the most damage to Omerta's coherence and leaves you feeling disconnected and dissatisfied. For every region of the city that you move into, you're charged with fulfilling a goal, such as clearing out an area for a local mob boss or setting up a gambling racket and laundering the resulting profits to earn a certain amount of clean money. These goals often require the acquisition of various types of premises, the investment of money, and a great deal of idle time as you wait for things to tick over.
There's a hint of freedom in the type of infrastructure you choose to invest in and the businesses you establish while in any given area. However, after achieving a level's goal, you're immediately moved to a new map, leaving behind your carefully tailored locale, never to return again. In this way, each level is played in isolation, and the illusion of building an empire is shattered because you're constantly starting from scratch. Over time, this results in a rush to the end in the most direct way possible. There's little reason to experiment with the various ways that the locals can be made to love or loathe you through your choice of approach. When everything is disposable, you simply stop caring.
125 comments
Really disappointed by the bad review; I was looking forward to getting this one.
How does it compare to the Tropico series?
I liked this game, but i must agree with many that it was too slow paced and repetitive. The business aspect was too easy and that really ruined much of the game. The combat sequences were very basic compared to many other games, but i still had fun and i liked the characters and the missions. I will recommend this game to fans of this genre.
1 Like LOL I just saw a banner ad for this game that quoted PC Gamer calling Omerta "the X-COM of organized crime". PC Gamer likely printed that, several months ago in some long forgotten preview of Omerta. Or it could have even been from the review, but actually said something like "This game tries to be the X-COM of organized crime, but falls way short. IDK, I haven't read their review...but its amazing how advertisers or anyone for that matter will quote things waaaaay out of context.
2 Like i have enjoyed very much playing this game. if somebody enjoy playing games of tactic battle by turns , this is your game. is truth that this game could be better but i have dedicated it more hours than others games with highter marks as DE3 or DMC3
would not recommend gets really boring and repetitive. not mention the slowness but this game tried to be like Xcom but it is no where near its level.
2 Like I agree with some of the posters. I liked gangsters 1 and 2 better for a gangster RTS/management game. I hoped this would be a mix of the two, but they only took a very small part... No drive-by's, no police or other gangsters walking around, you cannot give your gangsters the assignment to kidnap someone you see walking on the street or just kill them and start a war... Ok now I am installing Gangsters 1 again, but damn they missed a chance!
3 Like The game is not horrible, I am actually very surprised to see it get a lower rating then the new Aliens game from Gearbox.
It definatly is not great or groundbreaking but if its on sale during a steam sale or amazon.com sale for xbox I would suggest picking it up. Far from perfect but not a 4/10 either imo. Id say its aaround a 6/10
2 Like spectations are high now... because XCOM enemy unknown was a success, and then people starts comparing, anywway, my point here is that this kind of games are really fun ! so hope developers don't trash the idea and start making more games of this genre. that's it good day to all of you
1 Like Hit up the game gangsters from 199.. I'm just kidding, that's someone else's job. I must say this looks like one of those games that was given a reversely inflated low-score out of spite or disappointment (i.e. RE6). It seems like a mediocre game, not a game that makes you angry. I think anything under 5 should be a game that is either so buggy it's difficult to play or is incomplete or just horrible.
15 years ago there was a game gangster 1 & 2 that has the same graphics and was made a lot better, this game is shit compared to that!
2 Like @fuzzier how many times are you going to write the SAME thing? Same thing? Same thing?
@CruiserCaptain @petez34 you're right... this kid is jizzing in his pants for gangster 1 and 2.
Is there a difference between "wholly disposable" and "disposable"? Sheez...start with someone that can write, and then work from there.
I don't get the reviews anymore. I already stated many times that the latest reviews of gamespot are out of synch with my generation. I guess they now review for the latest generation lacking imagination and expecting 10k features from a game. FYI, I uninstalled Dead Space 3 because it was too dull and repetitive, while I am still playing Omerta and enjoying it.
Why do you think them not liking a bad game means they are catering to the new generation?
why dead space3 look like s....? because dead space 2 set the bar too high
who never play dead 2 will play the 3 and say this game is nice...
i think that the 90 percent that dont like omerta because they expectation are too high. is not the worse game ever but is frustrating enough that i can´t play it!
Spewing reading most of these comments ;(
Was looking forward to this. Loved all the remade Jagged Alliance games and thought they might sort of follow in same path ;(
The promise of "co-op" is what sucked me in.. but little did I know that by "co-op" they meant you and a friend could play 2 maps... not 2 game-modes, but 2 total maps.. and one of the two maps is broken (the game hangs up on an AI's turn and you are forced to quit the game). The co-op upgrade system could have been fun but they needed to include at least 5-10 functional maps with some variation between play-throughs (as it is, the exact same enemies spawn in the exact same places every time. The combat is actually enjoyable if you ask me. The AI is smart enough to typically take cover or try to flank you. The 'line of sight' and hit chances are usually fair/realistic (these types of games always have bad moments in this area, but it seems to be good most of the time). If XCOM would have just made co-op for their game, this wouldn't have had to happen...
2 Like I'm actually really enjoying playing this through! Granted I didn't pay £40 for it, and would proberly agree its more of a 10-£20 game, its not a 4.0 though, closer to 6+ imo.
Some of the "bad" points I've seen people pick up on, are the same points that made me think "Oh this game is actual realistic, NOT Hollywood "real".
For example... the fact that once a mission is over and you move on, your "empire" from the last district is all but forgotten. I'm not sure how many "gangsters" people here know, but I can tell you for a fact, that people that have many different pies (with their finger in) DONT manically "tend to" them all, and once set up, often they ARE left rolling.... the only thing they missed out to make this aspect totally real, is each of your "old" districts should generate a certain % of $ or $$ into your current account.
But all in all, I think this game IS worth a play through.
1 Like @blakeney Hit up the game gangsters from 1998, I promise, you will not be disappointed. You will even rethink your stupid statement and understand how bad this game is, and for its age, this game is 15 years behind.. I even need to edit this! its 20 years behind because gangsters and gangsters 2 is both better than this crap
2 Like @fuzzier Yea I was 14 when Gangsters one came out, I played the shit out of it, and casualy played number 2... they are good games too... but this is out now lol.. im not some kid that feels the need for nothing but "the best" all day everyday.
Everything I put was opinion, hence my stringing together of words such as "I think"...
The big bit in the middle is subjective though, if you think that was a stupid statement on the basis Gangsters one and/or 2 was or is better then this game... then, well I don't know what to say.... go complain at your mum for not cutting your sandwiches EXACTLY how you like them??(and she fucking knows how you like them cut too!!)
the problem in this time... my mother forgot to put the bread! catchup is not that good alone
1 Like @fuzzier
"Stupid statement" Who the fuck do you think you are?
People can have their own ideas and thoughts and i thank him for sharing them. Who cares what game you think is better? No one but you!
@JAIBOT @fuzzier God, I just want people to play a decent game that features the stuff they made everyone expect for this game.
you are criticizing the guy who is criticizing someone so you are criticizing the criticizes. so the opinion should be respect but the opinion of fuzzier not?
I was also looking forward to this game. It saddens me that they didn't flesh the game out to its full potential. There was so much more it seems like it could have offered.
3 Like 4/10 is a little harsh, I'm enjoying playing through the game, its got flaws but not so bad that its a poor game, 6/10 is more along the lines...can be fun but approach with caution
1 Like @Mortz_88Hit up the game gangsters from 1998, I promise, you will not be disappointed. You will even rethink your stupid statement and understand how bad this game is, and for its age, this game is 15 years behind.. I even need to edit this! its 20 years behind because gangsters and gangsters 2 is both better than this crap
i want strategy like this , not again brainless fps, sick of mafia's, gta's,pec ops shiiters etc
1 Like @666NightsInHellHit up the game gangsters from 1998, I promise, you will not be disappointed. And understand how bad this game is, and for its age, this game is 15 years behind.. I even need to edit this! its 20 years behind because gangsters and gangsters 2 is both better than this crap
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Game Emblems
The Bad
Falls way short of my expectations, no real challenge or lasting fun here. Don't waste your money!!!!
hmm,bad reviews,and marks for a game that was for me addicting and fun..weeiirrdd
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