On the surface, it would seem like Gangland would be a surefire hit. It leverages the popular gangster theme and melds it into a hybrid game that is part action, part strategy, and part simulation. You can run a number of illegal businesses, like speakeasies, brothels, chop shops, and moonshine distilleries, while also raising a family, putting out contract hits, and performing drive-bys. So, in theory, there's something for everyone here. Unfortunately, the execution of many of Gangland's different elements falls short of its lofty promise, thus leaving a game that has a lot of good ideas but is sometimes convoluted and often frustrating.

The streets are all but devoid of cars.

Gangland's story isn't going to make anyone forget about Mafia (the game) anytime soon, but the premise is solid enough. You play as Mario Mangano, one of five brothers from Palermo, Sicily. One night your brother Chico is found dead. Apparently, he met his fate at the hands of your three other brothers, Angelo, Romano, and Sonny. Your three brothers soon disappear from the island and flee to Paradise City, which is in the New World. As a result of their departure, you're sent to apprentice in the New World--under your uncle Vincenzo--to seek vengeance for Chico's death. Gangland's modern-style music doesn't seem to fit the '30s theme, but then again, neither do the ninjas, Humvees, bazookas, and Uzis that you'll eventually come across. It's also strange that voice-overs weren't used to relate the plot in between missions, but considering how terribly voiced the unit acknowledgments are, maybe this is a good thing.

One of the first things you'll notice about the game is that it has a fairly capable graphics engine. The city maps you play in are rendered in 3D, and the streets and buildings you explore have a satisfying level of detail. Dozens of pedestrians roam about, and interior areas are fully fleshed-out with furniture and other amenities. Other nice touches include steam that escapes from sewer drains and a day-night cycle that appropriately affects your line of sight. You can zoom the viewpoint in and out with the mouse wheel, and you can rotate your angle smoothly with the mouse by holding down the Alt key. Usually, though, you'll rely on a couple of keys on the keyboard to quickly rotate your view 90 degrees in either direction.

After just a few minutes of playing, you'll begin to notice what's missing more than what's there--namely, vehicular traffic. Every now and then you'll walk past a car parked on the street (that you can't steal!), but otherwise Gangland is devoid of vehicles, aside from those you drive and those your enemies drive. The lack of civilian vehicles is a pretty big flaw for a game that boasts a "living city." Even when you do get to drive a vehicle, the handling of these cars leaves a lot to be desired. You can pull off drive-bys, but for some strange reason, cars are restricted to running on the streets. If you attempt to drive up the curb, you get stopped cold, as though there are invisible guardrails lining every sidewalk. If people are in the street, you can still run them over. However, collision physics are pretty much nonexistent, so your car just pushes victims a short distance before they die.

Another big issue is the fact that there doesn't seem to be much variation in the character models for both your hired help and the nonplayer characters. Gangland has you interacting with and moving among so many people that it's distracting when they end up all looking like clones of one another.

You'll start the game as a low-level gangster under your uncle Vincenzo. You've only got one goon sidekick to start out with, and your missions begin slowly by having you extort nearby businesses, like a gun shop and a restaurant, and having you carry out small hits for your uncle. As you gain firsthand knowledge about running a protection racket and offing poor saps, you gain experience that allows you to hire and simultaneously control more goons. The standard hired help varies from burly bouncers, who excel in melee combat; to gunmen, who wield pistols and tommy guns; to fast-moving street girls, who can use mace to incapacitate their quarries. If you complete the game's challenge missions, you can unlock powerful special units, such as big mammas (shotgun-wielding fat women who can heal your units), ninjas, bazooka troops, and snipers (who tote their rifles in violin cases).

Street girls spray clouds of gas to temporarily stun enemies.

Initially, you can only hire people from restaurants you've taken over, so an immediately frustrating issue is that the type of goons available to you is randomized. If you're looking for a tommy gunner, you may end up waiting for a while if the only people looking for jobs in your restaurant are bouncers. Having more restaurants under your control increases the applicant pool, but the inability at the outset of the game to freely choose the troops you want can be irritating.

Gangland's combat is hit-or-miss. While you can (and must) use the environment to your advantage by positioning your men behind cover, the action usually develops so fast that it can be very difficult and frustrating to manage. The ability to issue orders while paused would have done a lot to mitigate the chaos, but this feature isn't available in Gangland. Hundreds of bullets fill the air with each pitched battle because it takes a ridiculous amount of gunfire to bring down just one man. The fact that most of your men are such horrible shots makes matters even worse because ammunition is one of the game's key resources. As a result, the more gun shops you have in the fold, the faster you accumulate bullets.