''Gangs of London'' is an

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

open world

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released in 2006 for Sony's

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

console. It was developed by

London Studio London Studio is a British video game developer based in London. Founded in 2002, it is a first-party studio for PlayStation Studios. The studio was most known for developing the '' SingStar'' series, as well as games for PlayStation's extern ...

and published by

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...

. The player has the choice to play as five different gangs in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, with different ethnicities and outfits.

Gameplay

During the course of story mode, the player is given a wide variety of objectives. One objective may require entering a nightclub armed with a

jackhammer A jackhammer (pneumatic drill or demolition hammer in British English) is a pneumatic or electro-mechanical tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel. It was invented by William Mcreavy, who then sold the patent to Charles Brady Kin ...

, while another may involve trying to run the enemy off the road, or them trying to run the player off the road. There are also kidnapping missions, stealth missions, and race missions. Once the story mode is complete, a

cliffhanger A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...

ending ensues. Outside of missions, the player can free roam the game's environment and complete

minigames A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than th ...

such as taking photos of London landmarks or running over pedestrians. The game also has "bar" style mini-games, accessed from a

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. The four

pub games A pub game is one which is traditionally played inside or outside a pub or bar. Most pub games date back many years and are rooted in village culture. Many derive from older outdoor sports. Pub games can be loosely grouped into throwing games, d ...

are

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, missiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dar ...

skittles Skittles may refer to: * Skittles (confectionery), a brand of fruit-flavor chewy candy, distributed by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company *'' Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical'' * Skittles (sport), the game from which bowling originated * Skittles (ch ...

pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky pool ...

, and an

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

, which is similar to ''

Snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

''.

Premise

At his country estate, Morris Kane, a veteran gangster and leader of his own firm, breeds pigeons in preparation for an upcoming competition. The next morning, he is horrified to find out that all the pigeons have been slaughtered. Kane soon vows to take over the city. In

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, Eastern-European crime lord Vladislav Zakharov is planning to purchase a Fabergé egg to add to his collection. Returning home, Zakharov finds that his mansion is torched and, enraged by the loss of his paintings and silver, vows to make London suffer. Mason Grant, leader of the yardie EC2 Crew, is out on a date with his girlfriend Chantel. She is later assassinated by an unseen sniper while at a cafe with Grant. He vows revenge in response to her death. Inside a gambling den, two Water Dragon Triads are intimidated by another who will do whatever it takes to win a game of

Mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-play ...

. During the game, a bomb goes off; killing the Triads. Triad leader San Cho Yang declares war on the other gangs. Indian-British gangster Asif Rashid, who leads the Talwar Brothers, learns that his brother has been set up and arrested by armed police (SCO19). Determined to bail his brother, Rashid assembles his gang to take over London.

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

References

External links

* * * {{Sony Franchises 2006 video games Action-adventure games London Studio games Open-world video games Organized crime video games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only games Single-player video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Triad (organized crime) Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in London