Gangland is a decent endeavor, though not quite the experience as was expected. The game was billed as an action game with real-time strategy and role-playing elements. For the most part Gangland delivers on its promises in the genre department, though it feels like the game's overall concept could have been pushed a bit farther. In the end the game comes off as an entertaining but incomplete experience.

Gangland lets players take on the role of Mario Mangano, recently entered into the United States of America to join a crime organization in the sprawling and ruthless metropolis of Paradise City. Players start out as a lackey for Uncle Vincenzo, until they are strong enough to stand on their own and start a family. The main goal is to hunt down and eliminate Mario's brothers, who pose a real obstacle in Mario's rise to infamy in the underworld; the three brothers are responsible for whacking the fifth brother Chico and that turn of events doesn't sit well with Mario at all.

The gameworld of Gangland is rich, intricately populated with living breathing citizens and a dark and seedy ambiance. The game uses a cut-away style view for the inside of buildings, so when players enter the inside of the building is show off, along with its occupants. The camera is also pretty intuitive and allows players to get a good look at just about angle they want to look at. Being able to move the camera is an important thing when it comes time to fight (more on that later), because things get messy very quickly. The world is populated with all the important extra items and props you'd expect - furniture, trash cans, neon-signs, pinball machines, pool tables, oriental rugs, etc - with a fair amount of good detail.

The game is played out across 16 conquest missions with a lot of varied gameplay. Players will get to engage in gun battles, extort protection money, participate in drive by shootings, take over business of varying types (gun shops, distilleries, restaurants, auto shops, and other less savory businesses). Players can also hire all types of thugs, prostitutes and gunmen that can be of great use when taking down heavy-duty criminal types in the streets of Paradise City. Some of your ill-gotten gains, like stolen goods can also be used to barter or earn extra cash as you continue to grow your family. The game also offers several challenge modes in between the main missions that, when completed, give players access to more powerful and exotic units like Ninjas and snipers - these units can come in handy in many of the tougher spots in the game. Unfortunately there are far too many tough spots in Gangland.

One of the biggest problems with the retail version of Gangland is that it offers no saves during missions. That means that if you spent a half-hour inside a given mission and fail at the end, you'll have to start at the beginning again. Media Mobsters and Whiptail Interactive recently released a patch that fixes this problem, but it's odd that the developers let the game ship in this state - not allowing players to save at least somewhere in a mission as a way to ramp up difficulty is a big no-no. I'm not sure that that was Media Mobsters' original intention with Gangland, but luckily they have fixed the problem.

The other thing that is difficult in Gangland is the combat - and a good portion of the game is dependent on it. Every battle revolves into and a wild free-for-all firefight where players will wildly shoot at the targets at hand, while at the same time keeping their units from doing the wrong things. Sometimes this is fine, but when units that rely on melee are in play and are in the line of fire, it makes for ultra messy combat. Basically player units need to be managed closely - whether in a fight or just getting them to move from point A to point B. Another thing that is odd is that a lot of the game relies more on combat than negotiation. For instance, if a player is trying to extort money from a shop owner, most times they will have to kill off some hired hoodlums that are there protecting the joint before the owner will agree. This part of the game should have offered more options towards negotiation.

The other thing that could have been more robust was NPC interaction. NPC interaction is pretty light in Gangland, with most NPCs offering very little in the way of conversation with your character. Most NPCs offer a series of one-liners. The only kind of other interaction with NPCs usually involves a gun and some violence. Players will get to interact with NPCs offering various deals, partnerships ect., but the average NPC interaction on the street is like talking to a brick wall.

Still, Gangland isn't all bad and as we mentioned earlier there are a lot of activities to keep players busy. MediaMobsters did a great job of connecting the dots when it comes to the business side of things. Having certain types of businesses helps enhance other businesses which in turn rakes in the cash. With this cash, players can stock up on ammo, medkits and new and exciting units that do everything from good old fashioned thuggery to bazooka blasting and stun-gunning. If players can get a handle on the gameplay and can manage to rake in lots of cash, then Gangland isn't all bad. With the recently released patch the game is a lot easier, without it it's very difficult to play.

Once you've mastered single-player, you can try your hand at multiplayer. There are several types of multiplayer game modes: conquest-style and good old fashioned violent battles. Find a multiplayer game can be tough, but if you can find an opponent it can prove to be satisfying. The free-for-all battles are much like the single-player - frantic and often times a click and kill affair. Gangland supports online play via built-in GameSpy technology which is pretty stable as well as LAN play. Finding a game can be hard at times, but can be fun at the same time. The free-for-all DM style battles aren't quite as satisfying as conquest mode, but some players may find it a satisfying affair.

Ultimately Gangland is a good game that probably could have used some refinement in the way combat was handled and could have used a lot more common NPC interaction. While the gameplay isn't perfect, Gangland is not without some fun gameplay elements. If players can get by the chaotic combat system and are willing to apply the recently released update (playing without saves is very very frustrating) then Gangland will probably be an enjoyable experience.