Omerta : City of Gangsters promises serious incline... and fails

[Trash]

If Omerta is a better version of Gangsters I'll be happy. In fact, that's exactly what it looks like. And with that I mean a clone. Wether or not it's better remains to be seen.

 

[Snerf]

Give Hammer & Sickle a go. You play as a Soviet spy in 1949. A bit more intrigue and stealth-based than Silent Storm, but same engine and lots of (often quite subtle and thoughtful) choices and consequences.

Any suggestions on where to pick that up? Not seeing it on GoG or Steam.

 

[oscar]

Yeah I couldn't find anywhere selling it for download, so you'll have to take a trip around the Bay. The game is very unforgiving though (a lot tougher than Silent Storm) and time is quite important. I'd even perhaps suggest reading a walkthrough for the first few missions before playing (or else you could easily miss out on something quite important).

 

[rashiakas]

I really liked the flow chart:

Spoiler

 

[spectre]

I'd even perhaps suggest reading a walkthrough for the first few missions before playing (or else you could easily miss out on something quite important).

I'd say it's pretty much mandatory for a non masochist. It's one of those ruskie games which doesn't establish clear rules (you could argue that it actually it does, you're a spy, behave like one etc) and doesn't hold your hand but punishes your mistakes brutally
(by brutally I mean railroading you into a game over sequence without as much as giving you a hint what and where you borked)
I've read people bashing the game and not realizing they managed to miss 90% of the plot because of that. Still, it's one of the games that reward lots of saving, and you'll be glad when you'll finally manage to make progress.
Whichever you go, spolied or not, just keep in mind to save often and in different slots, always keep a low profile, don't waste time and if the story does not progress, you did something wrong.

HOWEVER, if you want pure turn based/tactical fun, I'd recommend going for the first two games instead, starting with the first one (which lacks a few features but is more sandboxy), Hammer an Sickle plays more like an adventure/rpg than a strategy/rpg.
If you come about to actually taking H&S for a spin remember that it plays by a different set of rules than SS1 and 2.

 

[oscar]

Right now I'm raging because I left the map with the convoy when I was supposed to click on the truck to drive back or something. It's sort of weird, as what would make the player assume they have to click on the truck to have the convoy travel with them when that wasn't the case in the prior mission?

 

[Saduj]

Give Hammer & Sickle a go. You play as a Soviet spy in 1949. A bit more intrigue and stealth-based than Silent Storm, but same engine and lots of (often quite subtle and thoughtful) choices and consequences.

Any suggestions on where to pick that up? Not seeing it on GoG or Steam.

You can get a CD version at Amazon for $8.44

I got this for $3 Amazon a while ago but haven't played it yet. Heard very mixed reviews on it and pretty much bought it b/c I had a few bucks left on a gift card. But after reading the comments here, I'm going to give it a go.

I loved Silent Storm but hated the panzerkleins. Rage quit Sentinels b/c panzerklein appeared a few missions into the game.....

 

[Metro]

Looks like it has potential but Kalypso has a history of publishing low budget stuff at higher prices. Will wait for a sale and more feedback.

 

[potatojohn]

Aren't all missions in H&S time-limited?

 

[Burning Bridges]

Is there a mod that completely removes the panzerkleins? I just realized I put the game on the back burner because of that, and then never came back to it.

 

[CrustyBot]

Is there a mod that completely removes the panzerkleins? I just realized I put the game on the back burner because of that, and then never came back to it.

Silent Storm
Sentinels

 

[Khor1255]

I'm still surprised that someone makes a turn based game at all. The setting has massive potential, but don't let your expectations run high. It was already confirmed that the maps are played one by one in a linear campaign, so unless they plan to make a sequel/addon with genuine sandbox gameplay, it won't even remotely be like JA2. It looks good for a playthrough or two, but without any real persistence to the maps, and without real attachment to your characters, it will grow stale. Which is a shame, I will never get why developers create characters with a lot of depth, only to waste them as decoration.
Anyway, my take is: if this game is enjoyable like Tropico 3, it is reasonable that they make a tb game. But it could have been so much more ... Just imagine, JA2 in a gangster world ...

You know, all that would be really required for this (or any other really cool Ja2 based game) would be an actual set of modding tools using traditional Ja2 as a base. Unfortunately, since the popamole crowd took over the 1.13 back in 07 that possibility is as far fetched as it ever was.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Out Of eight has this to say:

I've been playing it for almost 2 weeks, but my video review is embargoed until the retail release February 12th (it's actually finished already).

It's a simplified city builder (less resources, with direct relationships between converting them (rather than having multi-step chains) ...examples: a speakeasy sells liquor and beer for dirty money, while a ponzi scheme converts dirty money into your "liked" rating) with turn-based tactical battles that are interesting when special abilities are involved.

Originally Posted By Wolverine101 (16 JAN 2013 1:12am)
Do you like it?

It's OK. The city building parts are too easy, since the game lacks complex, multi-step production chains and, thus, planning. If you need a specific resource, there's always a building that will convert another resource directly into what you desire. Instead of having, say, wheat -> flour -> bread -> sandwiches, Omerta has: liked rating -> dirty money, or dirty money -> clean money, or liquor -> dirty money. You rarely have to plan more than one step ahead to convert things to what you want. By the end of each scenario, you're swimming in most of the resources (the cost for setting up new buildings is low).

The tactical battles are fun and challenging once you get your gangsters levelled up with multiple abilities; it's like XCOM-light. You basically move using cover and try to outsmart the AI, which is decent at playing the tactical part of the game.

One part of the game I haven't checked out yet (since the game isn't out) is multiplayer, which would be interesting in my opinion if executed well (rival gangs on the same city).

 

[OSK]

it's like XCOM-light.

When he says "XCOM-light" does he mean new XCOM? Because new XCOM is already XCOM-light.

 

[visions]

Any suggestions on where to pick that [Hammer & Sickle] up? Not seeing it on GoG or Steam.

Plenty of cheap dvd case copies on Ebay, probably come with a paper manual as well (at least mine did, which I got cheap from there around 3 years ago). The disc has Starforce though.

 

[MetalCraze]

So basically a shitty economics system and a combat that is worse than an already dated XCom formula which also adds shitty popamole cover into the mix?

What can possibly go wrong?

 

[spectre]

"shitty popmaole cover" just like in JA2, amirite?

To be fair, combat from the beta vid I saw looked just about right, no overwatch or interrupts is one clear mistake, and I hope they icluded some sort of grenades. Torching a speakeasy with molotovs shouldn't be too much too ask for in that setting.
Enemy and mission variety is what will make or break the system.

The shitty overmap economics is what's worrysome, both for single player, but twice as much if they want to do multi.

 

[knightley]

I thought economics is the game's main feature (considering the "Tropico" background) and combat is just a mini game. If the main feature already sucks how much can the mini game save the game as a whole. But who knows.

 

[MetalCraze]

"shitty popmaole cover" just like in JA2, amirite?

Where did you see popamole cover in JA2?

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

Demo is out: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...ts-omerta-city-of-gangsters-demo/#more-139531

 

[Modron]

Demo is out: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/201...ts-omerta-city-of-gangsters-demo/#more-139531

Kind of weird they were embargoing the release of reviews yet put out a demo, still nice of the developers to release a demo before release and not 2 months later as par the course.

 

[Eyeball]

Downloading demo. Above review seems to confirm my previous fears: awesome concept, bland execution. Tropico 3 deja vu.

 

[knightley]

Yeah Tropico again, what are you gonna do?

If it has enough atmosphere and senseless violence, I still might give it a try after it hits budget bin.

 

[DarKPenguiN]

-Cannot wait to hear you guys thoughts on this.
I have been dying for a good gangster/TB game (Hell, a Gangster game at all) but I have no HD space left thanks to all the cool games I have learned about here.

 

[Eyeball]

Played demo halfway through second mission. Save your money. Previous assessment entirely correct - dumbed down and bland version of Gangsters married to a dumbed down and bland version of the new XCOM game.

It may be somewhat playable if it has a "sandbox mode", but the demo at least is 100% linear and story driven. I can't recommend this, based on the half hour I've played.