Omerta: City of Gangsters Catch-All

Official site

Steam store page

Demo download locations:
strategyinformer.com
worthdownloading.com
gamershell.com

Omerta - City of Gangsters is a simulation game with tactical turn-based combat. Taking the role of a fresh-from-the-boat immigrant, with dreams of the big life, the player will work his way up the criminal hierarchy of 1920’s Atlantic City. Starting with small jobs, his character recruits a gang and expands his empire by taking territory from other gangsters. Eventually he establishes his own crime syndicate and becomes the de facto ruler of Atlantic City.

-Historically accurate representation of Atlantic City and its landmarks
-Strategic gameplay allows city overview, planning, expansion and gathering of intel
-Turn-based tactical combat with a cover system and stealth action
-15 unique player controlled characters each with unique personalities and backgrounds
-An RPG system for development of player characters and managing their equipment
-Competitive and cooperative multiplayer mode with persistent gangs
-15+ hours of gameplay in a single playthrough
-20 unique maps visualizing the various districts of Atlantic City

I readily confess that the main reason I created this thread was to see if anyone wants to split the cost of a 2-pack, which is $51 until January 31.

I played through the demo today, and while the games does have a few flaws, I quite enjoyed what I played. So I'm willing to pitch in $25.50 for a 2-pack with any non-grinder. I see that 5 people on my friends list have the game on their wishlist, so I'm hoping one of you is interested. I'll either Paypal you and you buy it, or Paypal me and I'll buy it, whichever you prefer.

MeatMan wrote:

I readily confess that the main reason I created this thread was to see if anyone wants to split the cost of a 2-pack, which is $51 until January 31.

I played through the demo today, and while the games does have a few flaws, I quite enjoyed what I played. So I'm willing to pitch in $25.50 for a 2-pack with any non-grinder. I see that 5 people on my friends list have the game on their wishlist, so I'm hoping one of you is interested. I'll either Paypal you and you buy it, or Paypal me and I'll buy it, whichever you prefer.

I'm thinking of picking it up, but I'm going to wait until reviews of the game come out. I realize I won't get the pre-order discount, but I'm willing to risk it.

After XCom, I feel like everything will let me down.

MeatMan, if you remember the old game Gangsters, by Eidos, I loved the premise behind it, but I just couldn't get far enough into the game without falling apart to really grok it.

The video you linked looks like the game is Tropico reskinned with more detailed management and original X-Com style combat. Is that a fair twenty-word summary? What are the flaws you mentioned?

Wow, i didn't even realize there was a demo out. I've been on the fence for the last week or so about pre-ordering. Downloading the demo now, hopefully it's not terrible.

I never could get into the Tropico series, so I'm nervous that as much as I might like the combat part, I might not like the management sim part, so I'm waiting for reviews. I did like the demo. I guess I'm secretly just wishing I could get a new turn-based Jagged Alliance so maybe I went in with a bias from the start.

Feegle wrote:

The video you linked looks like the game is Tropico reskinned with more detailed management and original X-Com style combat. Is that a fair twenty-word summary? What are the flaws you mentioned?

That is a fair summary, indeed. As for the flaws, the couple minor things that bothered me were:

At the start of one of the missions, your view can be totally blocked by the adjacent buildings if you don't line up the camera angle just so. That said, I do really like that you can move the camera around to any angle you want, unlike XCOM where you were limited to just 4 angles.

Friendly fire is in the game, so if you shoot an enemy while one of your crew is in the line of fire, he will take damage. Because of this, I feel that you should have the option to choose which crew member you want (that hasn't taken his turn) to act at any given time. Instead, your crew (and enemies) have to take their turns in a predetermined order, which is displayed at the top of the screen. Not a huge deal, and I understand their decision to use that mechanic, but to avoid your melee guy (who's standing beside an enemy) taking friendly fire, it would be nice if you could choose to have the melee guy take his turn before any gunners take their turn at attacking the same enemy.

For anyone who doesn't want to play the demo, which takes about 2 hours or so, here's a video playthrough I found.

I enjoyed the beta, and glad I pre-ordered and got it for like $22 on GMG.

They still have a pre-order coupon for 25% off until the end of the month.

http://blog.greenmangaming.com/2013/...

Island Dog wrote:

I enjoyed the beta, and glad I pre-ordered and got it for like $22 on GMG.

They still have a pre-order coupon for 25% off until the end of the month.

http://blog.greenmangaming.com/2013/...

Thanks for the heads up. Since no one has shown interest in splitting a 2-pack (for which the discounted price expires in a few days), I pulled the trigger at GMG. The coupon code brought the price down to exactly the same amount as 1/2 of the 2-pack, so that worked out perfectly.

Oh, that's a shame for me. I was just coming here to post that I'd be happy to split the 2-pack with you. Ah well - any other takers?

So, how is the game?

Reviews seems to suggest that there are some good ideas there, but the game falls flat overall.

Tkyl wrote:

Reviews seems to suggest that there are some good ideas there, but the game falls flat overall.

One reviewer wrote:

These fights, I'm sorry to say, are a poor man's XCOM.

If you're expecting this game to be as good as one of 2012's top contenders for GOTY, you're setting yourself up for disappointment, especially if you play the demo first, as you should.

I installed it today but haven't played it yet, so for now I have nothing to judge beyond the demo. I'm not expecting a great game, but if I have the same fun I did during the demo, I'll be satisfied, especially considering I got it for $25 at GMG. It activates on Steam, in case anyone was wondering.

Robear wrote:

So, how is the game?

Youll need to tell me - I shot you a copy on Steam.

I wasn't super impressed with the demo. The fights were a lot less about tactical positioning and more about a bunch of dudes running up to you and unloading their weapons point black. The strategic map game was even less interesting. If the reviews are saying that it doesn't get any better, then I'd stay away.

Well, I'm definitely gonna give it a try. Thanks Spy! This is an unexpected treat.

Tempting, I really loved the original. Never did when a game, or even finish one. Still fantastic in a gangster any colony way. Will have to try it, although it doesn't seem too much like the original. Will go try the demo, and everyone should try the original.

So far, I like it. It's something like a casual gangster game. I'm expecting about as much complexity as Tropico, and so far, that's what I'm getting.

I've held up illegal breweries and resold the beer for a profit. The brewers pulled some strings and kidnapped my minion, and I rescued him and shot them for their trouble. (IE, the tutorial seems to be done.) Now I'm going to find out what other action is going on in my neighborhood, and figure out how to muscle in on it.

Okay just played the demo, and it's sadly not deep enough for me. Not to mention their doesn't seem to be anything like a sandbox or skirmish mode. That tactical combat is boring as well, as there is no reaction fire. In fact really the only two commands you get are attack or move. The good bits are the building and buy stuff. It plays out more like a trading game, a really simple tropico. Rather fun, but I wished it was deeper.

Maybe I load up the original, and finally learn how to play it so I can win.

Yes, there's a Sandbox mode in the full game, as well as multiplayer. In combat, if you've got a Revolver, you can Retaliate against ranged attacks (no, I don't know why). There are around 20-25 skills a player can have (at least that's what is on my list) to modify their characters as they level up, and I think some vary based on the character's class and stats.

Attacks seem to be based on weapons. My guys are shooters, so they get options for quick shot, regular fire, aimed fire, and a shot to the abdomen, which induces bleeding. Not sure if they have melee attacks. One of my characters just picked up a skill that gives him a 50% damage bonus if he hits someone who just fired at him ("Vengeance"), and the other took a skill that gives him +10% damage on all ranged combat.

I agree that it's simple, and fun. It remains to be seen if it holds my attention. The one thing I don't like is that you have to wait in real-time for a character to finish operations, so when you have two characters, you have a few minutes to do something else while the game cycles. I wish there was something to do in-game for that period.

I think it's a good game but it just doesn't have enough in both the combat and management section. They both seem too simple sadly. Basically like you said it can't hold my attention.

Robear wrote:

The one thing I don't like is that you have to wait in real-time for a character to finish operations, so when you have two characters, you have a few minutes to do something else while the game cycles. I wish there was something to do in-game for that period.

If you actually timed it, I think those wait periods are probably 60 seconds or less, so "a few minutes" is a bit of an exaggeration. Also, after you've rented a building and set up a business in it, there are things you can do (upgrades) while you're waiting for your crew members to finish their jobs. That said, I agree that the wait times should be decreased and/or there should be more things you can do while you're waiting. As you progress further into the game and have more businesses established, I'm sure there will be more things the player can do during those waiting periods, not to mention that it seems like you'll also be adding people to your crew as you play.

Actually, in the tutorial, it's around 250 seconds in the first mission, and at least 120 in the second.

Once you get to the point of having four or five gang members, the waits aren't much of an issue anymore. The limiting factor is usually money, rather than labor.

I've gotten a few missions in, and I'm still pretty neutral, overall. There are things I like, but there are notable frustrations as well. One of them is that you don't seem to have any way of knowing what businesses you can put in a particular building. I was desperate for more beer in one game, and had two rented, empty buildings, but the game would not let me put breweries in them, and there's no explanation why. Some buildings can take a pizzeria, some can't, and there's no way to tell.

I think the biggest annoyance is the very limited camera control. You are not allowed, in tactical combat, to go to a full overhead view. With a 3D camera, they just mysteriously decided that you're not allowed to look straight down. Instead, you're constantly fighting the camera, constantly, trying to figure out the angles and cover, all of which would be instantly apparent if you could just look down.

Malor wrote:

There are things I like, but there are notable frustrations as well. One of them is that you don't seem to have any way of knowing what businesses you can put in a particular building. I was desperate for more beer in one game, and had two rented, empty buildings, but the game would not let me put breweries in them, and there's no explanation why. Some buildings can take a pizzeria, some can't, and there's no way to tell.

I agree that the game should do a better job of explaining what types of businesses can go in the two types (unless there are more later in the game) of rentable buildings in which you can establish a business, but there is a way to tell before you rent. Well, once you've rented one of each type, I mean. A Premises (house icon) can be used for a certain set of businesses, and a Joint (tent icon) can be used for a certain, different set of businesses. When you click on either of them after you've rented it, you see what businesses can be established there. Every Premises has the same options, and every Joint has the same options. That said, I don't understand the design decision to split business options into two arbitrary building types. Anyhoo, I found a wiki that lists the available businesses for each - premises, joint.

Malor wrote:

I think the biggest annoyance is the very limited camera control. You are not allowed, in tactical combat, to go to a full overhead view. With a 3D camera, they just mysteriously decided that you're not allowed to look straight down. Instead, you're constantly fighting the camera, constantly, trying to figure out the angles and cover, all of which would be instantly apparent if you could just look down.

Interesting that you say that. For me, one of the annoyances I had with the new XCOM was the camera control, or lack thereof. Only having four rotational angles is what I call limited. By comparison, Omerta's camera control has much more freedom. Although I agree that the option to zoom out to a directly top-down angle would be handy.

I would love to have this game, but just can't manage the scratch with paying for holiday bills. I'll have to live through everyone playing the game. So get to talking!

By comparison, Omerta's camera control has much more freedom.

Yes, but Omerta is usually in buildings, with small rooms and tight spaces, requiring a great deal of camera rotation. I didn't have to mess with X-Com's camera very often, but I have to do it all the time in Omerta. If I could just look straight down, I would almost never need to touch it.

Thanks for the pointers on building type, I'll be sure to check that out when I fire it up next.

MeatMan wrote:

I agree that the game should do a better job of explaining what types of businesses can go in the two types (unless there are more later in the game) of rentable buildings in which you can establish a business

I've gotten further into the game, and it turns out there are more than two types rentable buildings for establishing businesses. The third building type is the Construction Lot, which has a building icon. I didn't see any info for it on that wiki, so I took screenshots to show each of the businesses that can be established.

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IMAGE(http://s11.postimage.org/quqc3ga6b/image.jpg)

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I finished the first mission today.

Lots of atmosphere and the production values are very high.

As expected, it looks like the campaign slowly feeds you complexity. I'm not going to judge it until I'm through more of the campaign.

The strategic layer looks like it could have some depth, though I wish the "jobs" were more obvious. I keep clicking on businesses to see whether I can raid them when I should be clicking on the jobs instead.

The tactical layer seems OK. There's a cover system implemented that's very similar to XCOM. Initiative is based upon a character's stats and is similar to Disciples (among others).

I like the RPG elements, though I haven't seen any clear indication of experience gained or needed for the next level.

I'd like to zoom out further in both strategic and tactical maps, but other than that the camera seems fine to me.

I'm giving it a qualified "thumbs-up"

Something I didn't realize until watching GB's quick look is that the time it takes for a gang member to complete a job is determined by how far away from the job they are at the time. After you send someone on a job, click their portrait then zoom in. You'll see them actually running to the location of the job, then entering the building. And after they finish that job, they slowly walk around, usually ending up back at your hideout. So the takeaway is: to minimize how much time your jobs take, assign it to the gang member that's closest to it. Note that jobs from the separate Jobs window always use your hideout, so assign those to someone who's at the hideout.