E3 2012: Omerta: City of Gangsters preview

Tropico 4 was a pleasantly surprising strategy title from Kalypso that delivered a fun experience with plenty of things to do to keep gamers involved. But what if you could take several aspects of the Tropico franchise and add an old school Italian gangster theme to them? Yeah, that would be pretty awesome, and that's exactly what Omerta: City of Gangsters is seemingly pulling off. We got an in-depth look at the game, and from the looks of it, strategy buffs should definitely keep an eye on this one.

Omerta (which is a word that references the gangster's code of silence that must be honored, or else they'll, well, get killed) takes place during the prohibition era, which is a perfect backdrop for a mobster game. It features a mix of strategy and tactical RPG gameplay, a leveling system, 40 gangster characters in total, a randomly generated player character, and compelling mechanics. Players will be able to customize their characters with a variety of stat increases. Mobsters with high muscle ratings, for example, will be pretty powerful when it comes to melee attacks. Be warned, though, once you lose a gangster, even if he's super beefed up, he's gone for good.

Several aspects of gangster life are being sprinkled into Omerta to create a strategy experience that has plenty of authenticity. For example, as a shady figure of organized crime, you obviously rake in a nice cash flow. Not all of that money is clean, though. So what do you do? You take over an establishment, and you launder your dirty cash. Laundering money takes time, but the benefits certainly pay off in the end.

Players will also have a good guy/bad guy rating. If you do things for the community and open up several respectable business, you'll be in good standing with the people of Atlantic City. NPCs will help you out, and you'll be more of a boss akin to Don Vito from The Godfather. If you're a total jerk and do with the city as you please, however, citizens may want nothing to do with you, but other gangsters will be eager to work with you on account of your badassery.

In Omerta, there are several other activities you can take part in. Want to burn down an enemy building and take over? Go for it! But expect to have a gang war on your hands. It's OK, though, because you can respond to your enemies with a good old-fashioned drive-by shooting.

Several little nuances made our look at Omerta really exciting. The game will feature a day and night cycle, and there will be random weather effects. You can take cover, adding an extra layer of depth and planning to the tactical RPG battles in Omerta. Hell, you can even battle the Ku Klux Klan! And you should, because screw those guys!

We really liked what we saw of Omerta. The game looks like one hell of a strategy game already, and if you're a fan of these types of games, there's no doubt that this one should be on your radar. The game is set to release by winter 2012 on the PC and, get this, on the Xbox 360, as well! A strategy game that we can play from the comfort of our couch? Count us in!

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