Gangs of London (video game)

Gangs of London is an action-adventure open world video game released in 2006 for Sony's PlayStation Portable console. The third installment in the The Getaway franchise following The Getaway (2002) and Black Monday (2004), it was developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.[1] The player has the choice to play as five different gangs in London, with different ethnicities and outfits.

Gangs of London
Developer(s)London Studio
Publisher(s)Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)PlayStation Portable
Release
  • EU: 1 September 2006
  • AU: 7 September 2006
  • NA: 3 October 2006
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery created a television adaptation of the game starring Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu, and an ensemble cast, which debuted on Sky Atlantic and AMC in April 2020, from which a spin-off graphic novel, Ghosts, was released in December 2022, written by Corin Hardy and Rowan Athale and illustrated by Ferenc Nothof.

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, 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 ending ensues. Outside of missions, the player can free roam the game's environment and complete minigames such as taking photos of London landmarks or running over pedestrians. The game also has "bar" style mini-games, accessed from a pub. The four pub games are darts, skittles, pool, and an arcade game, which is similar to Snake.

Premise

At his country estate, Morris Kane, a veteran cockney 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, Russian 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. Enraged by the loss of his paintings and silver, he vows to make London suffer.

Mason Grant, leader of the Jamaican yardie gang 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. During the game, a bomb goes off; killing the Triads. Triad leader San Chu 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.

The Gangs

The player can choose any one out of five playable gangs -

  1. Morris Kane Firm
  2. EC2 Crew
  3. Talwar Brothers
  4. Zakharov Organisation
  5. Water Dragon Triad

Apart from these gangs there are other unplayable gangs which form some parts of the game's storyline:

  1. Steele Associates: A white-collar criminal group run by a criminal businessman named Andy Steele. The gang plays a major part in the storyline. Its territory is located in central London
  2. The North London Albanian Gang
  3. The Globe Road Gang – a gang made up of prostitutes
  4. Rahman's Gang – an Indian-origin gang
  5. The Yakuza gang – it is run by a Japanese gangster named Kanesaka
  6. The Italian Naples Mafia

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[2]

Adaptations

Television series
Main article: Gangs of London (TV series)

Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery created a television adaptation of the game starring Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu, and an ensemble cast, which debuted on Sky Atlantic and AMC in April 2020,[16][17] with Dirisu portraying Elliot Carter / Finch, a character loosely based on Frank Carter, and Colm Meaney portraying Finn Wallace, a character loosely based on Andy Steele.

In an interview with Sky News in April 2020, Evans stated that while initially hired to "make a film franchise" of Gangs of London, he had felt like if we were going to do a film franchise, we would have two-thirds of our running time focused purely on our central characters, and then only a third left to explore the side characters that populate that world", and so on deciding that "we wouldn't do justice to the myriad of different diverse cultures and ethnicities that make up the city [I then] pitched it back saying this should be a TV show because you can afford to go off and detour for 10 to 15 minutes and spend time with other characters, and learn about them in more detail."[18]

Graphic novel

In December 2022, a Gangs of London graphic novel, set between the first and second series of the television adaptation and titled A Gangs of London Story: Ghosts, written by Corin Hardy and Rowan Athale and illustrated by Ferenc Nothof, was released digitally to the news aggregator Den of Geek, ahead of a physical release.[19]

References
  1. Hopper, Steven (September 28, 2006). "Gangs of London – PSP – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  2. "Gangs of London for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 23, 2011.
  3. Edge staff (October 2006). "Gangs of London". Edge. No. 167. p. 94.
  4. EGM staff (November 2006). "Gangs of London". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 209.
  5. McCarthy, Dave (September 7, 2006). "Gangs of London". Eurogamer. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  6. Helgeson, Matt (October 2006). "Gangs of London". Game Informer. No. 162. Archived from the original on July 30, 2009. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  7. Long Haired Offender (October 4, 2006). "Review: Gangs of London". GamePro. Archived from the original on January 3, 2007. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  8. Dodson, Joe (October 6, 2006). "Gangs of London Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  9. Navarro, Alex (October 3, 2006). "Gangs of London Review". GameSpot. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  10. Turner, Benjamin (September 29, 2006). "GameSpy: Gangs of London". GameSpy. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  11. "Gangs of London Review". GameTrailers. December 6, 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  12. Vanderblast, Stretch (August 15, 2006). "Gangs of London Review (UK)". IGN. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  13. Haynes, Jeff (October 13, 2006). "Gangs of London Review". IGN. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  14. "Gangs of London". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. November 2006. p. 120.
  15. Hill, Jason (September 9, 2006). "Gangs of London". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
  16. Beckwith, Michael (April 24, 2020). "Gangs of London is actually based on a video game – here's what it was like". Metro.co.uk. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  17. Basotia, Jyotsna (September 30, 2020). "Did you know 'Gangs of London' was inspired by an old PSP game? Here's all about the action-packed adventure". Meaww. Retrieved September 30, 2020.
  18. Peplow, Gemma (April 23, 2020). "Gangs of London: 'We spent time with undercover police – I have to be careful'". Sky News. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  19. Fletcher, Rosie (December 15, 2022). "Gangs of London Comic Book Tells the Story of Elliot's Year. Read it Exclusively Here". Den of Geek. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
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