Not a waste of time, but a game of lost opportunities. Should have followed the basics of Gangland.
At first when you start the game, you can see a picture where Mario from Gangland and Boris from this game are posing next to each other, showing, that this is a follow up sequel to Gangland. I wish it would have been the case, but it wasn't.
I don't even know where to start the description. Let's look at the story. Gangland played in the 20th centuries America, where the Italian gangs started to build the reputed Italian Mafia. You were one of them, started your job as a rookie courier until you owned your very own gang of mobsters. It had a unique feeling and atmosphere. This game starts in the 21st century where you have to work for the CIA or FBI and get rid of some nasty mobsters, who are undefeatable, and said to be undead. Ok, I liked the story… but the implementation was awful.
In Gangland, you had to get money from shops, distilleries, and mechanics by "defending" them from other mobsters, like in the 50's. The buildings were around your main base and in the neighborhoods, sometimes far away, and you had to walk a long way if you wanted one of them. In this game you only have to "persuade the boss of a district, and every little business is yours at once… Ok, it's not always as easy as it sounds, but after you got you character up to lvl 6, after that it is (or for me at least it was) easy as pie. Some reinforcements, some mobsters from an owned district, you own skills and hired mobster(s) and you finished the level in no time. You didn't even have to think hard about how to get it, it was always pure force, no strategy (ok, a little) or brain power needed. Ok, you sometimes had to consider, which district is more important and has more money…. But that has never caused any problem. So the strategy part of the game has been really simplified to the extreme.
The part, where you have to defend what you own, was the bad part in Gangland, and is the same here, but in under other circumstances. In Gangland, it was (on the 6th level or somewhere) impossible to play because of the games AI. I mean, you could not defend any of your buildings, even with your full squad. The AI started with already existing full gangs, with units far over your mobsters level (like ninjas and the Uzi girls, which you could only get in the endgame), and you couldn't defend against them. Your own Big Mammas and Tommy gun using guys could not do anything against them, they were run over like bugs. Even if you managed to kill half of the gang, then the other mafia started an attack, and killed all your units, which tried to heal themselves. It was like an ant attack… no end in sight. They looked like they have unlimited money resources, and you didn't. Not even upgrades could help you, and of course there was no saving opportunity in the gameplay. In this game, it is much worse. You can save… but what for… The AI does not even think about attacking you. I mean, they just stay near their district boss, and wait until you attack. The number of gang members is allocated at 5, which is a really reduced number when we speak of gang wars, mafia and not to speak of strategy games. In the end, you can kill everybody with your character and your hired mobs, not even using any help. The other real bosses of the game just linger around their own districts, or when they attack, they kill almost everybody, like they were undefeatable. At low levels, it is hard to defeat them, although they are mostly alone. So not even a single hint of AI strategy or just strategy. Not even the usable tech tree or action points count… Or just very rarely.
These were the bad parts of the game, which you could say is the main essence of a strategy game. Although the sound effects are good, the voices and dialogs aren't bad either, they do not contribute to the games score in the end. Ohh, and not to forget, that in the and, you kill all vampires with simple gang members…. I killed the prime boss with policeman, back up mobsters and hired gangs from districts. Plus, they left out the family making part... which I loved.
So… I'm filled me with anger and pain, that I did not get a better game then Gangland, although it was made far after it. I would love a sequel, which plays in the 20th century America in the 50's and 60's, where you can really be a mafia boss with a lot of gang members. That is my only dream in this moment. They can ask me for help if they want to make one :D:D Have a lot of ideas :D