There are not that many isometric strategy games like Commandos or Desperados anymore, especially with gang/mafia setting. What marked as great return of the genre was X-com Enemy Unknown and this game is more or less just like it, only with turf wars and mafia instead of alien invasion. Gameplay, graphics and sound are nothing amazing, it's alright, nothing remarkable. If you're hungry for X-com mix with Gangland and some strategy elements of games like Tropico, it is possible you will enjoy it. Just don't expect greatness of any of those mentioned.

This game can be pretty fun for a while, and i admit, I even liked it, especially the battles, but i can understand the criticism as well. Your job is to micromanage a crime syndicate, by buying businesses, bribing people, and leading your team of hardened criminals on missions. On paper it's quite nice, and the game itself can be challenging on the battlefield, but the management part is just boring after a short time even. The problem is, as hard as the combat missions are, outside of that it's just to easy, to buy everything, and become the criminal version of Scruge McDuck. Oh, and your people can't die. That really takes of the edge of the action unfortunately.

Omerta, game from Kalypso. Kalypso means Tropico. And Omerta is a mix of Tropico and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It takes management, earning money, setting up production and distribution, from Tropico series. And when you send your henchmen to do some dirty work, combat is very similar to XCOM series - turn based, with cover system. It is a bit simplified, but still enjoyable. Graphics in Omerta is fairly good. You can see night and day cycle, weather effects, pretty detailed surroundings. Cars on the streets, people walking about. Animations in combat is appropriate. Could be a bit better. I like how enemies who were near obstacles slump to the ground, sliding, propped against the wall/car/crate. Voce acting - another good job, voices are the quality of those you can hear in Tropico. And the music... First time launching Omerta, I spent five minutes in main menu, just listening to the swing track playing there. Whole soundtrack is amazing, and well worth listening to on its own. To sum up - Omerta is a pretty light economic RTS with turn based combat. If you like Mafia/30's and 40's era, Prohibition, jazz and swing music, add 20 to my rating.

The idea of this game is awesome to me. The 20's gangster culture has always intrigued me, and it wouldn't be the first time it was done well in a game. The management and tactical gameplay should add unbelievable depth to the experience and make you feel like a criminal mastermind. Instead it's rather tedious and bland. The game kind of just tells you what you should do, and the options you do get give literally no visual reward, you're just told that you did it. It's quite disappointing. It's not bad, but it could have been a lot more.

Despite the problems that published reviews pointed out, I gave this game a chance after I read about patches that gave the game a somewhat of an overhaul. The combat is easy to learn but can be a little difficult to master for novices, while gang management is simple yet encourages a little bit of thinking on the part of strategy. It was addicting early on, but after awhile, managing your criminal organization in this title starts to fall a little flat with repetition.