Gangs of London [PSP]

The Getaway has up and, well, gone portable. In doing so, the popular PlayStation franchise has traded its fearsome heritage for something tamer and something a little more inept, sort of the video game equivalent of exchanging membership in the Hell's Angels for leadership of The Gang Who Couldn't Shoot Straight.

The third-person crime adventure Gangs of London is indeed the spiritual successor to The Getaway. It lets players take the part of one of five rival gangs fighting to control the United Kingdom's capital one chunk of land at a time. Each piece of turf has its own mission associated with it and players will need to successfully invade enemy territory, as well as defend their already-won properties in order to acquire and keep control.

Comic book-style cutscenes move the game's story along, and they're all exceedingly well done. The developers deftly blend humor and violence here, and realize full well, as Shakespeare said, that brevity is the soul of wit. In-game challenges are presented in the same fashion; London doesn't force players to wander across huge chunks of its world to find objectives. It simply drops them into the action and lets them play in brief, five-minute or so chunks. If nothing else, the game is finely tuned for a handheld console's sensibilities.

Missions have players performing tasks both on foot and in cars. Some of the challenges are solo endeavors while others allow for control of a four-man squad. The game blends elements of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell-esque stealth, Grand Theft Auto's gun-it-and-go vehicular mayhem, and shooting in the fine style of Max Payne. Variety is certainly welcome here, especially as players are able to pick and choose the missions they wish to tackle, but London falls into the great trap of being a jack of all trades, and a master of none. After careful consideration, this may be an understatement; the game does not fall into the trap as much as it dives headfirst.

Vehicles in the game all handle adequately, even if there's a bit of a feeling that it's not so much a car or van that's being driven, but rather a concrete cinder block. With no power steering. Gang members putter along in cars and leisurely cruise in larger vehicles when London really should be letting players experience the rush of piloting a vehicle during a high-speed chase.