With the release of its critically-acclaimed Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror, Sony proved that it's possible to create an enjoyable third person shooter on its PSP hand held, and now that it's managed to capture lightning in a bottle, the famous publisher is attempting to prove that it'll strike twice with its upcoming crime simulator Gangs of London. Stylish, feature-packed, and brimming with seedy underworld shenanigans, this SCEE developed Getaway spin-off plays rather well, though a strange decision regarding its multiplayer component may shield it from success.

Although it's not fully polished or completed, there's a lot to admire about Gangs of London. A spirited companion to both Getaway titles, it's a crime simulator that takes place, naturally, in London, and much like its PS2 brethren, it contains 25 square miles of the city, painstakingly recreated to the point where you'll be able to spot plenty of famous locales depending on your familiarity with the area. And similar to the Getaway games, you can ride around in and get out of a host of damageable vehicles (34 to be exact), as well as embark on a myriad of on-foot missions in which you'll have to, along with your fellow gang members, hunt down and murder a wide variety of criminals, but that's where the similarities end, because although Gangs shares the same location and overall goal of its big brothers, it's an original IP with its own story. Of course, how the narrative's told is just one of the features that gives the game a signature appearance.

Rather than craft a bunch of plain looking FMV sequences, SCEE elected to create these rather impressive comic book style story boards, then hire voice actors to deliver the lines. Similar things have been done before in games such as Ultimate Spider-man, but in regards to crime dramas, it has a refreshing appearance. And based on what I've heard, the acting is up to code and does a nice job fleshing out the game's story, a tale of blood, murder, and an insatiable lust for power. Five different gangs are all jockeying for position, attempting to control London, and you'll get to play them all. There's the Pakistani group known as The Talwar Brothers, the British thugs that call themselves the Kane Group, the Chinese Water Dragon Triad, Zakharov, which is the Russian mafia, and finally, the Jamaican run EC2 Crew, all of which have signature abilities and attributes.

At this point, I'm not exactly sure how and when you'll be able to switch between the gangs. However, while playing as each allows you to see things from different perspectives, you'll still follow the same story arc. Furthermore, there doesn't appear to be signature missions for each faction, so the same ones will keep popping up, which may impact the game's fun factor, though if the missions are anything like the one I was able to complete, then they're short, arcade-style blast fests that can be beaten in a matter of minutes, even if they're nothing more than typical assassination jobs.

The mission that I checked out was nothing more than a standard issue hit. I hopped in a car and made my way to a hideout that was marked in red on the world map, and as I drew closer to my destination, I marveled at the scenery as well as the lack of load times (everything is streamed). Of course, the attention to detail was wasted on me seeing as how I've never been to London, but I certainly enjoyed marveling at the level design as well as the attention to detail. Even a few months from its release, Gangs of London is one of the smoother looking PSP titles, and seeing everything in motion reinforced my confidence in the system.

As soon as I reached the specified building, I got out of my ride, immediately ran inside and was greeted by a hail of gunfire. I responded in kind, cycling through targets and eliminating them with a few slugs to the chest. Meanwhile, my "friends" (three gang members followed along and I could switch between them on the fly) provided me with some backup, drawing the enemy away, thus allowing me to get the jump on them. This continued for several moments. I'd enter a room, engage the baddies in a wicked gunfight, clear the area of the scum bag infestation, then move on to another room, rinse and repeat. Again, it's fairly standard issue stuff, but I enjoyed it. The shooting feels good, the controls are pretty solid. I don't know if I'll be able to keep this up for 60 plus levels (or even 15), but this small sampling served as an appetizer, or rather, a tiny bite of some delicious main course. I want more of it, plain and simple. However, it would appear that this single player mode is a one trick pony, and in lieu of this, that's not going to be enough to keep Gangs spinning inside of my PSP. I'm going to want more, some extra modes to keep me entertained long after I've capped the final bad guy, and thankfully, it has them in spades.