Company of Crime, published 1C Entertainment, – another tactical strategy, at first glance reminiscent of a copy of the latest parts XCOM. But creation Resistance Games has its own trump cards up its sleeve: the untried setting of criminal London of the 60s, an emphasis on hand-to-hand combat and two single-player campaigns that differ radically in the way they are played. Is this enough to attract the attention of fans of tactical puzzles??

Sex, drugs, rock and roll

The criminal life of the English capital of the middle of the last century is more likely to be deprived of the attention of game developers than vice versa. But it was an interesting time! The collapse of the powerful British Empire and the beginning of the formation of a new empire – in the 60s London became the capital of world pop culture. The country, which had finally recovered from the consequences of the Second World War, was having a lot of fun: the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, cool cars and beautiful girls, affordable drugs and other forbidden pleasures – prim England was going into the sunset, making room for a young life.

The criminal world was no exception: the long-divided spheres of influence of old-school gangsters are beginning to be challenged by representatives of the new era. They are active, do not adhere to strict principles, know how to earn money and how to spend it tastefully. And the “old people” can move on, right??

Both the external design and the music in Company of Crime almost perfectly matched. Photo collages in the style of classic British pop art, simple but rhythmic musical beats, portraits of the main characters and level design – this is exactly how a game about London in the 60s should present itself. The only thing that is missing is variety: the same background images begin to become boring very quickly, and the music has not escaped the same.

The scriptwriters frankly cheated. Don’t believe promises about an interesting story: it doesn’t stand out in any way from hundreds of similar stories about the path of criminals to success or about police everyday life. The intriguing hint of a “third force” can be completely ignored: sorry for the spoiler, but the secret society, wedged into the confrontation between guardians of the law and bandits, is mentioned directly in the game a little more often than in the annotation on the Steam page.

You can follow the plot with half an eye: it is not impressive, and it is presented only with the help of texts – both descriptions of tasks and occasional dialogues during their completion serve for this purpose. And the authors of these texts and dialogues, I’ll say right away, are far from John Pearson (John Pearson), who was involved in describing the rich biography of the Kray brothers – famous British criminals of that era. The prototype of the twins (as well as other famous London bandits), by the way, is also in the game: the gang of the Creek brothers is one of the strongest groups in London.

Catch me if you can

Two dissimilar single-player campaigns (the first for gangsters, and the second for “bobbies”) are one of those “features” that should set the game apart from the series of strategies. Not every developer is able to come up with truly different gameplay mechanics for opposing sides. I won’t look far for examples – it’s a failure Narcos: Rise of the Cartels won’t let you lie. But Resistance Games coped with the task – at least in global mode the difference is obvious.

The blue stripe indicates stamina, the red stripe indicates hit points. If the first value drops to zero, the character will lose consciousness, and losing the second one will result in death. If you don’t want unnecessary “wetness,” watch this more closely when planning your next blow or shot.

In the campaign of criminals, we have https://pirate-spins.uk/ to gain dominance over the entire English capital step by step, eliminating competitors and trying not to catch the eye of the cops. The city is divided into districts, each of which has several establishments that bring profit to their owners. These pubs, restaurants, hairdressers, laundries and other sources of easy money can be taken over. However, nothing prevents you from engaging in banal extortion and raids if you need cash here and now.

The gameplay on the global map looks something like this. As long as we have enough hands, we give out instructions, then turn on the time rewind while waiting for them to be carried out, and after the deadline for each order approaches, we either plunge into a tactical battle, or simply reap the fruits of our actions (if they are very afraid and respected of you, they may not offer resistance). The more subordinates you have, the better – any task, even if it does not end in a battle in tactical mode, requires the participation of at least one character.

Acting hastily, trying to capture the entire city at once, will not work for several reasons. Firstly, the plot prevents this – new areas open only after completing key tasks, and secondly, in already open areas you will first have to settle down, declare yourself and only then act in full force.

The situation on the global map depends only on the player’s actions. Yes, other groups sometimes become active and try to fight with each other and with our gang, but this happens literally several times during the entire playthrough.

The fact is that in addition to money, the player has three more types of resources: fear, influence and respect. Like any resource in strategies, they are mined and spent: for example, a beating task gives an increase to all indicators, but intimidation, necessary for the subsequent “squeezing” of a business, on the contrary, will require a lot of fear points. And if the reserve of influence is common for the entire city, then fear and respect must be gained from scratch in each district. Like it or not, you will have to start from the bottom more than once, gradually displacing other gangs from all parts of the city.

On guard of the law

The police campaign is still more leisurely, although the plot here seems a little shorter. For obvious reasons, you don’t have to bother making money, but there are several types of resources here (patrol officers, evidence and security), and there is much more fuss on the global map. We have to set up patrols, interview informants, inspect crime scenes and look for evidence against each individual gang. As in reality, in order to give free rein to the hands, batons and handcuffs, you will have to do a lot of preparatory work. If criminals can go into battle almost at any moment, then cops cannot afford such luxury.

It’s better not to try to “paint over” all the important points in your own color: when playing as bandits, there is a risk of not making it to the final credits, because the process turns into an endless repetition of the same actions. The head of a sprawling criminal clan has no time to monitor the “spin” of an ordinary retail outlet, but for some reason auto combat here is only available for one type of task. In all other cases, be kind, during a tactical battle, personally persuade the owner of the next restaurant to give his pennies to you, and not to the guys from the next street.

There are several types of characters, leveling trees and equipment changes, but a regular punch still remains the most effective technique.

In the campaign, the cops are also in for an ambush – progress through the police plot itself is slowed down by tasks like “Reduce the number of bosses” of this or that gang, and the tactical battles, which have already become boring, are not much different from what can be seen in the first campaign.

I’ll tear the mouth apart, gouge out the blinkers!

What about the "emphasis on hand-to-hand combat, the need to get rid of evidence, alarm levels and the mechanics of escaping from the police"? These are not misses at point-blank range when shooting at point-blank range at some chryssalid!

Yes, two-phase system from XCOM V Company of Crime has not gone away (as well as the percentage display of the chance of successfully using the ability), but the developers tried to come up with something new. For example, environmental objects are of great importance here: if you have a chair or a bottle at hand, then an improvised weapon can be safely used for its intended purpose. Hitting the wall, wrestling, restraining the enemy, kicks between the legs or pokes in the eyes – the arsenal of street fighting without rules is present in all its glory. Considering the general shortage of serious weapons, such improvised means and sneaky tricks come in handy: the most ordinary pistol is not so easy to get at first, and besides, after use, you will have to get rid of it as dangerous evidence.

And the game mechanics require bloodless problem solving. It’s better to beat the enemy until he loses consciousness (or arrest him if you’re playing as the cops) rather than send him to the next world. Why unnecessary attention and cruelty?? A powerful shotgun is of little use: you need the owner of some pub alive, and a dead criminal will not give valuable testimony. It’s better to invest in relatively humane clubs or hammers – most tasks directly contain conditions not to kill anyone.

That’s the rub: what’s the use of a strong team of thugs with guns if their main job is to take over eateries from defenseless citizens?? Let me remind you, you won’t be able to skip such tasks by handing them over to the automatic mode, and there will be quite a few similar battles during the entire playthrough.

Subordinates are upgraded, opponents change, new locations appear, and the gameplay in tactical battles remains almost the same as it was in the first battle. Even the numerous skills of the fighters do not save – the best option is always the simplest blow, and there is no need to bother with improvised means and weapons.

If the strategic mode, despite the routine, looks decent on the whole, then the tactical battles become boring quite quickly. Endure dozens of identical battles for the sake of another piece of dubious plot? Well, that’s..

This phrase characterizes everything well Company of Crime. Not a failure – from a technical point of view, the game is well made, the original setting is there, and the gameplay at the strategic level makes you feel like the boss of a criminal empire or the chief of the city police. But it’s not a “must-have” either, even for keen fans of tactics – the monotony of turn-based battles does not add to the desire to return to them again and again. A typical passerby – we won’t criticize him too much, but there’s nothing to praise him for either.

Pros: campaigns for gangsters and police that differ noticeably in strategic mode; decoration in the style of England of the 60s.

Cons: prolongation; monotonous turn-based battles; weak plot.