Have you ever wanted to mix X-COM with the mean streets of 1960s London? Well, you are in luck!Developer Resistance Games and publisher 1C Entertainment bring you their latest strategy affair in Company of Crime, a fun tile-turn based game that focuses on both hand to hand combat and firearm fun as well.
Set in the groovy 1960s, Company of Crime has a dual campaign system not unlike the one genre veterans may remember from games like Dawn of War: Winter Assault. The first focuses on a brother and sister pair of crime lords, Alias and Nathanial Clearwater, as they work their way up to becoming the dominant gang in all of East London through extortion, laundering, racketeering, and all sorts of debauchery. The second campaign focuses on a police captain who is hellbent on cleaning up the streets and protecting the innocent from these gangs with the help of Scotland Yard’s finest – The Flying Squad.
Both campaigns have similar foundational mechanics, with obvious differences along the way. Both will see you hiring or promoting crews of specialists to enact your objectives – whether they be asking for “protection money” or staking out a local gang hangout. Both feature primarily hand to hand combat in the early stages of the campaign – either you beat the hell out of store owners and employees or gang members to control a storefront or local pub, or as a copper, you defend the innocent with your bare damn hands – with a goal to not only arrest the crooks (which makes combat easier as you essentially take them out of the fight immediately), but avoid excessive force as to instill the sense of power of the law into the various gang members. A lot of the combat is based on the skills you have (such as the Johnny Cage-approved “nut kick”) and how you position yourself, as flanking is very important for things such as handcuffing a criminal or kicking someone flat into a wall.
Your HP is divided by stamina and a basic health bar. Take too much damage and your stamina will drain – leaving you defenseless on the ground until you can get back up, much like armor functions in other games. Certain skills can give you the ability to replenish stamina or avoid getting knocked down, and this, along with various other combat functions, make the game’s combat system familiar, yet refreshingly new to veteran or new strategy game players alike. Gunplay, of course, remains lethal, and due to specific reasons – the criminals wanting to avoid as much heat as possible, and the cops wanting to remain as nonlethal as possible, it is rarer than smacking the crap out of your opponents.
My one gripe from the gameplay came from the police campaign – I have no idea why you are allowed to target civilians and employees for punching or arresting, and due to certain camera angles, I would accidentally select them, failing objectives due to a foolish action. Luckily, the autosave feature is very forgiving, allowing you to rewind to avert the mistake. Fans of iron man mode from other similar games, beware!
The presentation neatly wraps up this great package, as it is phenomenal. Company of Crime fully engulfs you in 1960s London, as the music, loading screens, mission areas, characters, names, and descriptions do some of the best jobs of any recent game in portraying its world and immersing the player. The humor is also as British as you can get, and amazing for it – I particularly liked the loading icon being a cup of tea being stirred. The soundtrack is available on Steam for a nice bargain and I highly recommend checking it out for some jazzy, keyboard-laden, and upbeat tunes. If you are a fan of the music from the Sam & Max series, you will feel right at home!
Overall, Company of Crime is a familiar, yet fresh experience for the strategy genre lover. Lovingly embracing its 1960s roots, there is plenty of rewarding gameplay and world building that makes it very easy to sink time into and have a great time with. With layers of strategic depth and complex mechanics, there is a lot to bite into it, and new and veteran gamers alike will very much be engrossed by it. Whether you choose to run the London Underworld or fight to dismantle it, Company of Crime will successfully take a bite out of leisure time!
Gameplay – 9.5/10
Story – 8.5/10
Music – 10/10
Graphics – 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Check Out the Company of Crime Launch Trailer:
Company of Crime is available for $29.99 for PC and Mac via Steam and GOG.
For more information, please visit: https://www.1cshop.eu/strategy/company-of-crime
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Steam Review
Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
More Stories
GTA Online this Week Features Double Rewards on the Bunker Series, The Heist Challenge Continuation, Plus Much More
DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake Now Available for PC and Consoles
NAIRI: Rising Tide Review for Nintendo Switch