Summary
Hopefully worth the effort
The Good
I've only been playing it a few days so this is a preliminary view. So far so good but I hope I won't be disappointed. It does evoke the gangster period fairly well. There are a lot of options which enhance the sense of realism. As the other reviews say, it is definitely a Sim as much as a game. There is a lot of challenge, and a fairly good sense of period.
The Bad
It is difficult to learn - any extra resources would be helpful. As suggested in another review I looked at the Primagames "Fast Track" guide. There is also a strategy guide at the developers' site. This also has a list of buildings which is missing from the manual. They really should circulate a strategy guide with the game. I am still trying to figure out why, in week 8, 27 of my 50 guys were mowed down by the cops. I *think* one of them was Wanted, and the police shot him, other hoods shot back, and it started a chain reaction. But I don't know! The management can get tedious, particularly as your turf grows - and at the moment I don't trust my Lieutenants to manage their own patches of turf.
The Bottom Line
A challenging resource-management game set in the world of 1920's gangsters. It simulates the experience of being a crime lord's accountant as much as it does the experience of being a crime lord.
