In the years following World War I, Prohibition turned alcohol into a forbidden elixir that fueled countless criminal enterprises. Omerta embraces this seedy life, making you a young Mafioso fresh off the boat from Sicily, eager to carve off a piece of that action.

+ 28 different businesses to build and supply; decent multiplayer

? Who brings brass knuckles to a gunfight

In the beginning of Omerta: City of Gangsters, players pick a name, look, and history for their avatar--a would-be mafia boss who means to come to the United States and live out the American dream. In this case, that dream is to forge a Mafioso empire.

Occasionally almost feeling like The Godfather; Imagining the possibilities of this concept in defter hands; Matching squad members to the missions

Simplistic resource management and strategy; Awkward; confusing combat; Dry; easily-ignored plotline

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+ Cool premise; + Lots of great ideas

Problematic camera; Boring management; Combat is abysmal; Presentation falls flat

Mediocre: An exercise in apathy, neither Solid nor Liquid. Not exactly bad, but not very good either. Just a bit 'meh,' really.

Omerta is a code of silence and honor that most Mafioso types try to live by. It involves noncooperation with authority figures and law enforcement, even when you yourself have been a victim of a crime.

Resource management is fairly interesting; the game runs smoothly; interesting concept

Poorly executed interface and lack of a solid story

Bland, boring, and turgid to the last - look to Tropico 4 for a fine example of micromanagement, or instead XCOM Enemy Unknown for turn-based kicks: Omerta: City of Gangsters deserves to be thrown in a trunk and taken "someplace up state.

I'm usually forgiving of a few glitches here and there, but there's no excuse for the non-stop audio problems. Someone knew they were putting out a shoddy product and did it anyway.

How is this the first time I've had a chance to shoot the KKK in a game?

Killing three foes with a single Tommy Gun burst

Watching grass grow (figuratively) as I waited for a glitch-slowed clock to advance

The Bulgarian developer Haemimont Games  is mostly known for their flagship franchise in the dictatorial Tropico series. Over the past two installments, they've proven that they are good at city-building games, and one would typically expect them to stick to their bread and butter.

: Omerta: City of Gangsters is the sort of game manages to take the fun concepts of city simulation and turn-based combat, cross them with the promising concept of Prohibition era mafia concepts, and turn all of this into a bland, uninteresting mess.