What EXACTLY is so horrible about this game?

[DirtyHarry]

I see a lot of commentary here about what an abysmal excuse for a game this is and yet sometimes I see other people are fine with it although admittedly they seem to be in the minority just doing a scan of some threads here.

I'm wondering because if it is just a fairly simple, casual experience with the 1920's vibe and half decent visuals, sound, etc. - in other words atmosphere along with gameplay mechanics that are not actually broken I might like it alright.

Sometimes a simple laid back casual experience in short doses can be alright, you know?

Don't get me wrong though. I am not saying I'm qualified to make the call here. I don't own it and haven't played it. All I've done is read other people's feedback on it, etc. This all sort of made me wonder if this was a case where it just failed to meet high expectations created by pre-release hype which left people bitter when it didn't deliver. But maybe for what it turned out to be it is still okay depending on what you are looking for?

So anyway, I'd like to know in very specific terms just exactly what you personally feel sucks about this game or also if you happen to like it, why is that? All the "this sucks" or "this is ok" comments are just so useless you know? Tell us why you feel the way you do. That would be interesting to read. Thanks.

[Mr_Twister]

The game is a "manage your criminal organization" strategy game, with turn-based combat missions and a setting in 1920's Atlantic City.

First of all, the mood and atmosphere is excellent. The graphics and music are really good. The voice-acting is fairly decent. Although the story is rather stereotypical, it isn't bad by any means.

About the gameplay, I like to compare it to Xcom Enemy Unknown, because they both combine a management game with turn-based combat missions. Xcom EU won several prices last year, including strategy game of the year, and got generally high reviews.

From what I heard, the reason Omerta got bad criticism was mostly due to bugs and the management aspect being fairly simple. Funny enough, I feel the same applies easily to Xcom EU: base management is totally simplified compared to classic Xcom, and multiplayer is so bugged it's hardly playable. The difference is Xcom patches only seemed to scratch the surface, while I've recently played a lot of Omerta and haven't encountered a single bug.

And what about the turn-based combat ? Well, I actually prefer Omerta, I really feel they did a great job on that. Especially "line of sight", which is a serious issue in XCom, is well executed in Omerta. Everything also seems to be nicely balanced. I'm not sure how active the multiplayer community is, I'm afraid it's pretty dead thanks to the bad publicity the game received.

Bugs: no big issues I'm aware of
Management part : fun, but pretty casual, not that much replay value
Turn-based strategy missions : excellent
Gangster setting : great

Maybe I'm biased because I really like both the genre (management + turn-based strategy) and the setting (gangsters). So it probably depends what you're looking for. Biggest issue seems to me the limited replay value.

[DirtyHarry]

Thanks. That is very helpful. I'm thinking I could enjoy this game myself.

[iuscogens]

The turn-based combat itself is very buggy. The "hit" percentage is only a guideline as to how likely you will hit your target. Much of the actual chance of hitting your target is completely random. You will miss your shots A LOT. Even shots rated 80%+, estimate on missing those two-thirds of the time. In fact, the programmers even take pride in this bug. They included the achievement called "Jinxed", which you obtain by missing shots with 95% hit rating. That will be your first achievement gained in this game. Be prepared to restart combat extremely often. I'm almost finished with the game, but it is very very frustrating. Much more so that XCom.

[Mr_Twister]

Originally posted by iuscogens:

The turn-based combat itself is very buggy. The "hit" percentage is only a guideline as to how likely you will hit your target. Much of the actual chance of hitting your target is completely random. You will miss your shots A LOT. Even shots rated 80%+, estimate on missing those two-thirds of the time. In fact, the programmers even take pride in this bug. They included the achievement called "Jinxed", which you obtain by missing shots with 95% hit rating. That will be your first achievement gained in this game. Be prepared to restart combat extremely often. I'm almost finished with the game, but it is very very frustrating. Much more so that XCom.

Hm, not sure it that's patched out in the meantime, but I noticed nothing out of the ordinary with the hit percentage. In fact it took me rather long to get the 95% miss achievement (20-30 hours in). The only bug I personally encountered is the 5% hit achievement not unlocking.

Wat platform are you playing on ? Maybe this is somewhat platform-specific ?

And the game frustrating ? I'm playing on hard and so far only had to restart 1 mission. I found Xcom frustrating: the aliens free move combined with awful LOS prediction, RNG, small teams and the effects of morale loss. On several occassions, this sloppy game design cost me my elite team and turned a perfect game into a nightmare.

[Mr_Twister]

Originally posted by DirtyHarry:

Thanks. That is very helpful. I'm thinking I could enjoy this game myself.

I you want to try before you buy, there is also a demo.
Or check TotalBiscuits let's play on YouTube, gives a good impression about the game.

[DirtyHarry]

Originally posted by Mr_Twister:

Originally posted by DirtyHarry:

Thanks. That is very helpful. I'm thinking I could enjoy this game myself.

I you want to try before you buy, there is also a demo.
Or check TotalBiscuits let's play on YouTube, gives a good impression about the game.

Good ideas on both counts there. I think I will do that. Thanks.

[DirtyHarry]

Okay. I just watched TB's WTF Is Omerta and I'm sold. I had a feeling it was like he describes and shows from things I'd read. It looks like a lot of fun to me. I'm glad it's on sale! :D

Thanks again for the helpful comments and directing me to check out that video.

[Emperor Scrub]

its a very good game if u just want to play somethin without micromanagement and just have a bit of fun

[Articulate Llama]

The biggest let down for me was the multiplayer, you play the singleplayer expecting to have a similar system for multiplayer, nope just silly not very replayable scenarios witrh no management of empires or anything in mp.

The sp was rather shallow and VERY easy but was ok, the mp though is just fail.

[karlpienaar]

I have gotten more than my money's worth and I bought it pre-launch, not on special. Its well worth it.

[Cutlass Jack]

Nothing wrong with it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Grab it during a Steam sale so you can snag the DLC as well for the best value.

Also there's a downloadable demo on the store page, so you can look for yourself.

[Brick HardMeat]

Its not bad just over priced, grab it on sale

[Ericz]

I played the demo, found it horrible, badly overpriced for not an unfinished, but a divided game to sell the real base game through dlcs. Kalypso is not exactly an example of good practices.

[Toad]

People were bashing the game, because when it came out, it was half finished. There werent any rival families, cops were easy to deal with and it was more like farmwille in mafia setting where you do nothing, but upgrade your restaurants and bars. Turn based missions are pretty primitive, especially when there's game like xcom EU that has similar, but much deeper squad management and gameplay. I'm talking about the release version, they've added rivals, fixed and improved a lot of things and its a good game.

[[dse]Circlestrafe]

Originally posted by iuscogens:

The turn-based combat itself is very buggy. The "hit" percentage is only a guideline as to how likely you will hit your target. Much of the actual chance of hitting your target is completely random. You will miss your shots A LOT. Even shots rated 80%+, estimate on missing those two-thirds of the time. In fact, the programmers even take pride in this bug. They included the achievement called "Jinxed", which you obtain by missing shots with 95% hit rating. That will be your first achievement gained in this game. Be prepared to restart combat extremely often. I'm almost finished with the game, but it is very very frustrating. Much more so that XCom.

Only 31% have achieved Jinxed. So am I to ascertain the alleged random hit chance has been patched to be... less random?