The Commission 1920 is a new organized crime strategy game by 302 Interactive and 2:30 AM Studios. We have seen plenty of 4x strategy titles but very few of them have actually tackled the 1920s crime-fighting era for a strategy setting. 302 Interactive has done a brilliant job with the game however there are a few things here and there that could have been better in the game. This is our review of The Commission 1920 in which we run some rackets and take over the districts as a mafia family.
The Commission 1920 is a turn-based strategy game which is set in the 1920s in New Shore when organized crime was at its peak. You take on one of the five mob families and step in the shoes of a Don who must grow and expand his crime circle while making sure that none of the other companies overtake his own family. Each of the family comes with its own unique traits and Dons. Each family also has its way of operating and handling various situations which makes a playthrough with each family unique and eventful in its own way. However, all families grow and expand via owning rackets and expanding them in the city while making sure that the government keeps an eye away from them.
For being a strategy title, The Commission 1920 really starts slow. While most strategy games usually kick off gameplay with plenty of action going on, The Commission 1920 takes it sweet time as you simply just watch the screen and skip some turns just because you have to wait for something to happen on the map., After a few turns, however, the game starts to pick up pace as your family members start to level up and you can finally get some new members on board to further expand your family and open up some new rackets in other districts as well. The game is set in New Shore where you have five districts and each district is occupied by a family. Your family is one of them. Depending on your chosen family, you will get a district and you have to grow and expand into other areas from that very district.
The game works in a very unique fashion as nothing is really visible right in front of your eyes and you only have the city’s map to work on. Your family hierarchy is very important, and you have to understand it right from the start of the game. You play as the Don of the family, so you are sitting at the highest spot in your family. Below you, you have your Caporegimes, Soldatos, and Associates. Caporegimes are below you and they are control Boroughs for you. Below them, you have your Soldatos who command and control your areas with Associates. The associates are the bottom-feeders of your organization and also the most active members since they are not officially part of your family and are trying their best to be a part of it.
You assign your Caporegimes and Soldatos with Associates in each borough and then they start operating multiple rackets in each district. Each of these members continues to operate and eventually they level up and are promoted to their senior positions. Once you have more senior people in your family, you can assign them to other districts and regions where they can begin operating even more rackets. Your main goal in the game is to continue expanding your territory with more and more rackets and your family members controlling each area. For maintaining your control over the city, you have some dirty tricks up your sleeve as well.
Since you earn a lot of money in the game, you will often need to use this money to bribe some VIPs and government officials to ensure that your family members are not in the news or cases or your rackets are not attracting too much heat. You can bribe members such as the Police Chief, Mayor, and even judges and District Attorney and motivate them to give aid to your family. All of the VIPs provide a different type of aid to the family such as the Police Chief will make sure that your rackets do not attract too much heat while you will also earn influence which comes in handy for different favors in the game.
Your main source of income in the game is your rackets. The more stable rackets you have in the game, the more money you earn in the game. You can also expand these rackets into other neighborhoods but if you want, you can expand them in the same district as well for three times. These rackets generate money which is later used for more and more rackets, and as you expand your crime empire, you hire more people into your family, and the old ones keep getting promoted to higher positions. Since you remain the Don, after a few hours into the game, you have multiple Caporegimes working in different districts with their own Soldatos and associates who have multiple rackets under them, all generating money.
This process is pretty much rinse and repeat with little changes to the gameplay formula at later stages of the game as well. Each Soldatos in your family has a unique trait and you are careful with their assignments, you can have Soldatos that give benefits to the rackets that they are looking after. Once you expand too much, you can also wipe out smaller gangs by killing them or offering them to join your family. While it is certainly a unique take on the exploration, exploitation, expansion, and elimination, the killing part certainly lacks here as well. Even if you have grown to an exceptional size in the city, direct hits and killing of enemy mob bosses is not possible in the game which means that you have to play by the rules of the game.
Technically, the game runs really well, and to be fair, it is not a very demanding game either. There are literally no animations in the game, and everything is text-based. This sometimes gets annoying as well as large text pop-ups hide part of the mains screen every time you are trying to give your family members assignments. The UI is pretty simple and easy to understand and the monotone soundtrack can become repetitive as well after a few hours. The game for me is a mixed-bag where I really want to like it for its simple entry into the strategy-genre but at the same time, some of the mechanics feel a little too repetitive in the game after you have invested a few hours in the game. The AI is not too tough in the game and mostly during the start of the game, even if you have all four families against you, they will just pretend like you do not exist throughout most of the game.
Final Verdict:
The Commission 1920 ticks all the boxes of a great strategy title however it tends to become repetitive after some time. I loved the setting of the game as we do not really get good titles set in this era anymore and as far as I can remember, this is perhaps the only strategy game set in the 1920s era of organized crime. The mechanics are simple to understand and anyone with a little understanding of point-and-click strategy games can easily start playing the game. It depicts life in the early 1920s really well when organized crime was at its peak. While I had a lot of fun playing the game, after a few playthroughs, the mechanics and game somehow start to feel repetitive. If you love organized crime and strategic games overall, The Commission 1920 is going to offer you plenty of good time. Highly recommended if you are a 4X strategy pro and can handle titles that tend to become repetitive after some time because the overall presentation and the level of detail in the game are brilliant.
Final Score: 7.5/10
