It was 2006. Sony’s PSP was the king of the playground, promised as a "Portable PlayStation 2." We were all desperate for a handheld Grand Theft Auto, and while Liberty City Stories eventually scratched that itch, Team Soho—the folks behind the legendary The Getaway on PS2—decided to throw their hat in the ring. They gave us Gangs of London PSP.
Honestly? It wasn't what anyone expected.
Most people remember it as a clunky, somewhat ugly younger sibling to the high-budget crime dramas of the era. But if you actually sit down with it today, you realize it was trying to do something way more ambitious than just copying Rockstar's homework. It wasn't just a third-person shooter. It was a strategy game, a pub simulator, and a cockney crime opera all shoved into a tiny Universal Media Disc (UMD).
The Weird Logic of London on a Handheld
When you boot up Gangs of London PSP, the first thing that hits you is the structure. It’s not a single-player open world in the way we think of them now. Instead of one protagonist climbing the ladder, you choose from five different gangs: the Morris Family (your classic East End firm), the EC2 Crew, the Talwar Brothers, the Zakharov Family, and the Water Dragon Triad.
Each one has a different vibe. Each one wants to run the Big Smoke.
The gameplay is broken into "neighborhoods." You aren't just driving around for fun; you're actively trying to flip the map to your color. It feels like a precursor to the turf war mechanics we saw later in Saints Row or even GTA IV: The Lost and Damned, but with a much grittier, digital-grainy British aesthetic.
The missions are short. That was by design. Sony knew PSP players were usually on a bus or a train. You get in, you shoot some guys in a warehouse near the Thames, you get out. It’s snappy. But the controls? Man, they're a struggle. If you’ve played it, you know the "PSP nub" struggle. Trying to aim with a single analog stick while the camera does its own thing is a unique kind of 2000s era torture.
Why the Graphics Actually Mattered
For 2006, the recreation of London was actually impressive. Team Soho used real map data. You could find actual landmarks, even if they looked like they were made of wet cardboard due to the hardware limitations. There's a specific atmosphere to Gangs of London PSP that modern games often miss. It’s gray. It’s rainy. It feels like a Guy Ritchie movie filtered through a budget of five pounds and a pack of cigarettes.
It didn't have the polish of Vice City Stories. It didn't have the humor. It was mean-spirited and dirty. That was the point.
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The "Pub Games" and the Identity Crisis
Here is where the game gets truly bizarre. For some reason, the developers decided that a gritty crime drama needed a robust "Pub Games" mode. You could spend hours playing Darts, Pool, or a surprisingly addictive game of Skittles.
Then there’s "Free Roam."
Most players jumped straight into this thinking it would be like GTA. It wasn't. The world was strangely empty. There were no missions in free roam; it was just you, a car, and a very lonely recreation of the West End. You could take photos. You could drive a double-decker bus. But that was about it. It’s a fascinating look at how developers struggled to fit "open world" concepts onto a handheld that only had 32MB of RAM.
Strategy Mode: The Hidden Gem?
If you talk to the hardcore fans—and yes, they do exist—they’ll tell you the "Gang Battle" mode is the real reason to play. It turns the game into a top-down strategy board game. You move your units across a map of London, playing a violent version of Risk.
It’s a complete departure from the third-person action.
- You manage resources.
- You defend your borders.
- You launch tactical strikes.
This mode showed that Team Soho knew they couldn't beat Rockstar at the "3D sandbox" game, so they tried to make a "Criminal Empire" game instead. It was a smart pivot, even if the execution was a bit clunky for the average teenager just looking to blow stuff up.
Looking Back: Does It Hold Up?
Let's be real: Gangs of London PSP is a flawed masterpiece of "B-tier" gaming.
The voice acting is pure pantomime. The "Cockney" accents are dialled up to eleven, with everyone sounding like they’re auditioning for a role in Snatch. "You're 'avin a laugh, ain't ya?" is basically the unofficial subtitle of the entire script. But there's a charm in that sincerity. It wasn't trying to be a global blockbuster; it was trying to be a very specific, very British experience.
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If you try to play it today on a real PSP, you'll notice the load times are brutal. The UMD drive whirrs like it’s about to take flight. On an emulator? It’s a lot smoother, and you can actually see the detail they put into the character models. They look like real people—or at least, the low-poly versions of the guys you'd see outside a Peckham kebab shop at 2 AM.
The Legacy of Team Soho
Shortly after this, the studio was folded into SCE London Studio. We never got a true sequel. We never got a PS3 version of The Getaway either (RIP to that famous tech demo). In many ways, Gangs of London PSP was the swan song for a specific type of British game development—the kind that was obsessed with gritty realism, local slang, and weirdly detailed mini-games.
It’s a relic. But it’s a cool one.
How to Experience it Now
If you're feeling nostalgic or just curious about this weird slice of handheld history, don't go in expecting GTA. You'll be disappointed. Instead, treat it like a collection of crime-themed mini-games wrapped in a strategy layer.
- Check the Strategy Mode first: It’s actually the most "complete" feeling part of the package.
- Don't fight the camera: You will lose. Just use the lock-on mechanic and pray.
- Explore the "Tourist" mode: It’s a weirdly peaceful way to see 2006 London without getting stabbed by a rival gang member.
- Look for the hidden vans: There are some fun secrets tucked away in the side alleys if you're patient enough to find them.
The game is widely available on the second-hand market for pennies. Or, if you're into the emulation scene, it runs flawlessly on PPSSPP. Just make sure you turn the sound up—the soundtrack is a grime and garage time capsule that perfectly captures the era when Nokia phones were the height of fashion and the London Underground still had that specific old-train smell.
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Gangs of London PSP isn't the best game on the system, but it might be one of the most interesting failures in the "GTA-clone" era. It had heart, it had a distinct voice, and it had a version of Darts that was way better than it had any right to be.
To get the most out of it today, skip the main story initially and dive into the "Gang Battle" board game. It’s the most unique way to experience the map and avoids the frustration of the dated combat controls. If you’re a fan of British crime cinema, the atmosphere alone makes it worth a two-hour deep dive. Just don't expect to be able to drive the buses for very long without the police—or the frame rate—catching up to you.
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