Legal Crime is a real time strategy game that was released for the Windows operating system on the personal computer in the late nineties. It was both published and developed by Byte Enchanters Incorporated. The game features a mobster of mafia style of theme and plays out in an isometric view.
Legal Crime sees you as the Godfather of a large crime empire. Your overall goal is to become THE Godfather and expand your territory and influence and gaining wealth. You will do this through a variety of stereotypical mob activity such as extortion, illegal business, and bribes.
One of the greatest tools you will have at your disposal is a fair arsenal of gangsters and thugs, and a propensity for violence. Each type of activity has numerous subcategories to add depth and complexity…and a hint of realism…to the game.
Aside from the great stereotypical mobster names in the game (such as Vito Batteglio or Mack Marantani) one of the other fun stereotypes is the perversion of legitimate businesses into sources of crime. You can turn very nice and upstanding businesses into a variety of not so upstanding businesses using your corrupt influence. For example, you can build a house of prostitution, a gambling ring, a bootlegging operation, and even a pool of mercenaries. Market them under creative titles such as entertainment
or troubleshooting. Collect protection money from smaller legitimate businesses as another source of income. The methods of collecting money are truly endless if you are ruthless and creative enough.
Of course, once you have things rolling, you will have to micromanage everything. You will have underground training centers where your thugs can enhance their various skills. Collection centers cut down on travel time and make earning money a bit more efficient. Stakeouts are like miniature headquarters…the equivalent of a guard post in a medieval war strategy…from where attacks can be launched. You will also spend a lot of time bribing people who own, operate or belong to other sorts of businesses, such as the police. You can make excellent use of the cops, so long as you have enough cash on hand. You can not only keep them off of your back, but you can actually convince them to raid or harass your rivals.
This is an interesting and fairly complex game with a seedy but fun theme. It should provide a challenge for fans of the simulation game and even a good chuckle now and then. The stereotypes are very cliché which works to make this even seedier and awesome in that Class B sort of way.
