which can eventually result in their downfall. The game has three victory conditions with varying degrees of difficulty, from easiest to hardest: Go Straight: This requires the player to pull in a good sum of purely legal money from legitimate businesses, ensure that none of their hoods are wanted by the police, and avoid "heat" entirely. Eventually, the player can choose to retire from the life of crime that paved their way to success and convert their criminal enterprises into a legitimate business empire. Rival gangs are the main threat to this goal as their attacks on the player's territory can force the player to make difficult choices that can ruin their chances of going straight. Get Elected Mayor: This requires the player to win the upcoming mayoral election, requiring a good lawyer to manage their campaign, a lot of money for campaign expenses, a sizable amount of territory, and enough votes. The player needs to keep their potential voters happy by not collecting too much protection money, efficiently protecting the neighborhood from rival gangs while staying out of trouble themselves, and setting up charitable enterprises such as soup kitchens. Owning certain illegal businesses can give a substantial boost to votes as well. Domination: This is the hardest yet least complex way to win, requiring the player to destroy all rival gangs through force until only their gang remains. The difficulty comes from the huge amount of "heat" that will inevitably be generated by wars with the other gangs, the large number of hood casualties that will make it difficult for the player to protect their territory, and the risk of their properties and businesses being attacked, torched, or blown up. Although a war can sometimes be ended in a single blow by assassinating the boss of a rival gang, it is not a perfect solution as one of their hoods can simply take over as a replacement boss and continue the war. Development Reception The game received above-average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Next Generation said, "While there are some interface problems, a few design holes, and a sketchy manual, Gangsters becomes exactly what fans of this genre look for – something that keeps them up late at night." The game was commercially successful. In the German market, it debuted in ninth place on Media Control's computer game sales rankings for the latter half of December