Sony's new game is potentially destructive and pointless

Calling all gamers with a lust for fresh products and blood. Soon you may have the chance to machine-gun gangsters at Waterloo station in London.

In addition, you should be able to wipe out Jamaican 'Yardies', Russian and Pakistani gangsters and so-called 'Cockney criminals' - whatever fires you up - courtesy of a game called Gangs of London under development by Sony Computer Entertainment.

You have to hand it to Sony - Gangs of London is at least multicultural and inclusive. Seemingly, it means open season on every ethnicity in Britain's melting pot capital.

Another virtue is the atmospheric quality of the graphics. Sony has perfectly captured London's gloom and strikingly portrays gangsters posed in front of postcard icons such as Big Ben.

Gangs of London is mentally stimulating too, if you believe the puff. Sony portrays the shoot-'em-up as a cerebral affair, highlighting the variety and intricacy of the approaches you can take. 'Story Mode', for example, is all about employing 'strategy and skill to stay one step ahead of the competition'.

One wonders, however, whether the average player will be drawn by the game's apparent chess-like attributes or the violence. Gangs of London has already come under fire in the British press for glorifying the latter.