Tales from Queen City: The Ballad of Sean Killian is a 2007 open world, action adventure, crime video game that was developed and released by Dominator Games on Xbox 360, PC, and Playstation 3 to very positive reviews.
Plot[]
In 2007, Sean Killian, a former soldier in the IRA (Irish Republican Army) during the 1990's is coming to America from Ireland to attend the funeral of his friend whom he fought with back in Ireland named Quinn O'Leary. Upon arriving in Queen City, Killian is picked up in a car and taken to the O'Leary household by Sean and Neil O'Leary and when they arrive, Sean gets reaquainted with old friends and that night they have a large celebration to welcome Killian. Killian meets the rest of the O'Leary family as well as their neighbors and family friends, as well as his best friend and former fighting mate, John Callahan. The next day Killian and the rest of the family attend the funeral of Quinn and that night. They enlist the help of the rest of the O'Leary Clan to help in the search. Killian does missions for the O'Leary Clan and also gains work working for a Russian mobster named Goron. Killian does several missions for Goron before it is revealed that Quinn had been framed by the Russian mob and killed for it, Killian cuts his ties with Goron shortly afterward. While at a bar that night, Killian is approached by a Russian women who's name is Natalia. She successfully seduces Killian and agrees to date him. After several dates it is revealed she works for the Russian mob and she attempts to stab Killian but he evades and subdues her, taking her to the O'Leary house basement. After intergation she is thrown out of a car onto the street and left. Eventually he is contacted by a mysterious man over the telephone who claims to have heard good things about his from his friend John. The man arranges a meeting with Sean and it is revealed to be David Henderson. Henderson asks Killian to help him take out business rivals of his, namely Ike Blumenthal, who has connections to the Russian mafia and Fred Gurner. Henderson offers help in taking down the Russian mafia in return if he helps him. Killian successfully kills Blumenthal and Gurner with the help of Henderson. Henderson pays Killian well and Killian returns to the O'Leary house where he begins to plan how to weaken the Russian mafia with the O'Leary brothers. Next, Killian meets Henderson's friend inside the BFI named David Green whom has Killian stop a large scale terrorist attack on Queen City as well as kill several known terrorists in the city. As a first step, they rob several small Russian mob run businesses and begin killing and destroying property belonging to them. During this time, Sean also works with Frank O'Leary who is a police detective who helps to weaken the Russians, unfortunately, Frank is eventually stabbed to death one day and Killian is kidnapped and held hostage by Goron and he escapes with the information obtained by Frank. Killian locates Goron thanks to help from a police computer and kills him, taking back the information. A few days later, Neil approaches Sean with a plan to rob a bank and together with Neil's older brother, John O'Leary and family friend, Robert Keane, they rob a casino run by the Russians. During the robbery, Keane is killed by one of the Russian mobsters and after a large shootout, the men are able to pull off the heist. Unfortunately, Keane's body is identified by police and released to the public which reveals that the O'Leary Clan was behind the robbery. For this, the Russians and their boss, Yuri Shelnov begin attacking and harassing the O'Leary Clan and the neighborhood of Flannigan. With men dying quickly, Callahan enlists the help of his major clients for explosives, Mario Montinelli who is an Italian mobster in the Gambinuchi Crime Family. Montinelli tasks Callahan and Killian with performing favors for him in return for helping them. Montineli explains that a rival family called the Furino Crime Family has been in a joint relationship with the Russians and have been planning to take over the criminal underground and rule together with the Russians and with the help of a former soldato that the Furinos double crossed named Sally Balboa, Killing kills major members of the family before returning to Mario who gives them information on operations of the Russians. They help the Gambinuchis more and meet several other members including, Silvio Gambinuchi, his brother Vinnie Gambinuchi and other soldato in the family. The two men begin to become quite close with Mario, Silvio, and Vinnie while also continuing to weaken the Russian Mafia and eventually they are introduced one night to Ricardo Gambinuchi himself who is accompanied by his right hand man, Aiden McCreary. Ricardo explains that he wants to end the Furinos now and tasks them with killing the Furino boss, Phil Furino and his son, Billy. They successfully kill the men and it appears as if the war is over. During this time, the two men work for Yuri's nephew, Dimitri who is tired of his uncle's way of leading and wants to take over and make peace with the O'Learys. Back at the O'Leary house, things are spiraling out of control and Neil and John have been fighting non stop and the fights have been getting more violent. Killian attempts to separate the men and bring down the tension. Neil explains that the Russian mob has become very weak due to the Gambinuchi influence in the war and that they are planning to take them all out soon. That night a fight erupts outside with John and Neil and Callahan and Killian attempt to separate them but as they do, a SUV full of Russian mobsters drives by and shoots at the crowd and while the rest manage to avoid the bullets, Callahan is shot several times and dies from his wounds. Killian is completely destroyed and for several days drinks himself blind. Several days later, Killian is awoken by John O'Leary and is taken down stairs in the house and at the kitchen table is sitting, Ricardo, Aiden, Mario, Neil, John, Sean, and Dimitri. The men then set out to take out Yuri who has fortified himself inside his warehouse in the harbor of Queen City. The men engage in a large shootout with Yuri's men and Killian and Dimitri set out after Yuri on a motorcycle. Eventually, Yuri crashes on the beaches just outside of Queen City where he manges to shoot and wound Dimitri. Moments later, Killian kills him after a short monlogue. The O'Leary brothers arrive and take Sean back to the O'Leary house hold and Dimitri takes over the crime syndicate and makes peace, with the Russians, Gambinuchis, and O'Learys all becoming very good business partners. Killian agrees to remain in Queen City and help with the O'Learys and even begins dating, Neil's sister, Jane. Unfortunately, remaining Furino members discover that the Gambinuchis were behind the hits of Phil and Billy and out of revenge they enter Mario's club, The Guido and begin shooting at Mario, wounding him with several shots to the torso and legs. During the struggle, Mario's bodyguard, Jimmy Pegorini manages to kill one of the men and the game ends with Mario in Jimmy's arms, bleeding out badly before the screen cuts to black. It is never known if Mario survived.
Reception[]
The game recieved very positive reviews for its ground breaking gameplay and for its story. It is widely considered to be the most popular and fan favorite of the American Crime Tales series. It was also praised for it's character building as Sean Killian (whom the player controls) gets to know several of the characters quite well. The game was also praised for it's soundtrack. The music was composed by Alex Langerfield and it blended traditional Irish music with modern bits added in to fit well with the Irish themes in the game.
Cast[]
- Brian O'Neil as Sean Killian
- Jack McCauley as John Callahan
- Harold Kramer as Neil O'Leary
- Bucky Sligo as John O'Leary
- Bella Byrne as Jane O'Leary
- Darren Cohen as Yuri Shelnov
- James Elroy Jones as David Henderson
- Jack Juliano as Mario Montinelli
- Jimmy DeVola as Jimmy Pegorini
- Leonard Travor as Dimitri Shelnov
- Bucky Sligo asAiden McCreary
- Anthony DeMeo as Silvio Gambinuchi
- Anthony DeMeo as Vinnie Gambinuchi
- Robert De Niro as Ricardo Gambinuchi
- Greg O'Connor asSean O'Leary
- Shelly Robins as Sheila O'Leary
- Peter Ingamore as Robert Keane
- J.K. Collins as Frank O'Leary
- Darren Cohen as Matthew Gizamone
- Newman Slater as Jeremy O'Connell
- James Elroy Jones as Sally Balboa
- Barry Bosic as Patrick O'Leary
- Jeran Brando as Ron Pegorno
- Nick Derazio as David Green
- Peter Ingamore as Phil Furino
- Bucky Sligo as Billy Furino
- Darren Cohen as Robert Corrado
- Patrick Kleinfeld as Goron Lelechenko
- Kate Torres as Natalia Spulenko
Trivia[]
- Aiden McCreary's original voice actor declined the role of Aiden so Aiden in this game is voiced by Bucky Sligo who voiced John O'Leary and Billy Furino