True Crime: New York City
Score: 70% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Activision Developer: Luxoflux Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action
Graphics & Sound: True Crime: New York City is yet another Grand Theft Auto clone that tries to duplicate the series' style and popularity, but quickly gets repetitive and bland. This version of True Crime takes place in the vast New York City (in case you couldn't grasp that from the title). This game successfully portrays the size of the Big Apple. The city area is, simply put, huge. Unfortunately, there seems to be no perceivable difference between one part of the city and the next. Because of the sheer size, the bland feel of the textures and the lack of variety in everything from the buildings to the pedestrians, it becomes very hard to navigate. One thing that True Crime was able to hit dead on is the background music. You will be treated with a wide variety of hip hop and rap music to help sell the game's gritty, streetcrime-filled feel. New York City also features the audio talents of Lawrence Fishburne and Christopher Walken. Both actors do a great job at portraying their particular parts, but unfortunately the performances are hindered by less than stellar audio-implementation. There were plenty of times when the voice-clips seemed short and choppy.
Gameplay: The graphics aren't the only thing that's bland in True Crime: New York City. Though the game is divided into four parts, each with their own set of missions, it becomes quickly apparent that one mission is very much like the next. Though you supposedly have a wide variety of choices throughout the game as far as which side of the fence to play, these variations do little to affect the overall feel of the game. You play a former street gangster turned cop. The purpose of the game is to stop four major organized crime syndicates and rise in rank. During your various missions, you will not only beat up street thugs, but also confiscate weapons and contraband. Here is where some of those choices come in. You can either turn in the enemy items at your police headquarters to help you increase your police rank, or you can pawn the items off for some extra cash and street credit. Most missions have you working your way undercover through street gangs or contacting informants. Typically, you will follow a series of tips from one gang-member to another until you reach your way to some big boss and give him what he deserves. Like pretty much everything else in the game, this quickly becomes humdrum and you will find yourself chasing down and beating up the same generic goons over and over again. Like GTA, there are side missions that will help you earn cash, either through legitimate means or not so legitimate. Also like Grand Theft Auto, the city is free roaming. But because of the way the city is implemented (i.e. the graphics and lack of landmarks), I found that I rarely wanted to see what was going on in the city.
Difficulty: True Crime: New York City's missions are not difficult. Since most of the time you will be running down and beating up random thugs, you will be able to quickly get the hang of the combat system. And once you grasp that, the story missions are all but a cake walk. The only thing that might be a challenge are some of the side missions. You don't have to take them up since they are (mostly) optional. But participating in these side missions will help you achieve higher ranks and thus grant you access to more vehicles and weapons that will make later, required, missions easier.
Game Mechanics: In general, True Crime: New York City's control scheme is a bit hit and miss. There were times when control felt tight and smooth, while others, like when racing, the controls were loose and slippery. It was somewhat frustrating to be able to lock onto small targets and take them out only to have to re-do driving missions over and over again because the vehicles wouldn't perform exactly as expected. Though the driving control scheme set up is typical for PS2 driving games, the control itself is just too loose. When turning corners, the cars slide just too much and make it too hard to complete the races or other driving-related missions. True Crime is ultimately a game that, in principal, should be as good as GTA, but the repetitiveness of the missions and blandness of the visuals mean this is a game that you can pass up and not feel like you've really missed anything.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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