Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2, GameCube, Xbox

Genre: Action

Number of Players: 1

I really can’t be positive that Rockstar Games knew what they were going to spawn in the gaming industry when they released the best selling Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PS2 a couple of years ago, and that was increased when Vice City came out. Now, just like how survival horror is it’s own genre, it seems that crime simulation has become the next big thing, with just about everyone getting in on it in some fashion. Sometimes, it’s a mild attempt, such as some of the mechanics behind Jak II and other times it’s fairly obvious that it’s a GTA vibe, as is the case with The Getaway. Activision though has taken the whole idea of crime and put you on the other side of the law, and the result is True Crime: Streets of LA.

Truce Crime places you in the role of Nick Kang, a cop that tends to do things his way and going far beyond the norm. More recently, major crime syndicates have becoming more and more of a problem, and Los Angeles has formed the Elite Operations Division to attempt to get the situation back to what passes as normal, and it’s newest recruit is none other than Kang. Things may start out easy enough for Nick, but he’ll soon find that the heat is just about as intense and explosive as his crime fighting style, and he may even discover that there’s a connection between the syndicates and what happened to his father many years ago.

Even before it’s release, and in fact, even when there were just a few simple screenshots available, Activision was already hyping True Crime, taking aim at fans that were already more than drawn in to GTA and its kin. It’s been quite a few months, and press release after press released promised that in True Crime wasn’t just going to be a GTA clone, and was going to involve may different elements of game play. Then slightly before the release, it seemed that there was going to be a minor set back in the way of a lawsuit. While the premise behind this isn’t important, and the game came out right on time, and gamers wondered if in fact it was everything that Activision claimed it was, myself included.

At first glance, and taking in a very brief play session at first, True Crime does in fact seem to be just a carbon copy of the more recent GTA games with a bit of The Getaway thrown in for good measure. But, there’s much more beneath the surface. The game actually has quite a bit more than just your usual GTA gameplay. Again, you’re not a criminal this time, nor are you a reformed criminal that’s ended up having to work for the life that he’d turned his back on. Again, you’re a cop, and though you’re supposed to be on the right side, there’s that occasional tendency to go rogue and do your own thing. However, this is where the consequences of the game come into play.

True Crime is mission based, but on your way to each, you’ll hear about other crimes that are going on. You have the option to either try and stop the crime, or just go about your business. But, solving crime has a great deal involved. Sometimes, it’s easy. You can flash your badge or fire a warning shot, and that’s enough to stop weak hearted criminals. Other times, you’ll find yourself in a fight, brining the games fighting game style into play. Other times, there will be a high-speed chase or even a gunfight. But, let’s say for instance you’re in a fight, and decide to knock your foe into traffic, or simply take your gun out and put a quick end to things. That’s not the solution that we’re looking for here. True Crime has a karma meter, and that marks if you’re a good cop or bad cop, and with three different endings, your actions will affect the outcome.

There’s plenty to do on the streets of LA. Driving of course is part of the whole routine, and in some ways it’s setting up like a racing game, with some missions giving you a time frame to reach point B. You can frisk people on the street, flash your badge, borrow cars, and just about everything else you can think of. There are also a few locations where you can upgrade your skills, and interesting part of the game. That’s where your badge will come into play however, and as you solve more crimes, you’ll get more badge points, 100 of these earning you yet another. Obviously, playing the good cop is where you’ll really start to gain points here, but then again, playing a bad cop isn’t really a bad thing. This isn’t a racing game though, and there are also a few elements of Stuntman here as well, so you’ll be able to do some rather insane stunts, and as you’d expect, the game does pay attention to things like records for airtime, and just about everything else in between. The bad thing though is that pedestrians end up getting in the way, or maybe that’s due to my driving.

The cars do differ from vehicle to vehicle. Some are faster of course; others are a bit squirrelly, making driving a bit tricky. Then there’s rush hour traffic once in a while, and that’s never a fun thing, but it’s not nearly as bad as what LA really is. The damage rate is high as well, but not just to your car. You can destroy just about everything, aside from major pieces of architecture, and some things, like parking meters, are complete with the sound of change hitting the pavement. If you ruin your ride though, there’s no need to fear. You can simply borrow one from the kind citizens of Los Angeles, or you can pay a visit to impound where you’ll find your car shiny and new.

Now, add into the mix a little bit of your standard fighting game genres. True Crime isn’t going to win any awards here in that category, and Soul Caliber II it’s not, but having this added in really is a nice touch. There are three basic buttons to use, punch, low kick, and high kick. But, when your opponent is stunned, you can throw them, and as you work on upgrading your skills, you’ll get some new combos that you can use as well as some interesting grapples. There are even some comments from some of your favorite fighters, so expect to here quips from Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, and others. But, this isn’t always going to be one-on-one, and at times, you’ll get a double team, or worse. You can change who your target is though, so things may go a little easier. Once you’ve beaten some prep mercilessly though, don’t forget to cuff them for more karma.

What would a game be without some interior action? True Crime’s got it, and quite a bit of it aside from the areas where you’ll gain new skills. Some missions will have you in a brawl in barrooms, sauna’s, a strip club, and just about everywhere else you can think of, and there are plenty of things to be broken, smashed, and shot up. Other times, you’ll have to rely on your “ninja stealth,” and in these phases of the game, you have the option to simply knock out a foe, giving you a better good cop rating, or take them out for good, going more for the bad cop vibe. When sneaking though, if you’re spotted, you only have so long before the stage is over, so be quick and take care of them, whatever way you feel most comfortable with. And, if things get a little too rough during a gun battle, simply grab a foe that’s close to use and use them as a human shield.

Unlike GTA, the missions are fairly linear, and you really have no choice in taking them or not. However, if you do the right thing, you will unlock some extras missions, bonus missions at the end of chapters, and even some alternate missions in case you blow it somewhere along the way. However, once you’ve finished a chapter, you can go back in and access the missions all over again, thus giving you a change to earn, or lose, more points and gain new abilities and skills. There are even a few spots where you’ll find alternate chapters, but you will have the option to doing both versions, so don’t worry about what’s right or wrong.

The pre-hype for the game focused on many things of course, but one of the areas that warranted a press release was when the voice cast was assembled. In the past, it really wasn’t a big deal to do voice over work for a game, so we were stuck with no name actors for the most part, some of which really weren’t actors at all as much as they were that delivery guy that brought in pizza every night for the programmers, but that’s all changed with time. True Crime features a voice cast of both large and small scale. Russell Wong who voices Nick Kang, is a little on the lower end of the scale, having appeared in films such as The Prophecy II and New Jack City to name just a few, and CCH Pounder may not be a household name, but fans of Chris Carters work certainly know her for her guest appearances on The X-Files as well as from Millennium. But then add actors like Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman to the cast for a good balance, as well as even a little Snoop Dogg and you’ve got a fairly impressive line-up. And, if you look hard enough, you may even be able to play as Snoop, assuming of course you’ve got what it takes to get them bones.

There are a few things that I have some problems with though. For instance, while I haven’t tried to go the route of being a bad cop, a good cop can’t access the better weapons, I’m stuck with my issued hardware, but that shotgun on the ground, and the machine gun next to it would help me get the job done faster. Oh well. Maybe next game. The bulk of the soundtrack is rap, and while there’s a vast majority of people that aren’t bothered by this in the least, someone like me, who isn’t a fan, finds it rather unbearable to listen to. The graphics in the cut scenes also tend to look a little shaky at times, but fortunately, most of them are fairly short. During street fights, when a motorist runs me down, be it intentional or accidental, since I am carrying a badge, shouldn’t I have the right to arrest them? Nope, that’s not the case here, and that’s too bad since I would have been able to drastically increase the amount of karma points that I have. The enemy AI isn’t too difficult to figure out, and the programming doesn’t involve much of a variation in some situations, like stealth missions or gun fights, meaning once you figure out where enemies will appear, it’s easy to make it through relatively unscathed. Lastly, the buttons combinations are almost insane when it comes to the amount, and True Crime might very well surpass the old SNES classic Wing Commander when it comes down to which game has the most two button moves.

With just a few minor annoyances, True Crime really is a rather impressive title, and quite a bit better than what I had even anticipated. It is more of an adult title though, with some strong language, though not as bad as The Getaway, and a great deal of violence as well as many real life crime situations involving everything from drug dealers to attempted rapes. There’s a great combination of different playing styles, and although the game is a bit on the short end of things, the three different endings give you the chance to replay and check them all out. Plus, if you get tired to being the bad cop, you can simply go wild and make the streets of LA a nightmare. When it comes to games that get lumped in the category of GTA clone, True Crime proves that there’s a bit more to it than just senseless violence and a life of crime. Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law.

- mike -