True Crime: Streets of LA

"Painful Mix of Payne and GTA"

Introduction -
FBI Agent Masterson: ''Watch it or I'll have your Badge''
Nick Kang(main character): ''Sounds like a line from a bad video game.''

That's an actual line from the game, and it does pretty well to tell you what you might need to know about this game. In True Crime: Streets of LA, you take on the role of Nick Kang an officer with the LAPD that just got off a suspension to work for an organization called the EOD. You have two basic driving forces, first you need to find out who is starting fires in Chinatown and second you want to find out what happened to your father that mystersly vanished after bein investigated by Internal Affairs.

Gameplay - 4/10
True Crime basically tries to take a bit from Max Payne and Grand Theft Auto and stir it in a bowl. What you get is a bad combination. Much like in GTA you can either roam around or you can follow the story. One of the main differences is True Crime than in GTA is that you can arrest people and search people or you can just shoot them. Doing bad things will get you Bad Cop status, while being good gives you Good Cop status. Different things happen for which ever way you choose to go. As for the story mode it is seriously lacking. Each Episode basically has you doing one of 3 things. Either you are racing to or away from somewhere or someone, involved in a massive shootout, or hand to hand combat with one or more individuals. The targetting system is pretty off. The same button you use to zoom in and fire your weapon in first person is also your firing mode in and out of first person mode. The problem comes in if you are firing frantically and you hold the R Button too long (that's your firing button) then you'll zoom out into first person. Another note to make is that you can't move in first person mode. Also added is the Max Payne slow mode dive and shoot. The driving portion is pretty solid, slower cars have more control over faster cars. However occasionally collison is a problem. As for fighting it's pretty basic and works ok. You might run into some problems while roaming around in that you'll try to search a person and accidently slide tackle or punch them instead.

Story - 5/10
It's a pretty basic story. My daddy was a cop that people think was bad, so now I'm a cop with a bad attitue.

Graphics/Sound - 6/10 Not too bad. The graphics are pretty solid and do the job. The music is pretty good too. It has a pretty good song from Taproot and some decent rap. Nick's one liners can get pretty old though.

Play Time/Replayability - If you really need a GTA clone for the GC and you don't like The Simpson's Hit and Run, then you'll love this game. But anyone with an Xbox or PS/2 can just spend their money on the real thing.

Rent/Buy? - It's worth buying if you only have a GC, but if you have any other system go for GTA 3/Vice City first. Then you can rent this one.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/03