State of Emergency

"State of Emergency would be better if they sorted out a few problems."

State of Emergency looks likes a violent video game and is but a few problems have not made it last for me. However, the joy of smashing in store windows in the mall or smashing up cars can be quite fun. You play as one of the many characters (after you have unlocked them) in the game. Your character will need to do various missions - some difficult and some stupid. By progressing through the first level (the mall) you will eventually unlock every other environment for you to riot in and cause trouble.

This game really does win the award for the amount of people stuffed into a game. When starting off in the mall you will notice dozens and dozens of people running around screaming. Whilst this game lets you go on a massacre (as well as doing some missions) you are free to do what you want. Your character can pick up a variety of items including chairs, guns and poles. Each weapon will cause a considerable amount of damage. I think my favourite one being the flame thrower as you can just wipe out a whole crowd of people. The problem is that no matter how many people you kill a dozen more will just come through again after a few seconds. So, you will always have to constantly move through crowds. As well as using chairs and guns you can take stuff off the people running around. Some people you will notice seem to have stolen television sets. You can run after them and go steal the television off them. The great thing about this is that you can throw it. By throwing it accurately you'll likely smash a store window and raise alarms. This can prove pretty fun for a little while.

There are two methods of playing this game. The first is to just play through each of the various modes and get it done with and the second is you can treat this as a sandbox. What I mean by the term "sandbox" is that you can do what you want around the mall. You can see how long you survive by killing as many people as you can, you can smash every store window in or wind up gangs just for the fun of it. It's entirely up to you. Of course, eventually you will probably get bored of running around in a mad mall all day so you could try playing through the missions. There are a few more environments to unlock which should keep you busy once you have done the first level's missions.

One thing I really do not like about State of Emergency is the controls. The worst thing is trying to control the camera. This game decides to act the opposite to most other camera controlled games. Using the right analog stick to move the camera from left to right seems to be reversed on this game. Another problem I will constantly face is that despite no major frame rate drops I will get trapped if I get kicked down sometimes. So, there's me trying to get away from a gang or security member and then you are suddenly surrounded by more people trying to act you all at once. All these crowds can sometimes make it difficult to see where you have to go in a mission.

For a game released in 2002 (well, for Europe that is) the graphics are not quite as good as some other games released around the time but they are acceptable. Characters could of had a bit more detail put into them but other than that they shouldn't really get you complaining for a 2002 game.

The sounds in this game are good too. You'll have to put up with listening to some woman on the microphone in the mall and listen to people running around the mall like mad. As for the missions, you don't get voice acting. When you start a mission you will simply be introduced to some text and that's your mission. Don't expect this game to be read out to you because it doesn't do that.

State of Emergency proves to be a difficult game in some spots but it can be quite enjoyable especially if you want to run around on a massacre all night long. It is worth it if you want a good variety of missions and freedom of going anywhere in the environment. Problem is, I think due to some control issues and the amount of people they just put into these environments I don't think it is a game I could not play on for many hours at a time. It can just be a little annoying trying to find your way around too and sometimes I just feel like giving up.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/06