Urban Chaos: Riot Response

"First person action at it's finest"

Introduction. Story: 8/10
A gang called The Burners have overrun an unnamed city. The mayor of that city created a special riot response squad called "T-Zero" (which stands for zero tolerance). You play as Nick Mason, a former soldier and part of T-Zero. It's your job to rid the city of the burners.

Graphics: 6/10
The graphics aren't outstanding, but they're not horrible. I'd say they are about average for a PS2 game. The stages are done very nicely and rarely get repetitive. The character models are also good for the most part. Your enemies look good, but you'll see a lot of the same enemies. Your allies also look good. There are some nice effects like bullet holes and fire. The blood effects on the other hand, could use some work. The best graphics are in the cut-scenes.

Sound: 8/10
The sound, unlike the graphics, is really good. Each gun has it's own unique sound. Each character has their own voice and the voice acting is done nicely. The music in this game is good from what I heard. The special effects sound is also satisfying. You'll hear the bullets as they hit a riot shield or the blood squirting from an enemies head. The vehicles also sound nice and realistic.

Gameplay: 9/10
This game is extremely fun to play and isn't too hard so casual gamers can enjoy it too. Throughout most of the game you'll be traveling with one or two other T-Zero members completing objectives that range from rescuing someone to eliminating all of the gang members.

The story mode is split between eleven or so mandatory missions and six extra bonus missions. You'll unlock more and more missions as you go. There are also extra objectives you can complete which will earn you medals. The medals are like achievements for the Xbox 360. While they hold no real significance other than unlocking a few upgrades and bragging rights, they are easy to get so I suggest doing so.

As you play through missions, you'll earn medals. You get medals for doing certain things like using non-lethal force or getting headshots, etc.. The more medals you get, the more bonuses you unlock. The bonuses range from health upgrades to larger clips to better shields.

The game, like I said above, isn't all that difficult to play. I mean, yeah it gets harder as you go along, but not much. You'll want to set it to the hardest difficulty if you want a real challenge. That's the only problem I had with the gameplay.

Playtime/Replayability
It should take you no more than sixteen hours to complete the story mode. But you'll spend a lot more time getting medals and doing the bonus missions. Plus you'll just want to play missions over again for fun. In the year I've had this, I have spent well over 100 hours playing.

Rent or Buy?
Buy. Now. You heard me, get your butt off the computer and go buy it. You'll have so much fun playing this and you will spend so much time with it. Plus, it never gets boring.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/30/07

Game Release: Urban Chaos: Riot Response (US, 06/13/06)