State of Emergency

"State of Emergency Review"

Overview/Gameplay
When I first headed about State of Emergency (SoE) a year ago at E3, I was very very impressed. Looking back over gaming history, has their ever been a game that generated such chaos and mayhem while experiencing absolutely no slowdown? Granted, it took the next generation consoles to do it, but still an amazing feat.

I want to start by getting something off my chest that has been bugging me since SoE came out. SoE is not in any way, shape, or form supposed to be like Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA3). I saw it happening all over the boards the day SoE was released, people started complaining that it wasn’t like GTA3, and that it didn’t live up to the hype. Rockstar delivered just what it promised, a beat-em up style game of insane proportions.

Well, enough about that, lets get to the gameplay. At its heart, SoE is a massive beat-em up style game. There are 2 mode of play, Revolution and Kaos. Revolution is mission based and broken into various stages. You play through each stage, completing all the missions and advancing to the next stage. Missions vary from a simple blow this up, to escorting to defending a building. Some people say that the missions are repetitive, but really they aren’t. You can’t expect the game to have 175 completely different missions, that’s a programmer’s nightmare. The missions are short and when you fail one, you have the ability to redo it right away, no reloading or anything, just go back to the guy that gave you the mission. In Revolution you start off choosing from one of two characters, with the ability to unlock more as you progress through the game.

The other mode of play is Kaos. Essentially, Kaos is a free-for-all melee style mode. You are given choices of fixed time or just Kaos. In fixed time you have X amount of time to get as high a score as possible, in Kaos, you gain time by taking down certain enemies. In Kaos it is possible to keep expanding on your time, playing longer and longer. By reaching certain score levels you can unlock new areas and modes of play. If you are getting frustrated in Revolution, Kaos is a great way to let out a bit of that frustration and just have an amazingly guilt free time.

Story
The one major lacking area of State of Emergency has to be its attempt of telling a story. The intro tells you the background story, with the manual filling in a few more blanks. Essentially, the government has become a Corporation while repressing the public. People are pissed and Freedom tries to bring back the freedom. Riots ensue. The missions offer very little in the way of telling a story and sometimes do not remain consistent. But hey, that’s ok to me, half the fun is in the gameplay anyways. Each character also has a little background info, but doesn’t develop through out the game.

Graphics
This is the highlight and where State of Emergency really shines. Imagine having up to 250 other characters on the screen, at the same time, all doing and reacting differently, with absolutely NO SLOWDOWN. The levels are very well done, colorful and crisp, with enough environmental interaction to keep anyone happy. The style of the characters and weapons are somewhat cartoon. You notice this when some of the weapons such as the AK and M16 are almost as big as the character is. One negative thing that I have picked up on is there is a little bit of clipping happening, especially when a character is holding a weapon. I know this is very minor, but you will notice it at least once. Again, very minor, but I can’t say all good things about SoE. Without trying to give too much away, you will like the first stage, the mall, and after a few hours you will think it is getting kind of old, then BAM! They hit you with a new and bigger stage. Get past the mall and you will start to enjoy this game just that much more.

Audio
This is one area that is lacking in State of Emergency. After watching the intro and hearing the SoE theme song play, I was initially impressed. However, the in-game music leaves little to be desired. I understand that you don’t want a lot of music distracting you from the screams of panic and mayhem as the crowd’s riot past you, but some fast paced tunes would have been kid of nice. Like I said, this is probably the one area that is lacking in SoE, and overall, it really doesn’t prove to be that detrimental to the overall performance of the game.

Lasting Appeal
With over 175 missions and countless hours available in the unlockable Kaos mode, one will spend days if not weeks going through and playing this game. It is not difficult and therefore makes a great game that you can pick up at any time and play a few rounds of Kaos just to pass the time or impress your friends. There is no character development, just unlockables, so again, this is a great pick up and play game.

Buy/Rent
If you enjoyed the classic fighting games such as Final Fight and Streets of Rage, you will without a doubt, enjoy State of Emergency. If you enjoyed GTA3 and are expecting a similar game, beat yourself over the head with your controller. Again, this is in no way comparable to GTA3. If you are on a fixed budget and don’t buy many games, definitely rent this one, do not let it pass you by. On the other hand, if you can afford to roll around in money, you really should pick this game up; it is a fine addition to any PS2 owners’ game library.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/02, Updated 02/21/02